Education: Can You Read?

Not even his wife knew. He had gone to public school, served in World War II and was a successful businessman. But at 33 he still could not read. At last he sought help from New York University's Reading Clinic. Last week he was deep in a first-grade reader, and had just experienced one of life's biggest thrills—figuring out the sign on the subway train: "Please keep hands off door."

The illiterate businessman is an extreme case, but not a unique one. Dr. Stella Center, 69, who helped found the clinic ten years ago and now directs it, says sadly: "We are...

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