[geeks] FW: [rescue] UPS Recommendation

[Mike Meredith]

On Wed, 16 Jul 2003 16:35:14 -0500
Brian Dunbar <Brian.Dunbar at plexus.com> wrote:
> But _where_ was the illiteracy rate 20% in the US?  

It doesn't say, so I'm assuming that it's averaged out.

> It's never been a
> steady upward progression, ever, in the US.

According to the US Office of Education's figures, it was a steady
upwards progression from 1870-1979 except for one blip in 1950. Figures
come from :-

http://nces.ed.gov/naal/historicaldata/illiteracy.asp

I wouldn't be too surprised if the literacy rates were somewhat higher
before 1870, but I doubt it comes up to the rates of today. Mind you
literate (in the sense of "not-illiterate") doesn't equate to being
educated.

> I think the trend was that the frontier had higher literacy rates that
> the interior, but I'm not sure I extrapolated that or 'learnt' it. 
> It's interesting that nearly the first thing any frontier community
> did was to fund a schoolhouse.

Well intelligent people get to where the going is good, and are most
likely to invest in education, so it isn't too surprising (my excuse is
that my ancestors were probably locked into coal mines).