54% of Americans read below a sixth grade level

[DemocratSinceBirth]

[SheltieLover]

1. Yup

Last edited Sun Apr 20, 2025, 06:11 PM - Edit history (1)

75% of kids in Memphis schools are reading below grade level, which for here probably means they cannot interpret simple pictures.

[madville]

14. The differences by race are very wide

Last edited Sun Apr 20, 2025, 07:19 PM - Edit history (1)

I just looked at Oakland, CA where I used to live, 18% of Black students read at grade level so that is 82% below level. Meanwhile 72% of White students read at grade level, Hispanic is just 23%. Not sure how that gets fixed, it usually all starts at home like most things. I would bet Memphis is similar.

[SheltieLover]

19. No doubt, like most problems, this is transgenerational &

While your race theory may well be true overall, I've found the illiteracy here to transcend race with blacks & whites equally unable to read or write.

[madville]

34. It's not because of race of course

It’s more about economics, family support, and whiter, more affluent areas having better schools and opportunities. But those factors have wide gaps when viewed by race.

[AkFemDem]

57. Institutional racism

I don't mean that a specific school is racist, but they are burdened by institutional policies, often at the state level, sometimes at the federal levels- and the effects are cumulative and generational. They're typically tied tightly to the economics of poverty, which again are often linked closely with race due to institutional generational racism.

[SheltieLover]

58. Rethug TN is ready to take control of Memphis schools

Maybe that 25% literacy rate is too high for them.

[brush]

55. Quality of neighborhoos school teaching, staff and facilities probably has a lot to do with it.

Last edited Sun Apr 20, 2025, 08:42 PM - Edit history (1)

Redlined neighborhoods/taxes paid typically result in better equiped schools in more affluent areas which benefits the students there.

IMO that is where the differences lie, not race. I used to live in Oakland too and the flatland schools versus the Oakland/Berkeley hills schools— no comparison as students no matter what race, benefit from optimal ducatiolnal environments.

.

[madville]

63. Of course

It’s not because of race, but there can be wide differences in outcomes when looking at racial categories. A large part of it is socioeconomic, part of it is access, part of it can also be cultural. Most people would agree that educational performance and success is highly valued in many Asian communities/countries, that’s why their literacy rates are in the 90s, 95%+ in some countries.

[TheRickles]

23. Normally I'd say "Welcome to DU" to someone for their early posts. But I'll offer you a heads-up instead:

Don't post rubbish like this, or you will be quickly deleted. The IQ/genetics link was debunked fifty years ago.

[FadedMullet]

24. Wow, really? A racial genetic component to intelligence? Where have I heard that before?

[Farther]

53. Interesting input from Open AI on the subject of race, or "genetics", and reading comprehension

is there any proof that reading comprehension is determined by race
ChatGPT said:

No, there is no scientific proof that race determines reading comprehension.

Reading comprehension — how well someone can understand written text — is shaped by a lot of factors, but race itself isn’t one of them in any biological or genetic sense. Instead, differences in reading skills across racial groups are usually tied to social factors, like:

Access to quality education

Socioeconomic status

Exposure to books and language early in life

School funding and resources

Cultural expectations and support

Systemic discrimination and historical inequalities

In short: if you see differences between groups in reading comprehension rates, it’s not because of race itself — it’s because of the conditions people live in, many of which are shaped by racism, poverty, or inequality.

The scientific consensus is very clear about this. Human cognitive abilities, including reading, are not biologically determined by race. Race is a social construct, not a biological category with meaningful differences in abilities like reading.

Curious — what got you thinking about this? A study you saw? A conversation?
You said:
A contention on a discussion forum from someone smart enough to know better.
ChatGPT said:

Ah, got it — classic.
Those are always frustrating, especially when it's someone who should know better but still floats a bad argument, either out of stubbornness or bias.

It’s wild how often people try to use "race" as a shortcut explanation for complex outcomes. In reality, the evidence overwhelmingly points to environmental and systemic causes for differences in educational achievement — not some baked-in biological difference.

And honestly, the history of people trying to argue that race explains cognitive ability is super ugly — we're talking about junk science from the 19th and early 20th centuries (think craniometry, eugenics, etc.), which has been thoroughly discredited. Modern genetics shows humans are way too genetically similar across so-called "races" for there to be meaningful biological differences like that.

If you want, I can also pull up some heavy-hitting research that totally dismantles that kind of claim. Would you want that — like, a couple strong sources you could drop in next time the topic comes up? 🔥

***

Funny how racism effects comprehension in general.

[FadedMullet]

64. Interesting stuff and all from ChatGPT? I confess that I know nothing about ChatGPT but it's probably the....

……next rabbit hole I go down.

[Farther]

65. Yes

I just started playing with it myself. It is an amazing tool. It's like google search on steroids. And it's apparently prejudiced toward truth and rapidly winning me over.

[WarGamer]

2. In my travels... I've been in "poor nations" that have higher levels of literacy.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

3. When I was in the 2nd grade I was reading at a 5.4 level

I was far from a genius.

[BlueKota]

8. I was reading above my level in grade school as well.

The bad thing was I was way below the average for math. I have a learning disability in that area.

I feel bad that there are so many who don't have the opportunities to learn that I did. Also that too many won't know the joy of reading.

[madville]

12. They just want to scroll videos nowadays

My dad had some old rental mobile homes when I was young, one day he brought home an old set of encyclopedias from one he cleaned out. The set was missing a few letters but I read most of them cover to cover, that was my entertainment many days. I still will read Wikipedia on random subjects just because I enjoy studying things.

[BlueKota]

13. That's great that you enjoy studying things,

and about the encyclopedias. My Mom taught both my sister and I how to read before we went to school, and took us to the library often. She loved to read herself, and wanted us to come to love it too.

[greatauntoftriplets]

59. I also read at significantly above the standard level.

[hlthe2b]

15. One thing I never got over working in the Middle East years ago was the kids on the street--especially in Egypt

wanted nothing more than to practice their English with me (and yes, I was traveling/working alone) so they were not at all intimidated nor intimidating to me. They not only spoke wonderful English, knew much more than the average American about US and global geopolitics but many of them spoke two or more other languages too. Street kids--not the spawn of the privileged...

I loved speaking with them, debating with them, but I likewise felt such sadness that so many in this country were so poorly educated and even more that many were unmotivated to learn...

sigh...

[Igel]

16. Define "literacy."

The definition in the US has changed a lot.

At one point, it was able to read the Gospels.

Later, if you could make your mark you were literate. Used to be that basic literacy, enough to write simple notes was full literacy. For legal purposes.

At other times, unless you were well versed in Shakepeare's sonnets and familiar Milton you weren't 'truly' literate.

Venezuela had a literacy campaign--illiterate to fully literate in 6 months of night school, spending a few days a week. Soviet literacy campaigns were no better in achieving high levels of a "fully literate" population. They were aiming for less than a 6th-grade level given either TX or Common Core standards.

Ivan IV of Russia was judged literate--but his letters are abysmal. (Had one professor try to get us students to write a grammar of his Russian, but what he used wasn't a "grammar" but a combination of able to spell common Russian words while trying to be all fancy and use Russian Church Slavic to show exactitudinally the manner in which elevatedly educationated were he. Sort of how he'd have put it. Instead of "to show exactly how highly educated he was." It came out a mess.

I've seen college juniors and seniors, at good universities, less literate than some of my high school students.

[FirstLight]

4. And they want this to be even lower...

There's a reason why they're dismantling the department of education

[Rebl2]

5. They

want to continue the dumbing down of America. Actually I sometimes wonder if some of our Congress members are part of the 54%.

[TheBlackAdder]

6. Many older epic movies were written at RL8, like Ben-Hur & The Ten Commandments. I guess we're getting stupider.

[elocs]

7. I read that here last week along with the news that we have a 21% illiteracy rate.

A year after I learned to read I was reading at a sixth grade level and making visits to our library twice a day sometimes (we lived just a few blocks away). I liked the Beverly Cleary books like "Beezus and Ramona" (lots of Ramona books) and Henry Huggins.

I'm sure that Trump's goal is to keep America as ignorant as possible, making them easier to control. That's odd though since he is going to only be here for another 3+ years. It's almost like he expects to be in power longer than that. Impossible since we Democrats are going to easily retake the House and Senate at the midterms and in '28 we will easily recapture the White House and begin to set things straight. Right.

[OMGWTF]

22. T💩p said he loves the poorly educated. Truth is, he loathes his rube MAGA flying monkeys.

[Aristus]

9. The percentage is that low, huh?

I was convinced that 90% of the people out there were functional illiterates, and what I was hearing from them wasn’t speech as much as organized grunting.

[Rachel M at 6 pm]

10. Not true

A large number of them don't read at all

[madville]

11. Diving into the demographics of it

Is quite interesting, one major thing that drags those numbers down a significant amount is the Hispanic population, 40% are considered illiterate, not just that they read below a sixth grade level, they basically can’t read at any level. English proficiency also plays a role in that.

[Renew Deal]

17. Link? Which Americans?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

18. "Link?" Below "Which Americans? All of them.

54% of adults have a literacy below a 6th-grade level (20% are below 5th-grade level).

https://www.thenationalliteracyinstitute.com/2024-2025literacy-statistics

[Renew Deal]

25. Including toddlers?

[Irish_Dem]

29. Research designs do not include toddlers in an ADULT cohort group.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

33. He thinks he's clever.

[Renew Deal]

39. I know

[Renew Deal]

38. So it's not actually all Americans?

Does it include people with disabilities?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

31. Sometimes I wish this wasn't a moderated board.

[Ponietz]

35. Proves the point -- some on DU read below a 6th grade level

[Renew Deal]

36. Pretend it isn't

What about people with disabilities?

[Ponietz]

32. Why the snark?

54% of adults

[DemocratSinceBirth]

37. Thank you.

I didn't deserve it.

[Renew Deal]

40. Deserve it?

It’s a request for a link and specificity. I like you DSB. Don’t mistake it for anything else.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

42. I don't want to get a hide. I see you have two.

[Renew Deal]

43. Go for it

Say what you want to say. Just make sure you read everything I said and then we can discuss who deserves what.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

47. Revisit the "toddlers" reply.

Your sarcasm didn't escape the gaze of three DUers.

[Renew Deal]

48. The previous answer was "All of them"

But of all the serious things, I don’t think this is it. We have better things to argue about.

[MichMan]

20. Educational system should be embarrassed

I suspect the vast majority of those reading at a sixth grade level or below still managed to receive a High School diploma. Just kept promoting them to the next grade, so it was someone else's problem.

[RockRaven]

44. A lot of adults don't read anything not absolutely necessary, and unused skills degrade.

There is plenty of blame to go around. Sure the educational system fails people, but people also fail themselves.

[MadameButterfly]

26. Well, that explains a lot

[mvd]

27. Very sad

And the really stupid things I have heard from a few Lyft drivers make me understand how Trump happened. Just an unbelievable amount of stupidity and ignorance out there.

[mvd]

30. In fact

What I heard is so bad I won’t even say what the talking points were.

[phylny]

28. We went to Aruba last month.

The country’s literacy rate is about 97+ percent.

Granted, it’s a small country, but I thought it was impressive.

[madville]

51. Many Asian countries are 90%+

I think their culture places a much higher value on education than we do here, outside our own Asian population of course.

[Doodley]

41. When I heard that half of kids are in the bottom fifty percent, I was furious! Yes half! That's how bad it is!

It's a joke!

[Doodley]

49. Because they want to make kids Christian nationalists. They don't want to teach evolution, black history, birth

control, anything about the LGBTQ community, or anything outside the flag-waving prejudices of their narrow worldview. This is what is already happening.

[Doodley]

46. This chart explains a lot! And Republicans think they should impose their educatonal standards on blue states!

https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/11mu4i4/oc_bachelors_degree_attainment_by_us_state_by/

[Pinback]

50. And the other half can't do math.

[bucolic_frolic]

52. Yes, and prob 80% think below a 6th grade level. /nt

[The Wizard]

54. America's biggest shysters

are reaping the benefits of a deliberately dumbed down permanent underclass that provides cheap labor.

[Noodleboy13]

56. Makes designing a currriculum tough .

What level do you teach to? 30% of your class is slightly advanced, they're reading above grade level already. 30% of your class is barely literate and has no idea what you're talking about. Do you teach towards the 40% in the middle? The bright kids are going to be bored silly and will likely act out, and the less advanced students don't understand what's going on and are likely frustrated and acting out. So 60% of class is being poorly served. Teaching is tough, I don't think there is a panacea one size fits all cure; each siution will require good, thoughtful teachers. We could start by paying them a heck of a lot more than we currently do.

Peace,
Noodleboy

[Faux pas]

60. Source?

[Americanme]

61. I could read before I started school,

my mom and older brother taught me. By 4th or 5th grade, I was reading at college level, had individual instruction instead of class lessons. I didn't go to college, but at least I can read and comprehend. It just sems like human nature to want to learn, I don't get the gleeful embrace of ignorance.

[Historic NY]

62. I remember a reading comprehension program

I had in late grade school and into HS. It might have been SRA . You would read an article and answer questions.It was timed, each level was color coded. I was at level 13 in 9th grade. What it did was allow me to read better and faster for comprehension. When I went to Public HS they didn't have that program.