Illiteracy in Australia

Bardach Mohamed
Professor Peter Lucas
ENG 1301
11/18/2014
Illiteracy in Australia
In today’s world, knowledge is an important factor in the development of any country. And a low functional illiteracy rate is always a sign of a very humanly developed country as humans is what should be focused on by a government in order to advance in their country’s development. Australia is one of the developed countries, therefore, it should have a low functional illiteracy rate. However, Australia has an astonishing functional illiteracy rate of 44% (Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia). Let us go back and see what happened and what has changed to create such a tragedy. In place for the high rate of functional illiteracy in Australia to decline, folks are ought to change their conduct which does not think about any reading whatsoever, the "Zen" perspective of realizing, which expresses that the educator shows up when the students are prepared, should to be deserted, and reading is ought to be given a more paramount need in Australian schools.
First of all, we need to start at home. Australian parents today are not reading to the children enough which results in the children not getting their pre-reading skills that they require before they go to school. (Fenech) Those pre-reading skills include abilities such as recognizing letters and short words. As a result, students whose parents did not get them in the habit of reading as they were little, have more difficulties in their first years in school in order to cope with the materials they need to learn compared to those who were raised on reading every day by their parents. In addition the parents are not reading themselves, therefore the children do not have any role model, somebody, an adult, that reads for pleasure. Combined with the fact that all what children do is to mimic their parents’ behavior, children would not even think of reading as something that could generate both pleasure and education.
Second, let us point to school. There is a new attitude which is diffusing quite fast. It came out from the soft approach in learning, called by some, the “Zen” view of learning. It basically says that when a student is ready, the teacher appears. The problem with that kind of thinking is to know when the student is ready. When is somebody ready for calculus? Does anyone wake up feeling that he is ready to study calculus? Well no! It is not that simple. You actually learn it only because it is in the curriculum. Some of us might never be ready until someone gives us a little nudge. When is a child ready to walk? When is he ready to wash his teeth? This shows that some things, especially the things that concern studying, have to be encouraged. Therefore, instead of waiting for the students until he gets ready to learn and to go to the teacher asking for knowledge, the instructor should be trying to get the student’s attention, to get him to want to learn, and to make the course material more enjoyable in order for the student to appreciate and savor studying. Of course, this will make the teachers’ job harder as it will give him more work to do, but that extra work will definitely be productive as the students, which are the essence of development, will learn more and this is in the best interest of the students and society.
Finally, I believe that 100% of reading and writing rights were not being a priority at schools in Australia. (Sumsion) They have other goals such as reducing the illiteracy rate of the indigenous students by 25%. No school can barbarically claim that its student will have a 100% learning and literacy rights (Nowell). Reading is a skill like walking as it enables other things to happen later on. For instance, if you can walk, you can go to work, take the subway, and go to shop. In the same way, reading opens up a whole new world of possibilities. How many people do you expect to walk, by the time they reach childhood? Would it be better if you had 50% of your children walking? 70%? 80%? That is what has been happening in the schools in Australia. They have not set reading as a priority. In addition, people like David Gonski, which is an Australian famous businessman and philanthropist who tried to help offer a better education to Australian children, believe that if you throw more money at a problem, it will go away. (ABC News) Unfortunately, this was never the case with education as the major problem with education in Australia is the method. To sum up, in order for the high rate of functional illiteracy in Australia to decrease, parents should change their behavior which does not care about reading at all, the “Zen” view of learning which states that the teacher appears when the students is ready should be abandoned, and reading should be given a more important priority in Australian schools. In my humble opinion, if all those three factors are taken care of, the rate of functional illiteracy will decrease and with less illiterate people, Australia will get a higher rank among the developed countries. Higher than its already high rank as it is the number one among the countries of Asia and Oceania.

Works cited
ABC News,. 'What's In The Gonski Report?'. N.p., 2012. Web. 18 Nov. 2014.
Australasian Journal Of Early Childhood 38.4 (2013): 92-98. Academic Search Complete. Web. 18 Nov. 2014.
Fenech, Marianne. "Quality Early Childhood Education For My Child Or For All Children? Parents As Activists For Equitable, High-Quality Early Childhood Education In Australia."
"Illiteracy." Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6Th Edition (2013): 1. Academic Search Complete. Web. 17 Nov. 2014.
Nowell, Angela. "Educational." International Journal Of Psychology 47.(2012): 293-340. Academic Search Complete. Web. 18 Nov. 2014.
Sumsion, Jennifer, et al. "The 'State Of Play' In Australia: Early Childhood Educators And Play-Based Learning." Australasian Journal Of Early Childhood 39.3 (2014): 4-13. Academic Search Complete. Web. 18 Nov. 2014.