In fact, most people are less intelligent and less capable than many of you can probably imagine:
How many US adults score at literacy level 4 or higher? About 12%, or 1 in 8.
Since over 60% of high school grads go on to enroll in college, we know for a certainty that the vast majority of them are below level 4 in literacy. College kids are functionally illiterate.
These are college students majoring in English. About half of them are English Education majors, which means they will be teaching books like Bleak House to high school students after graduating. But they themselves cannot understand the literal meaning of the sentences in the opening paragraphs.
