I found this podcast from this 
post:
I subbed today for a 7th and 8th grade teacher. I’m not exaggerating when I say at least 50% of the students were at a 2nd grade reading level. The students were to spend the class time filling out an “all about me” worksheet, what’s your name, favorite color, favorite food etc. I was asked 20 times today “what is this word?”. Movie. Excited. Trait. “How do I spell race car driver?”
I've only listened to one episode so far, but it's really well produced, seems well-researched and very well put together.
From what I gather so far, the ways that the American public school system "teaches" kids how to read is not only completely wrong, but actually saddles them bad habits which fundamentally hinder their reading comprehension.
A huge swath of American adults are functionally illiterate, and I think I'm starting to understand why.
I remember seeing similar poll numbers back in 2020 as well
It's definitely because higher education correlates with higher income
Lot easier to support tax money going to war when you're not struggling much
Okay, yeah. This is making me think of Jeff Schmidt's Disciplined Minds, a book I recommend constantly here because many of us are from the PMC and cannot fucking stand the rightwing tendencies of educated westerners (probably should just call them imperialists). It's like...yes, of course literacy is important, of course people need to be educated, but if you're educating them in a sick society, most of them are going to get sick, even if they're capable of regularly churning out scholarly works (or whatever...).