Will Johnny ever learn to read? Pushback against science of reading mandates

Joe Biden looks at the Wall Street Journal, Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022, in the Oval Office. (Official White House photo by Adam Schultz)

Half a century after the book “Why Johnny Can’t Read” sounded an alarm about the rise of illiteracy in the U.S., it has only gotten worse: A quarter of all young adults, many of them high school graduates, are now functionally illiterate. Unable to read more than basic, short sentences, their prospects in today’s information economy are bleak.

This crisis...