Of the McCallens whose literacy was recorded, 85.9% could both read and write, 2.4% could read but not write, and 11.8% could do neither. Women came out slightly ahead, 91.3% reading and writing against 79.5% of men. 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.