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The Human Cost of An Illiterate Society"
Jonathan Kozol
Biography:
Jonathan Kozol (1936- ) received his B.A. in literature from Harvard and drifted into the civil rights movement in 1964. For over thirty years, he has written compassionately about many of the social problems confronting the United States, particularly those that affect the poor and disadvantaged.
Objective Summary:
In this excerpt from his 1985 book Illiterate America, Kozol exposes the problems facing the sixty million Americans who are unable to read well enough to function in society and argues that their plight has important implications for the literate among us as well.
"Mother Tongue"
By Amy Tan
Biography:
Amy Tan (1952- ) got her master's degree in linguistics from San Francisco State University and became a business writer. The Joy Luck Club (1978) was one of her most successful books.
Objective Summary:
The author describes how her mother's "broken English" affected their lives; furthermore, she considers her relationship with her mother, concentrating on their communication with each other and with the world.
Subjective Evaluation:
" I was ashamed of her English." When I read this sentence, some familiar facts came to my mind...