Comment by Sohcahtoa82

Whenever I saw statistics about literacy rates in the USA being startlingly low, I never believed it.

But then I remember many interactions I've had with people while working with the public, and...yeah I believe it.

You're right. People simply don't read. They don't even notice there are words somewhere in their vision. I used to work at a water ride at a theme park, and people would ask if they'll get wet on it, and there would literally be a sign right next to me that said "You will get wet on this ride, you may get soaked".

And then, occasionally, I'd have someone read it out loud, slowly, "you...will...get...wet..." and then be like "I don't understand, will I get wet on this ride?" and they're not even joking. They can turn the letters into sounds and words, but can't comprehend the result, yet if I just repeated exactly what the sign says, they understand it fine.

Now I wonder how many people that struggled with "word problems" in math simply weren't literate to begin with.