(54%) of Americans between the ages of 16 and 74 read below the equivalent of a sixth-grade level

[love_katz]

21. My parents were told when I was in 5th grade...

That I could read, comprehend and retain what I was reading, at the college level.

Reading was encouraged in my home. My dad said I could recite, word for word, the stories that my mother read to me, before I was three years old. Dad said that people might think that I was actually reading the story, but they could tell that I was reciting because I would pronounce the words and use the same inflection that my mom had, when she read me the story.
Dad started working on making me use my eyes more, by asking me to tell him what was on the page besides the words.
My parents constantly encouraged me to think. We had a Webster's unabridged dictionary, and dad made me look up unfamiliar words when I was still too small to lift it down to the table. He would get it down, but he made me search through it for the word, and he also insisted that I learn to sound words out. We had a subscription for National Geographic magazine, which I devoured eagerly each month. Mom took me to the library often enough that the librarian knew my name and helped pick out books for me. I still have two large format hardback books about nature and science that my folks bought as a holiday gift to our family.

I'm horrified at the lack of reading comprehension and logical thinking in our country.