For most of human history people either had nothing to read, or they didn’t need to read to grow into productive adults. Instead they would listen to stories and learn skills from parents and other adults in their community. I was refuting the claim that formal schooling is necessary to get an education.
I would agree that reading is a fundamental skill in modern society. Children can learn to read young and very quickly, with just a little help. I could read books at 4 (I was not unschooled or homeschooled, but I wanted to read). My kids learned to read before 5 and it wasn’t that hard to teach them. We kept lots of books on all kinds of subjects in the house and if our kids wanted to learn more about something we got more books or took them to the library. If they got very interested we found mentors, tutors, other kids (of all ages) with the same interest.
