Of the McBrooms whose literacy was recorded, 82.3% could both read and write, 3.1% could read but not write, and 14.6% could do neither. Men came out slightly ahead, 84.1% reading and writing against 80.8% of women. Bear in mind these figures include young children; the census itself only counted people aged nine and over when calculating illiteracy, on the grounds that it was unfair to label a child illiterate before they'd had a chance to learn.