Welcome to my blog and another wonderful edition of the Hive Learner's featured post. No doubt that being literate is good; it changes how people see you, how they rate you, and how they treat you. As a literate person, people treat you differently and give you a level of respect they will never give to an illiterate. There are opportunities you get to enjoy as a literate person that an illiterate person will never enjoy. There are places and even jobs you can have access to but are not open or accessible to illiterate people, so sure, being literate comes with a lot of things, but does literacy in any way make the literate a better person?
Being literate gives one the opportunity to grow and serves as an empowerment to the individual; like I said earlier, it just makes certain things easy for you, gives you the opportunity to apply for certain jobs, and even go as far as landing them, whereas those who are not literate do not even stand a chance and cannot even apply for certain jobs. Being literate helps to increase your chances of getting a good-paying and better job, while an illiterate only has a few job offers on the table, many of which will not offer good pay.
Being literate also helps to broaden one's knowledge and helps you think critically before making and taking decisions. Saw a post on Twitter where a user advised users to choose math if they are contemplating what to study because it will help them to be organized, as solving math requires that you take it step by step until you arrive at the final answer, and that is exactly what being literate does to you as an individual: helps you stay organized and helps you know when to and when not to do certain things. There are so many opportunities that come with being literate, but does it in any way help one become a better person? Does being literate help teach you how to treat others? Does it teach you how to act right?
My answer is no, being literate does not teach you how to treat others. Being literate comes with so many opportunities and gives you access to many places, sometimes even unlimited access to places many who are not literate cannot gain access to, but it does not make you a better person. There are many other things one needs alongside literacy to be considered a better person. Literacy alone cannot make a person a better person; what you need alongside literacy to be a better person includes your personal values, those things that matter most to you, thereby shaping how you behave, the type of things you involve yourself in, and the type you completely avoid.
Kindness is one characteristic of a better person, and being literate does not mean you are kind, nor does it make you a kind person. One can be literate and not be a kind person; there are also some who feel once they are literate, anyone who is not literate is below them and end up treating others wrongly. After being literate, what makes you treat people right and not feel like you are above those who are not is your kindness and humility. Many other characters need to be at play for an individual to be considered a "better person"; only being literate does not do it. To be a better person, one must have a few other characteristics aside from being literate.
