Editing Literacy (section)

===Europe===
====United Kingdom====
On average, girls do better than boys at English, yet nearly one in ten young adult women have poor reading and writing skills in the UK in the 21st century, which seriously damages their employment prospects. Many are trapped in poverty but hide their lack of reading skills due to social stigma.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Coughlan |first=Sean |date=7 September 2018 |title=Kate Winslet warns of 'shame' of illiteracy |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-45435973 |website=[[BBC]]}}</ref>

=====England=====
Literacy is first documented to have occurred in the area of modern England on 24 September 54 BCE, when [[Julius Caesar]] and [[Quintus Cicero]] wrote to [[Marcus Cicero]] "from the nearest shores of Britain".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tomlin |first=R. S. O. |title=Artefacts in Roman Britain: their purpose and use |year=2011 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-86012-3 |editor-last=Allason-Jones |editor-first=Lindsay |page=133 |chapter=Writing and Communication}}</ref> Literacy was widespread under Roman rule but became very rare, limited almost entirely to churchmen, after the [[fall of the Western Roman Empire]]. In 12th and 13th century England, the ability to recite a particular passage from the Bible ([[Psalm 51]]) in Latin entitled a [[common law]] defendant to the [[benefit of clergy]] and trial before an [[ecclesiastical court]], where sentences were more lenient, instead of a secular one, where hanging was a likely sentence. Thus, literate defendants often claimed the benefit of clergy, while an illiterate person who had memorized the psalm used in the literacy test could also claim the benefit of clergy.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Baker |first=John R. |title=An Introduction to English Legal History |publisher=Butterworths |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-406-93053-8 |location=London}}</ref>

Despite lacking a system of free and compulsory primary schooling, England reached near universal literacy in the 19th century as a result of shared, informal learning provided by family members, fellow workers, or benevolent employers. Even with near-universal literacy, the gap between male and female rates persisted until the early 20th century. Many women in the West during the 19th century were able to read but unable to write.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lyons |first=Martyn |title=Books: A Living History |year=2011 |publisher=Getty |isbn=978-1-606-06083-4 |edition=2nd |location=Los Angeles |page=98}}</ref>

=====Wales=====
{{Unreferenced section|date=September 2023}}
Formal higher education in the arts and sciences in [[Wales]], from the Middle Ages to the 18th century, was limited to the wealthy and the clergy. Following the Roman occupation and the conquest by the English, education in Wales was at a low point during the [[early modern period]]; in particular, formal education was only available in English while the majority of the population spoke only [[Welsh language|Welsh]]. The first modern grammar schools were established in Welsh towns such as [[Ruthin]], [[Brecon]], and [[Cowbridge]]. One of the first modern national education methods to use the native Welsh language was started by [[Griffith Jones (Llanddowror)|Griffith Jones]] in 1731. Jones became rector of [[Llanddowror]] in 1716 and remained there for the rest of his life. He organized and introduced a Welsh language-circulating school system, which was attractive and effective for Welsh speakers, while also teaching them English, which gave them access to broader educational sources. The circulating schools may have taught half the country's population to read. Literacy rates in Wales by the mid-18th century were one of the highest.

====Continental Europe====
[[File:Adriaen van Ostade 007.jpg|thumb|upright=0.95|Dutch schoolmaster and children, 1662]]
[[File:Russa literacy 1897.jpg|thumb|Until the beginning of 20th century, most of the population in the [[Russian Empire]] was illiterate (map of [[Russian Empire census|1897 census]] literacy data).]]

The ability to read did not necessarily mean the ability to write. The [[Swedish Church Law 1686|1686 church law]] (''kyrkolagen'') of the Kingdom of [[Sweden]] (modern Sweden, [[Finland]], [[Latvia]], and [[Estonia]]) made literacy compulsory, and by 1800, the percent of people able to read was close to 100%.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bornstein, Mark H. |title=The SAGE Encyclopedia of Lifespan Human Development |year=2018 |publisher=National Institute of Child Health & Human Development |location=Bethesda, MD |isbn=978-1-506-30765-7}}</ref> This was directly dependent on the need to read religious texts in the [[Lutheranism|Lutheran faith]] in [[Sweden]] and [[Finland]]; as a result, literacy in these countries was specifically focused on reading.<ref name="Lions-2011">{{Cite book |last=Lyons |first=Martyn |title=Books: A Living History |year=2011 |publisher=Getty |isbn=978-1-606-06083-4 |edition=2nd |location=Los Angeles |page=97}}</ref> However, as late as the 19th century, many Swedes, especially women, could not write. [[Iceland]] was an exception, as it achieved widespread literacy without formal schooling, libraries, or printed books via informal tuition by religious leaders and peasant teachers.<ref name="Lions-2011" />

Historian [[Ernest Gellner]] argues that [[Continental Europe]]an countries were far more successful in implementing educational reform because their governments were more willing to invest in the population as a whole.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gellner |first=Ernest |title=Nations and Nationalism |publisher=Cornell University Press |year=1983 |isbn=978-0-801-49263-1 |location=Ithaca, NY}}</ref> Government oversight allowed countries to standardize curriculum and secure funding through legislation, thus enabling educational programs to have a broader reach.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Houston |first=Rab |title=Literacy in early modern Europe: culture and education, 1500-1800 |publisher=Routledge |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-582-36810-1 |edition=2nd}}</ref>

Although present-day concepts of literacy have much to do with the 15th-century invention of the [[movable type]] [[printing press]], it was not until the [[Industrial Revolution]] of the mid-19th century that paper and books became affordable to all classes of industrialized society. Until then, only a small percent of the population was literate, as only wealthy individuals and institutions could afford the materials. Even {{As of|2008|alt=today}}, the cost of paper and books is a barrier to universal literacy in some developing nations.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Economic Issues No. 33 - Educating Children in Poor Countries |url=https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/issues/issues33/ |access-date=2024-04-10 |website=www.imf.org}}</ref>

On the other hand, historian [[Harvey Graff]] argues that the introduction of [[compulsory education]] was, in part, an effort to control the type of literacy the [[working class]] had access to. According to Graff, learning was increasing outside of formal settings (e.g., schools), and this uncontrolled reading could lead to increased radicalization of the populace. In his view, mass schooling was meant to temper and control literacy, not spread it.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Graff |first=Harvey J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AAj9sM99qekC&pg=PR26 |title=The literacy myth: cultural integration and social structure in the nineteenth century |publisher=Transaction Publishers |year=1991 |isbn=978-0-887-38884-2 |page=xxvi}}</ref> Graff also says, using the example of Sweden, that mass literacy can be achieved without formal schooling or instruction in writing.