Mugginsx

According to the Wikipedia Survey overview, UnU-Merit Collaborative Creativity Group (March 2010), p. 7: the largest percentage of readers in the study group (37.25%) have a secondary education. The next largest group (25.23%) has a tertiary-undergraduate education, the third largest group (17.24%) has tertiary-Masters educational level and the fourth group (12.08%) has a primary education level only. Those with PhDs comprised only 2.26% while a group identified as "other" comprised the remaining 5.93%.

This means that 49.33% of readers have a high school or less educational level while 44.73% are identified as having a college education of from 1-8 years. As numerous readability studies have shown, the latter group can easily read at the target 8th-9th grade reading level as can most of the former group. As a result, a Flesch–Kincaid readability score of from 60-70 (8th-9th grade level) is the ideal for English Wikipedia articles in general. Certainly the most technical articles on Wikipedia would of necessity be written at a more difficult level with a correspondingly lower expected readership due to subject matter. But the vast majority of articles should ideally be written so as to score 60-70 on the Flesch–Kincaid scale.

http://www.readabilityofwikipedia.com/score

http://www.wikipediasurvey.org/docs/Wikipedia_Overview_15March2010-FINAL.pdf

See also:

http://www.readabilityofwikipedia.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Make_technical_articles_understandable

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Readability

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flesch%E2%80%93Kincaid_readability_test

In the public domain.

'To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes

the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and

abhors is sinful and tyrannical."

-- Thomas Jefferson ^[1]

"Socialism is a philosophy of failure,

the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy,

its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.."

-- Winston Churchill ^[2]

"Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely."

--British historian, Lord Acton (1834-1902)

'"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.

Do not allow evil to triumph. Do not do sit by and do nothing. Stand up ..." '

'-- Edmund Burke

''"Whatever you do may seem insignificant to you,

'but it is most important that you do it"'

'--Mahatma Gandhi^[3]

"

"Who knows himself a braggart,

Let him fear this, for it will come to pass

that every braggart shall be found an ass."