Advanced written literacy, as with advanced computer literacy and numeracy is generally far more limited than many people would think. I've been aware of this

Advanced written literacy, as with advanced computer literacy and numeracy is generally far more limited than many people would think. I've been aware of this for some years now by way of both OECD studies on general computer literacy (find-and-replace functions are usable to perhaps 5--10% of the adult population) and US studies on adult literacy. I've posted the latter to HN a few times, the one time that took traction was about three years ago, on 31 Dec 2021: <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29734146 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29734146> It's based on "Adult Literacy in the United States" (2019), through the US Department of Education (one of the US federal agencies likely to be on the chopping block): <https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2019/2019179/index.asp https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2019/2019179/index.asp> The OECD study is here: <https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/skills-matter_9789264258051-en https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/skills-matter_978926...> I'd made a couple of explanatory comments in the earlier discussion about elements of this (and related studies) which I find highly illuminating, including suggestions that at least at the margin (and perhaps far more deeply) overall literacy and lifetime attainment are relatively insensitive to educational opportunities. (Both individuals and countries as a whole show ... counterintuitive ... behaviours.) I tend to suspect both innate and other environmental factors (overall stimulation, pollution and experiential degredation of potential, etc.). I'll hasten to mention that the innate capabilities seem to apply to individuals rather than populations, as high- and low-achievers can be found widely. TFA's UNESCO study does suggest strong regional variance, however...