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["Marie McHarry" <mmcharry AT gmail.com>]

>> >I think that's an assertion without evidence.
>
> It most certainly is not.   In Massachusetts, the first state to have
> compulsory attendance, the decade before the institution of mandatory public
> education, the literacy rate was estimated at 96%.  It has never been that 
> high since.

I'm skeptical when I see statements like this. How do you estimate the
level of literacy in retrospect. For that matter, how do you estimate
current levels of literacy? I would guess that most kids read and
write at least as well as they need to to text message each other and
play computer games.

Marie