[toraobo]

> First day of first grade, I found out no one could competently read a sentence.

Isn't the standard expectation that children enter first-grade completely illiterate? I remember learning how to read and write letters one per lesson in first grade.

I'd guess that maybe 5% are taught to read by parents?

[perl4ever]

I think schools even discourage parents teaching their kids to read, even in wealthy suburban, college oriented districts. But some do anyway, and it could be more than 5% especially if you only count those that end up being strong readers.

A theory my parents had was that the limiting factor in teaching a child to read is not the mental capacity, but their eyesight - supposedly it's normal to start out relatively farsighted and unable to focus on small print close up. So they started me and my sister on words printed in very large letters and gradually reduced them.

[Izkata]

For the places that have it, I think kindergarten is where you're expected to first learn. Mine was in the same building as 1st through 6th grade.

(I was taught by my parents before even that, and when I started school they didn't believe my parents' claim - had to prove it by reading a new book aloud to them)