Three Theses Reframing the Literacy Crisis as Infrastructure Failure

Trevor Aleo, writing on Substack, argues that the current moral panic over declining literacy rates misdiagnoses the problem. He contends that literacy is not a single cognitive skill but a set of contextual, socially embedded practices that evolve with technology. Aleo critiques Rose Horowitch's Atlantic cover story "The End of Reading Is Here" as clickbait that collapses three distinct phenomena: basic decoding, the infrastructure of print culture, and specialized literary studies. He asserts that NAEP scores are often misinterpreted, with the "proficient" benchmark being aspirational rather than grade-level. Aleo draws on scholars like Maryanne Wolf, N. Katherine Hayles, and Jeff Jarvis to argue that digital media cultivate different cognitive habits, and that the real threat is the systematic undermining of public institutions—schools, libraries, universities, and funding bodies like the NEH—that sustain literacy. He calls for treating literacy as public infrastructure rather than an individual skill, and promises a follow-up on pedagogical frameworks for the post-digital age.