“As I started reading about it, I saw that at the beginning of the 19th century, outside of New England - which was an unusually literate place - practically no one could read or write. And even in New England, the overall rate was only about 60 percent. That still means four out of 10 people couldn't put their name to a will.” PeopleWritingMeanStillsReadingNamesSawsFourCenturyPercentEnglandRate19th CenturyNew England Author:Robert Hass
“A movement got started for common schools, and by the end of the 19th century, 91 percent of Americans could read and write.” WritingEndsSchoolCommonCenturyMovementPercent19th Century Author:Robert Hass
“It's the same with this idea of a literate public, and also of a democracy in which people have access to and really read the best books. It turns out that even when you create this kind of environment, maybe only 10 percent of the people want to read those books.” PeopleWantKindBookIdeasTurnsDemocracyEnvironmentPercentAccess Author:Robert Hass
“What Simone Weil said politics has meant all along, which means that you fight for 11 percent, 12 percent, 13 percent, that you avoid golden-age thinking and romantic melancholy and you just keep pushing.” ThinkingMeanSaidAgeFightingPercentGoldenPushingMelancholyGolden Age Author:Robert Hass
“I think one percent of the population attended college when Wallace Stevens and Robert Frost and Gertrude Stein were at Harvard. Now I think forty percent of Americans have some college education. That's an astronomical change.” ThinkingCollegePercentPopulationFortyHarvardFrostCollege EducationGertrude Author:Robert Hass
“In the beginning of the 19th century, maybe forty percent of women and fifty percent of men could produce a signature, which meant that they'd had at least three years of education because it was in third grade that people started penmanship in the 19th century. And of course black people could get killed if they got caught teaching themselves to read in some parts of the country.” PeopleIfsMenYearsCountryThreeCoursesBlackTeachingCenturyProducePercentThirdsCaughtFiftyGradesFortyBlack PeopleThree Years19th CenturySignaturesThird GradePenmanship Author:Robert Hass
