What Does It Mean to Be Literate in This Day and Age - Essay Example

What does it mean to be literate in this day and age? With the changing times, man has empowered himself with the latest means of understanding the world around him. He has taken giant steps in order to acquaint himself with the basics that the world possesses within its fold. There is so much to learn and comprehend that this world is virtually a sea full of just about any and everything that comes under it. There is a lot to take on the part of humanity when it comes to having a grasp of the discussion of knowledge and information, because this at the end of the day is the sole source of understanding all the norms, procedures, routines, pieces of data and just about everything that we know as knowledge and education. To be literate is indeed a wise undertaking in the world of today and it holds more ground than it used to in the times of our forefathers. There is so much to seek, learn and understand that the man seems to go missing in the quagmire. However if he is literate he makes his own way through the zig-zag pathways and thus reaches his destination on all counts. It is a matter of fact that being literate in the current times facilitates one self in estimating what life is bringing for a person. It opens up his range of options and presents to him ideas out of the box as well. What this does is to make him do the analysis in a straight forward manner. No analysis is possible without getting to know the facts first of all. If a person is literate and understands the norms that are taking place within his life or generally, he will get to know what the strengths of the same undertakings are and how it would affect his own live as well as the ones whom he loves and takes care of. He gets to inquire the weaknesses present with the knowledge that he has obtained over a period of time and thus weighs them in light of the strong points that were previously ascertained by him in due course of time. In the world of present times, being literate means that a person is talked of in a high and esteemed manner. He is given respect by one and all since he can understand the difference between the good, the bad and the ugly. He has sense problems where the illiterates could think merry. He can make out for the troubles that lie ahead in different situations through his sheer ability of forecasting and visualization. He can look at the missing links better than an average man. He can understand his own psyche, individual basis and the manner under which he exists within the tenets of the society. He knows who he is and what is expected of him. He can create links with each other on the basis of his literate self and his education speaks for his own self in terms of his dressing, the way he meets strangers and new people, the way he eats and dines, the manner in which he greets people and so on and so forth. The differences seem to become apparent more often than not and this is something that is apparent within a person who is literate and who knows how to comprehend difficult circumstances with easy measures. More than anything else, it is his resolve that remains firm at the best of times and he remains committed to his world of ethics and morals since this is a very quintessential step in the wake of his different undertakings, measures and behaviors in the world that he lives in. Thus being literate in this day and age means that a man stands head and shoulders above the average human being who is on the street and trying to make both ends meet. He feels different from this man since he knows how to run with the flow and to mold his life in accordance with the different circumstances that life presents him on a consistent basis. Literacy helps open up the different options in a much better and facilitating manner than anything else. Literacy is something that goes deep down inside a man’s personality as it explores the talent he has embedded with his own self and the way with which he could explore his talents in the best manner possible. Being literate is after all a blessing that turns many corners for the learned man on this earth. With the technological prowess coming to the rescue of common man’s life, getting the hang of what is there on offer in terms of knowledge and understanding is now an everyday thing. Being literate is now more about getting to know what is happening at the local levels as well as on the global scene. It is related with understanding a particular language and using it for his own good – in terms of reading, writing, speaking and indeed understanding so that the analysis phase starts to develop in a fair enough manner for the literate man. The use of computers in this day and age has made even the most illiterate of people to have a fair deal of education under their hold since they can make use of what is being offered to them. This could be in the form of news and events which are told to them on a regular basis through the different outlets that the media has brought with it. Thus, in the long run for a human being to make out what is good or bad for him in different avenues of life, it is significant that he understands the need of educating his own self and this could be done best if he makes use of the resources that are available at his disposal at all times possible. All said and done, being literate means aplenty in this day and age and it surely does not go unnoticed – at all. Bibliography Tyner, Kathleen. Literacy in a Digital World: Teaching and Learning in the Age of Information. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1998 Mccarty, Teresa L. Language, Literacy, and Power in Schooling. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2005 Courts, Patrick L. Literacy and Empowerment: The Meaning Makers. Bergin & Garvey, 1991 Word Count: 1,009 Read More