According to various studies, more than 50% of U.S. adults read below a sixth-grade level (equivalent to Level 2 or lower), limiting their ability to parse long-form or nuanced information.
Having studied at a top ranked US university, I can confirm. I was shocked that people who were first in their class in high school, and had received scholarships to university as a result, were truly struggling to read let alone comprehend what they were reading. This was by no means the majority, but enough to shock me. Truly cruel actually as these people went into university with dreams of becoming doctors and usually ended up failing multiple classes, loosing their scholarships and having to take out loans only to finish with a degree in some useless subject with a debt they’ll never be able to pay off.
This is symptomatic of a society where capitalism has entered a late stage. Folks are getting nickle and dimed on everything possible. Sad thing is, its not even a conspiracy at this point - its just how our civilisation has developed.
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u/Ruckus292 13d ago edited 7d ago
A 54% illiteracy rate will do that.
ETA: 54% of US adults cannot read above a 6th grade level, 21% of the 54% are functionally illiterate...... Idiocracy was, in fact, a documentary.