ABSTRACT
Macedo: It is ironic that in the United States, a country that prides itself on being the first and most advanced within the so-called “first world,” over 60 million people are illiterate or functionally illiterate. According to Jonathon Kozol’s book Illiterate America (1985), the United States is in forty-ninth place among the 128 countries of the United Nations in terms of literacy rate. How can a country that considers itself a model of democracy tolerate an educational system that contributes to such a high level of illiteracy?
