School made us 'literate' but did not teach us to read for pleasure.

As you can see, there are quite a number of things taught in school that one has to unlearn or at least correct.

Can you imagine the feeling of being an oppressed colonial being addressed respectfully by a colonizer in the mother country?

I blinked at her, suddenly loathing her to the depths of my soul. Not only was she probably rather evil, and definitely thoroughly unpleasant, but she also didn't read.

May I suggest that you all read? And often. Believe me, it's nice to have something to talk about other than the weather and the Queen's health. Your mind is not a cage. It's a garden. And it requires cultivating.

The French word 'Alphabétisme' may be a better term to remind us that literacy is simply about mastering the reading, writing and articulation of the alphabet, considered historically as a human 'invention' to produce a standardized and retrievable physical record of speech.