What, exactly, _is_ "Fifth Grade level?" I recall having been
told, (rather, my parents were told; in those days children were
talked _about_, not to) when I was in Fifth grade, that I was
reading "at the high school senior level." Considering the
intervening decline and dumbing-down of US education, the
_average_ high school senior today probably would do well to
read at the level of the _average_ Fifth grader of that time.
Once again we see the wisdom of John Silber's existential
riddle about "higher education": "Higher than what?"