More (not so) fun facts:
54% of American adults read below a 6th grade level.
21% read below a 5th grade level, which is considered functionally illiterate.
High immigration numbers don’t fully explain it either, as first gen immigrants only make up about 1/3 of those with low literacy.
It’s your ability to spot potential author bias, leading language, context outside the article that might point to inaccuracies or omissions, tones like sarcasm, etc.
They can read the words at the most basic level, but are missing a lot of the actual meaning.
meaning is fungible and largely a product of the readers projection onto the authors words.
two-highly educated people can read a passage an come up with wildly different interpretations of it’s meaning and context.
also why people think quotes are ‘deep’. because they are decontextualized wells of personal projection.