According to Wikipedia, “In pre-modern times it is unlikely that literacy was found in more than about 30-40% of the population.”
That actually seems high to me, particularly during the so-called Dark Ages of Europe between the fall of the Roman Empire and the advent of the printing press. But that’s not the point.
The point is this: how many scholars in the 1200s would have sworn that most people aren’t capable of reading? How many people alive 800 years ago were certain that the average person was not smart enough to read?
My guess, of course, is many. And yet, many countries today have literacy rates in the 99th percentile: literally everyone is capable of reading.
Which leads to this important question: How often do we overlook potential?
If so many people’s ability to achieve literacy could be underestimated, what assumptions do we make today that could be proven wrong in the space of a few lifetimes?
What assumptions do you make? About tone deafness, music literacy, human interaction, the pursuit of peace, human cruelty, life trajectory?
It’s worth taking a step back from our assumptions, now and then, and recognizing that universally agreed-upon assumptions are regularly proven wrong.