Literacy and education: For what?

The question of what purposes are served by literacy and education programs factors into every decision about spending money on these efforts. This question is critical to governments and others attempting to prioritize the allocation of limited resources.

Historians, development theorists, educators, and ordinary citizens perceive a linkage between education and national development. This perception has become so pervasive that even poor nonliterate farmers in remote areas are semi-convinced that the linkage exists.

In recent years, however, questions have been increasingly raised about the nature of the linkage between literacy and development. While national planners remain generally convinced that development is not going to take place apart from literacy, poor and nonliterate heads of households seem less and less convinced.

For example, in much of East Africa, there is evidence that parents are increasingly reluctant to put their children into school. They see less and less return on their investment in the children's education. It is not that raw labor is so highly valued, but that a basic education seems to the parents to bring so little promise of a better livelihood. This perception is supported by the fact that most developing countries have a sizable educated population who are underemployed or unemployed.

In other cases, parents are deeply concerned that education seems to serve primarily to remove the child or young person from the traditional culture. The educated child becomes a “misfit.” The child loses traditional skills and is reluctant to return to traditional activities. Education creates generational gaps between parents and children. For example, in Papua New Guinea, many villages believe that nontraditional or western-style education is a primary contributor to the severe social problem referred to as “rascalism.”

If the linkage between education and economic opportunity seems so tenuous, then some ask, “Why bother with education?”

The responses to this rhetorical question vary:

• Some refer to literacy as “freedom”: freedom from the blindness of illiteracy.
• Others point to “opportunity”: the opportunity to read the local newspaper or other books of personal interest.
• Yet other observers note that a literate and educated population is more likely to be politically involved and responsible.
• Some point to the many practical benefits of literacy such as reading basic instructions, keeping sums, and writing personal letters.
• Many see great value in the self-esteem and respect that comes from being able to read.

Do these less tangible benefits justify the cost of literacy or the cost of education? Ultimately, this is a question that the “consumer” must answer. It may be a while before there is a clear answer to this question.

• Fact module: Literacy and education: For what?
• In overview module: Background issues in literacy, by Stephen L. Walter
• In modular book: Prepare for a literacy program, by Stephen L. Walter, Mary Morgan, and Leah B. Walter
• In bookshelf: Literacy

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 4.0, published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 1999. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 1 October 1999

© 1999 SIL International