Declining Literacy - One of the great urban myths
Here is an interesting case of the dangers of misunderstood statistics on reading.
People have an idea that once upon a time everybody learnt to read.  It is just not true.
The evidence used in this article is not sound at all because it refers to whether a recruiting sergeant felt a man could read enough to be an effective soldier.  In the old days that was a simple question, with only one answer.
But during the second world war the sophistication of the military increased massively. So recruiting sergeants in the 50s had quite different criteria and a basic level of education was now essential.
So far, we have never achieved more than around 80% literacy in society.
Let’s hope we can change that over the next few years.  Tell your friends about Easyread!
- David