Response to Graff

In Graff’s essay, the one thing that really struck my attention was that Americans wanted to lower the illiterate percentage only because they thought it would help the economy. It had nothing to do with having the population actually being able to read, but to see if it would help their economy grow. Of course this excluded African Americans and the poor because Americans feared what the outcome would be if they were able to read and write; just as we read about Frederick Douglass. But eventually they did, and so did the poor by all of the free schools being made so they can have their chance at learning. Even with all the hype of literacy going around, it didn’t mean you had an advantage if you knew how to read. There were very few cases where a person was given a better job because he was literate; it was mostly based on race, social class, and of course gender. It is interesting to see the total flip our society has made over all these years. Now it is determined on your education and training whether you can find a job or not. There are very few well paying jobs out there for people with out a college education, let alone a high school diploma.