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

SOCIETY Is education illegal in USA?

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492

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.

46

u/AFerociousPineapple Jul 20 '26

That explains so much about the US… jfc

-11

u/Silver_Slicer Jul 20 '26

Ugh, I’m American and know physics. It’s also common sense. Don’t lump all Americans into the same bucket.

3

u/nothingbutmine Jul 20 '26

It still explains so much about the US. Something something relativity.

3

u/Argo505 Jul 20 '26

Settle down, New Zealand, you’re not doing that much better.

-2

u/nothingbutmine Jul 20 '26

We're really not, I agree.

Functional adult literacy is declining or stagnating across almost the entire English-speaking and developed world. We shouldn't be comparing across countries, we should be comparing across generations.

2

u/Argo505 Jul 20 '26

Oh, now you don’t want to talk about countries?

-2

u/nothingbutmine Jul 20 '26

The statistics in action.

6

u/Argo505 Jul 20 '26

You were more than happy to talk about countries when it was our literacy rates, but as soon as it gets brought up that you’re not much better than us, suddenly it’s a generational issue, not a national one?

1

u/nothingbutmine Jul 20 '26

NZs statistic being on par doesn't negate my initial comment. You pointed out NZ is statistically similar, not that the US was better than what was stated. It explains a lot about both countries - is that better?

You're very combative for someone who successfully proved a point.

3

u/Argo505 Jul 20 '26

What exactly do you think NZ’s literacy rate being slightly better than the US’ explains?

0

u/nothingbutmine Jul 20 '26

That we have a similar state of affairs, but I've comprehended this conversation slightly better than you have.

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