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A significant fraction of America is illiterate. 21% or 1/5. Yeah.
It's even worse than that:
21% of adults in the US are illiterate in 2024. 54% of adults have a literacy below a 6th-grade level (20% are below 5th-grade level).
So 1/5 can't read at all, and over HALF can't read better than an 11 year old.
Which is wild.
I need to write to a 3rd grade level, and don't think it is possible.How does that work out, are there 50% of 11 yo in the USA?
:-) Jk
Nooooooo! IT's because the DeMoCrAts didn't address the needs of the working pooooooor! nooooooooooo!
I mean, you think this is happening exclusively in red states?
DC is bright blue and they've got some of the worst schools in the country. And if you want to know why...
Michelle Rhee’s Reign of Error
Privatization, downsizing, teaching to the test... Twenty years of NCLB has taken its toll.
Even then, there is something of a silver lining
The advent of modern text communications has created significant social incentives for improving literacy at younger ages.
If reading is the only driver to voting preference, then yes.
Otherwise, no.
If reading is the only driver to voting preference
Reading is a powerful tool because writing/publishing has a very low barrier to entry.
By contrast, audio and video tend to carry incrementally higher cost for production/distribution.
But you do still need peer groups with good politics to send you in the right direction. You can't expect good politics to emerge ex nihilio across an entire population.
Anyone curious, I fact checked this and according to snopes it's true. This is just sad.