Reading and math scores are abysmal across the country, as national testing results keep documenting. Illiteracy rates are rising: The number of 16 to 24-year-olds reading at the lowest literacy levels increased from 16 percent in 2017 to 25 percent in 2023, according to data from the National Center for Education Statistics.

In some inner-city schools, less than half of kids are reading or doing math at grade-level proficiency. Many high school grads can't read their diplomas.

As an economist, I would submit that this is our greatest crisis. It puts the future of American prosperity in grave danger. Also, the learning gap widens income and wealth disparities.

The apparent solution among the education establishment is not to challenge kids to stretch their minds and hit the books, but rather to dumb down the curriculum so everyone passes. I call this the "make everyone below average" solution.

Some schools are no longer requiring kids in English class to read cover to cover the classic........

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