Literacy: Quick Facts

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Inscription dating to the 1st millennium bce

Ancient Egyptian illustration from the Book of the Dead showing Anubis weighing the soul of the scribe Ani, with gods seated above and hieroglyphic text throughout.

Painting of a person with a headscarf reading a newspaper, with blue and white text overlaid reading: How the middle class learned to read.

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Topics

lay literacy scientific literacy elite literacy literacy test What was the importance of literacy and learning to Alfred’s rule?writing reading Social issue language acquisition Bilingualism

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Key People

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E.D. Hirsch, Jr.

American literary critic and educator