While some people claim that educating the young should be the main concern the world over, others believe that more funds should be allocated to decrease the rate of illiteracy among adults. From my perspective, I side with the latter idea as adult schooling can have positive impacts on the development of countries and individuals.
To start with, a decline in the rate of illiterate adults can offer countries strategic economic advantages. First, this will increase the number of high quality laborers in the country, resulting in improved economic growth. As most white-collar positions’ minimum requirement nowadays is the ability to read and write, illiterate adults will have to resort to low-paid work, which means a loss of tax, as well as scarce resources of intellectual workers. Secondly, having a high rate of illiteracy among adults may also lead to heavy burdens on social assistance. During times of crisis, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, illiterate adults are the ones who are most prone to unemployment. The indication of this is that governments will have to provide them monetary assistance, thus, the larger the number of uneducated grown-ups, the more considerable the subsidy.
Regarding individuals, being able to read and write can be advantageous to one’s mental health and their offsprings. What illiteracy brings to individuals is low self-esteem. Adults who cannot read nor write often shy away from social interactions, as well as experience a sense of inferiority due to their lack of basic abilities. Moreover, children with illiterate parents often lose their access to education. Since their mothers and fathers often cannot find well-paid jobs that can cover their school fees, these kids have to help their parents make ends meet from an early age, resulting in illiteracy from one generation to the next.
All in all, adult schooling is beneficial in terms of economic growth for nations and of fostering well-being for individuals.