This will ruffle some jimmies... But this is sad.
21% of American adults (~43 million Americans) are functionally illiterate, meaning they have difficulty reading and comprehending signs, instructions and forms.
54% of the American adult population reads at or below a sixth-grade level (11 years old). So a little under half of US adults can read Harry Potter.
A third of all US adults lack basic numeracy skills. Fewer than 2 in 5 US adults possess strong numeracy proficiency
The sick part of this, is the victims don't know what they have had stolen from them, like a lobotomy. This is despite a spend of 16k per student per year.
Truly, if you cannot read or write, you are a slave - even in a free country.
https://ctmirror.org/2024/12/13/aleysha-ortiz-ct-grad-cant-read-lawsuit/