This fucking "fact" again
It's simply not true.
Fifth Grade Literacy is not "bad at reading", it's literally just defined as "misses subtext and tends towards a literal reading, can see subtext on additional reads or with prompting"
this post was submitted on 08 May 2026
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It's reading and comprehension
Counter point. Communist revolution happened when most workers were illiterate
I agree with the sentiment but don't agree that literacy is that important to revolutions throughout history. Most of the foot soldiers in a revolution were illiterate, don't need a book to understand the people at the top are taking all your money with rent and taxes and giving you nothing in return.
The women marching on Versailles and the sans cullotes marching in the street weren't marching because they read a book, they were marching because they needed bread and knew the ruling monarchy and aristocracy weren't fulfilling that need.
Class consciousness is not dependent on literacy.
I found a paper that seems to be arguing that you're right about motive, but that the literate French revolutionaries were smarter about it:
It has been widely argued that the growth of mass literacy is critical for the development of modern forms of contentious politics. Recent Scholarship, however, has challenged this view. This study explores the relationship between levels of literacy in rural France toward the end of 18th century and the extent and nature of peasant mobilization at the beginning of the French Revolution. It is found that literacy did not promote rural disturbances as such but that the forms and targets of peasant actions in the more literate areas difered from those in the less literate. The less literate districts were notable for mobilization against rumored but nonexistent invasions, whereas the most literate districts nurtured attacks on the central social institutions of the Old Regime.
While truly concerning, it seems important to define a fifth grade level. By the time I was in fifth grade, I'd already read the Lord of the Rings, so my fifth-grade reading level was doing pretty well, lol.
Still, the point stands, I know.
Luckily to clear up any self-bragging confusion, test scores and thus literacy, are standardized through tests (primarily written and distributed by McGraw-Hill, which was founded by Ghislaine Maxwell's [yes Epstein's Ghislaine Maxwell] Father.)
That totally normal fact aside, the general measurement is reading speed across age-appropriate 'Lexile' levels, which is an annoying complex metric assigned to various texts based on grammar, word count, word complexity, complexity of the plot(s), and kinda general vibe.
The Hobbit is 1000L, which is the middle of a 5th grade reading level. Pretty much any fifth grade student, theoretically, should be able to read The Hobbit with little to no trouble nor the need to look up additional words; at around 130 words per minute.
For some other fun examples, Twilight is 720L (3rd grade reading level), Robinson Crusoe is 1360L (at least 7th grade), The Lord of the Rings Trilogy ranges from 810-920L (4th grade reading level, so good brag) and War and Peace, shockingly, is only 1180L.
Second question, what's "third grade" for you?
In france it's like 15-16 (they count backwards too so second comes after third), in Sweden it's like 9-10.
In the US grades are (usually) the following:
Pre-Kindergarten (not all Americans attend this): 3-5 years old Kindergarten: 4-6 years old Elementary school is 1st-5th grade. 1st grade: 5-7 years old ... 3rd grade: 8-10 years old ... 'Middle School' or 'Junior high is 6th-8th grade. 6th usually is 11-13 years old and High school is 9th-12th grade. we typically end with 12th grade at 17-18 years old
These are general ranges as it does vary from state to state with allowances for birthdays and advanced placement (i.e. in many places you can test out of or into various grades), but the general idea is (except pre-K) you spend 12 years between 5 years old to 17 years old in grades 1-12. That plus kindergarten are all that's fully paid for as far as public education goes.
What about Umberto Ecos books, or Dostojevskijs?
Umberto Ecos
The only work by Eco that is graded is Serendipities at 1480L, this would be somewhere in high school (as early as 9th grade reading level for AP/Advanced students, up to 12th grade for average students.)
Dostoevsky
Only around 700-800L, shockingly. The English translation of Crime and Punishment isn't considered that advanced apparently. I personally wouldn't think it's on the same level as Twilight, but that is what the American education system feels about it.
Any metric that lists the hobbit as a higher reading level than LoTR is not a good metric.
So the Hobbit is higher than the LOTR trilogy? That's kind of a bad metric then.
I also read Lord of the Rings at that age. Unfortunately, I thought "Middle Earth" meant everything was happening in the middle of the planet, i.e. at its center, so I thought all the scenes were happening in giant caves and that was how I imagined the book. When the movie came out (I mean the animated one in the '70s) I was like "why the fuck is everybody outside?"
While my parents were certainly problematic (which for quite some time led to myself being problematic), one of the things for which I'm ever grateful is that, in addition to my primary caregiver reading to us kids while our parents were working/partying/otherwise occupied with things other than parenting, my own parents provided me with books, scores of them, and also took me on road trips, making a game of reading signs, billboards, vanity plates. They also made me look up spellings and meanings in the appropriate, hardcopy reference books. I struggled with some schoolwork, but reading was always truly a pleasure.
I seem to remember in school taking Iowa tests that then would tell you your reading level, regardless of your actual grade level. I'm sure yours was high school/college level to read LotR in 5th and not get bored!
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It varies from state to state. Most states are well above the global average literacy rate. 13 states are below the global average. Some are well below. The states with the four lowest average literacy rates are the four most populous states: California, Texas, Florida and New York. It's likely that there is significant variance within each of these states, likely correlated with socioeconomic status.
This seems weird. Where's mississippi? Or oklahoma? Unless you're counting the total number of illiterate people at which point you might as well just say California leads the nation and people per capita
This has me thinking about how an institute is like a .org: sounds official, means zero
I think I would argue it's just education in general, but literacy is such an easy measure to draw that from. The reason I would make it a broader statement like education is because things like LLMs and brainrot short-form content destroy critical thinking and attention spans as well, which I would also argue would be key for any revolution.
There's a reason USA revolutionaries were wealthy, white landowners. Several, but this is one of them.
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Literacy means nothing when all a person reads is propaganda and lies.
Literacy is not just about reading, it's also about getting people interested in learning. That's how we expand our vocabulary and understand language. Teaching someone to be proactive in their language learning prompts people to look for factual definitions & answers. Most people do not read propaganda & lies, they usually just repeat what someone else has said. The only people reading that are the ones searching for confirmation bias of their conspiracy theories (911, UFOs, bigfoot, etc.). This is why fox news is so popular with low information conservatives, or talk radio even. It's just a passive consumption of lies that they can get 'angry' about.
I wonder what other countries are at
Those are literacy rates, which are distinct from literacy proficiency levels.
From your link:
Literacy rates display the % of adults ages 15 and above who can both read and write with understanding a short simple statement about their everyday life.
That definition corresponds roughly to the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies' definition of being below the lowest level:
At Level 1, they can understand short texts and organised lists when information is clearly indicated, find specific information and identify relevant links. Those below Level 1 can at most understand short, simple sentences.
– OECD Survey of Adults Skills 2023: United States
Overall, people overestimate average literacy levels. The US is slightly worse than the OECD average of 26% of adults at Level 1 or below. Even in the highest performing country, Finland, 12% of adults meet that definition.
I remember reading in the CIA World Book that North Korea has a near 100% literacy rate.
My understanding is that Norway also has a 100% literacy rate. I mean, apples and oranges as to why.
I wonder where the data comes from. Not exactly like there are too many NK running around the West to check up on.
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