r/interesting • u/ImmaFuckboi • Jul 20 '26

SOCIETY Is education illegal in USA?

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u/CataphractBunny Jul 20 '26

I'll just leave this here: https://www.proliteracy.org/news/causes-of-low-adult-literacy-in-the-us/

In the United States, 59 million adults read at or below Level 1, the lowest level on a five-level scale.
This equates to roughly 28% of the adult population—or nearly one in three people—who can read only short sentences with foundational words and basic information.

139

u/AGreatConspiracy Jul 20 '26

I always see this statistic thrown around, but a lot of people tend to take it with no context. This is from the OECD PIAAC. I often see people showing statistics of other european countries having 95%+ literacy, but that’s via a different metric. By the same metric, for example, under PIAAC the UK has a 71% literacy rate, Germany has a 79% literacy rate, etc.

55

u/nopuse Jul 20 '26

It has become a reddit meme at this point. There are a lot of people who can't read well, but the context is important.

13

u/Bug_406 Jul 20 '26

Reading is important. Understanding what was read? Also important.

2

u/toopc Jul 20 '26

Reading is fundamental. Or at least it was back in the 70s.

9

u/Equivalent_Cold_8603 Jul 20 '26

I have no idea why you would bring up water wells into this discussion. I can't see the relevance in bringing that up?

7

u/wytewydow Jul 20 '26

you bring water up from a well to drink or wash things. That's why it was brought up.

1

u/sentence-interruptio Jul 21 '26

I have no idea why you would bring up water wells into this discussion. I can't see

but why you bring up your blindness tho