Illiteracy condemns people to a state of obscurity, isolating them from the world around them.
I do not agree with this statement, as applied to the time when my parents lived. My mother could neither read nor write, but she was a great mathematician, very good at maths. My father barely reached the sixth grade and was for twenty-five years a butcher and for more than thirty years a master mason. His phrase comes to life in these times…
In relation to technological illiteracy, I observed in my visit to Venezuela during the month of December 2022, that even eight-year-old children had a Xiaomi 9 mobile phone and upwards, in a popular neighbourhood in the West of Caracas, a neighbourhood called Nuevo Horizonte in Catia. I found that very strange, everywhere, they were manipulating their devices connected via wifi, playing online games or watching videos on YouTube.
I, like you, my friend @irvinc, was also a teacher... At home there was never a lack of food; all the services were available at home; the salary was enough for food, clothing, medicine and recreation... Today, times are different, the couple has to work and sometimes two salaries are not enough to cover basic needs, so people resort to the famous “mata gallo”, a colloquial expression used in Venezuela for weekend jobs.
Nowadays, if we refer to “illiteracy” as “not knowing how to read and/or write”, simply, referring only to Venezuela as the land where I was born, it is a condition that I do not justify... Yes, if we broaden the term to “knowledge”, today's youth prefers to be glued to social networks as a distraction or fashion, because of their cheapness and immediacy.
isolate her from getting the same job opportunities as the qualified "mathematicians" who could read and write? Means she was not obscured from mathematicians' jobs that were willing to pay her the same salary?You trimmed the part where @irvinc justified his first statement. Are you using your mom's analogy to prove that even if she was not able to "read and write" yet was good at Maths - her being illiterate could not
But there are also kids who are putting technology to good use and are even learning to code in their schools. Maybe the focus should be to discipline the kids and teach them to embrace the good side of technology.
This was quite intriguing @amigoponc - It is discussions like this that raise awareness and there are two sides to every coin.🌼😊
In my commentary you will notice that I mention “Venezuela”, my native country, I am currently living in Canada, the land that opened its doors to me… My comment was focused on Venezuela as a sample and could possibly be extrapolated to other neighbouring Latin American countries, but that would be another matter.
Indeed, here in Canada, the educational situation and illiteracy are other matters. As you say, children are educated for self-sufficiency, and independence and to make them productive human beings “not a burden”. In Venezuela, the State has been in charge of “Idiotising”, sorry, “indoctrinating” the citizen of the popular areas (80% of the population) under a scheme of total dependence on the State, which manages them at its whim…
The Venezuelan state transmits 24 hours a day, through the mass media, an “unreal” image (we live better, we eat better, we have the best schools and hospitals in the world) and when a lie is reaffirmed a hundred times, it unconsciously becomes real…
Heh, heh, heh, I got out of the educational topic and went into the political one; sorry… Thank you for sharing your comment, these are ideal means for us, in one way or another, to discern and try to get to the origin of the disease. Blessings.
I get you☺️! My bad I wasn't really extrapolating. I just treated :access to internet and phone as our random effects meaning if we give kids phone and internet how will it affect their literacy? My guess is regardless of their physical location some will be glued on phones and social media. I didn't really think Venezuela sample size will follow a different distribution.🤦🏾♀️
And I do get you how we ended up in politics that's still relevant and relatible to some extent. Some would blame it on having incompetent people in governance but let's leave if another platform. It's a frustrating topic not warranted to spoil our Sunday.😊
I think we stand a chance to do better as people if we look at a positive side. I have hope on the kids, parents and teachers that most will shape the future and ripe the benefits of being literate to improve their quality of living. The same phones that are toxic also give them access to alot of information that can bring awareness and self-learning. But they got to be literate to even be able to make use of that information.🌺😊
I had to check song lyrics and translation. It's a very interesting message!
I guess you are leaving it up to me to interpret how you relate to it right😀🌺!
Cheers and keep well!
There are many differences in the country. There are sectors that have the latest technologies and others do not. I agree with you that the first step is to be literate without that it is impossible to advance in knowledge. Technology can be used in a positive and negative way, we have examples of both situations. Thank you very much for stopping by and commenting. Be well dear friend @humbe . A big hug from Maracay.
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
True, countries varies as some are more developed than others. Even within a country there would still be private schools having access to latest technology than public schools.
Thank you for sharing great awareness in your post!
Cheers! 😊🌺
It may be that in Caracas there is greater purchasing power and the boys may have smartphones. In my area, in the north of Maracay, most adolescents do not have these phones and very few people have computers.
Thank you very much for passing and comment. May you be well dear @amigoponc. A big hug from Maracay.