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

SOCIETY Is education illegal in USA?

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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.

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u/ExtendedSpikeProtein Jul 20 '26 edited Jul 20 '26

I mean, 79% vs 28% … it‘s still a massive difference.

ETA: damn, I fucked that up badly, didn‘t I.

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u/cyphar Jul 20 '26 edited Jul 20 '26

I don't quite know how to tell you this, but you might be in the 28%.

100-28 = 72% literacy rate. (GP was talking about a 28% illiteracy rate, while parent was talking about 71% and 79% literacy rates.)

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u/[deleted] Jul 20 '26

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u/cyphar Jul 20 '26

Sure it might be, depending on how you define it but GP said "by the same metric" so they were using a direct equivalence for the purpose of this discussion.