A Listicle of 32 Memes Laid Out for the Literate

Emmy Pratt • Senior Editor

Apr 2, 2024 7:00 PM EDT

Reading is fundamental. I am always going to be pro-literacy, and I used to think that that would be a pretty uncontroversial opinion. I recently saw an Instagram Reel that was so shockingly anti-literacy that I've been thinking about it for the past 7 days. It went as follows:

"My son's preschool is amazing! He already knew how to read by the time he started Kindergarten!"
When did we decide that ending childhood so early was a GOOD thing?

If you think that learning how to read effectively ends childhood, that is crazy to me. I have so many good memories of reading when I was a kid, and I don't think that learning to do so early takes much time away from playing and having fun. Sure, it's not great to force your kid to be the first literate one in their preschool class so they'll become the smartest toddler in your town, but reading is a childhood enhancer, if anything. If you love to read and can still do it to this day, these wordy memes will get your brain working.