What is the average reading level of an adult in the U.S.?

You could be on to something Daniel. I was reading at high school level when I was 8. Of course we had no tv, so I spent my time reading adventure books, couldn't get enou of them. I still have one of my favorites, "The Burnished Blade." I still read it every several years, the memories come flooding back to 1952, cold night, snuggled up with my book.. doesn't get any better. At 74 I still go to sleep every night with a book in my lap.back to the point. I had the most wonderful English teacher, her enthusiasm for helping me understand language outside my comprehension was the best thing that ever happened to me. When it's all said and done, kids today don't read because of all the electronic garbage at their disposal. Obviously not all gadgets are bad, some are excellent learning tools. I read to my three daughters until they were almost in high school. Some years ago, I asked one of my daughters why she was so insistent that I read to them.. her answer was quite simple. She said it was because I became so animated when I read. She said she felt like she was there, in the place I was reading about, could see the characters, feel the moment. Best compliment I've ever had. Okay, enough.. sad to say how drastically things have changed, how much our children are missing.. Parents.. read to your children. You just might be surprised at the outcome. Don't rely on our educational system. That ship has, unfortunately, sailed. Still have some wonderful teachers, but I have a bad feeling their hands are tied by bureaucracy.

mmmccardle, Besides not getting raises and having too many kids in class and never enough supplies they're kept busy teaching for "the tests" the students have to pass in order to graduate.

Haven't we been talking about the government dumbing us down. Well, do you get it now. I am embarassed by people in the USA who cannot read. What the hell are our teachers doing.

Our education system doesn't want Anyone to be too intelligent, because when people get smart, the system crashes!

I love to read, and thankfully, my grandchild are read to by their parents....and the reading has paid off with my grandchildren taking advanced classes.

And now with Betsy DeVos as the head of Fepartment of Education it will only get worse.

I like to read so much, I started in Kindergarten because the stories the teacher read were to boring. This was in 1950.

I didn’t know how to read until I was in the 3rd grade. I had a speech impediment. My 3rd-grade teacher (Mr. Flurry) saw this and connected my inability to read was actually too embarrassed to speak. He set it up that the county paid to send me to speech therapy during my morning recess at no cost to my family. (We didn’t have much) Now I have done many public speeches and read on a daily basis. He is one of the two teachers that I really remember.

mmmccardle, I was a teacher for 35 years. The hands of teachers are tied to what their districts, or state department wants. One time it was color coded rooms, another time it was charts, another time it was rotating centers, another time it was do not correct. They make us dizzy. Another time it was teach to the test. I hope you are getting the picture. Yet, there are dedicated, caring wonderful teachers who teach and are successful at it.

mmmccardle, They are trying to control the disrespectful kids parents are sending to school.

Rbee carey, that's still pretty sad.

smjohnson, I feel for you. I believe parents too have a huge influence on, and responsibility to encourage love of reading.

Tom McKenna, why get rid of tv completely?

Laurie Bowman, grandparents are the greatest.

Tom Seigo, I'll try.

Tom McKenna, yes, out of there.

Spike Holmes, it's scandalous alright.

Kathy Fenwick, one of mine read Lonesome Dove at about age 10. That is one long book. I read to him from birth. I remember being tired at night and trying to fudge on his favorite betime story by skipping a page. That didn't work. He had it memorized. He knew very word of that book at age three.

patrhea, are you suggesting I snuggle up here? It is awfully cold out.

Reading is necessary in so many areas of life, they really need to focus more on it.

Humans are the only many other ways to get mammals that don’t wean their young. Suppose there is a good reason for that. There are many other ways to get vitamin

Some may READ at Eighth Grade level, but their writing skills are far below that...

Gary Albert, My daughter used to say the same thing when I read to her as a child. Even now as an adult, she would love to hear me tell about a book that I just read.

Kathy Fenwick, absolutely.

I use a hint for the answer. I recall too many newspapers with articles about the failure of schools to graduate literate students. One article I read just yesterday was saying New York grads tested at the fourth grade level. I am sad to note here in Florida that many young salespeople cannot make change and rely on the register to tell them how much cash to return. Asking current events questions to these same young people indicates no historical knowledge or understanding of current events