How do they learn to read?

Good one

Maybe it was the "send a thief to catch a thief" syndrome.

Firemen maybe learned to read only for to recognize filthy literature?

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badgers? badgers!? WE DON'T NEED NO STINKIN' BADGERS!!!

Two things.

One - the fire captain walks through the old lady's library and summarizes the plots of books he finds and why they are upsetting to society. Obviously he has read these books, or been taught about them by someone who has. That may lead one to believe that the banning of books is a recent turn of events in the world of the movie.

The other thing is that when we see Montag first read, he does it very deliberately and slowly -- like a child (he even reads the publisher's info, something most readers would know not to do). Although he has the capability for basic reading, he's clearly teaching himself to "really" read.

Its been about 15 years since I read the book, but as others pointed out this was addressed in the book. People were allowed to read newspapers, manuals, porn, but nothing of any substance.

As depicted in the movie, it is certainly a major plot hole. Just how recently were books banned? Montag clearly knows how to read, though when he starts reading David Coppperfield, it's as if he's dusting off an unused skill -- he reads aloud to himself, follows the words on the printed page with his fingertip, and sounds out the more difficult words phonetically, just as a child would.

In the movie, we see newspapers in comic form without speech balloons. Prescription bottles have only numbers and colors on them. We hear schoolchildren reciting the multiplication table, but even learning math requires reading. The bigger question is, how could a modern technological society function without the written word? The answer: It couldn't, of course.

What about designing all the modern conveniences they have?--that requires thinking and complicated reading. The same for doctors and scientists who had to be learning new things--it's impossible not to have the written word in an advanced civilization--if not in book form then on computers. I realize this is a science fiction movie, and it's not worth it to analyse every detail that seems like a plot hole. The premise of the movie seems dated, but it's a good movie, well acted, and is worth thinking about.

Television screens (think of a Sesame Street from hell type of thing).

How did the society have so many advances if reading was not allowed? In the movie Montag says that houses have ALWAYS been fire proof. Their technology is nothing new. It's just passed on generation to generation much the way skills are with tradespeople. Some of the most gifted carpenters and construction workers I know aren't the brightest bulbs when it comes to reading and comprehension. They learned their skills without the benefits of formal training.

But as another poster said, that type of advanced society cannot be sustainable for very long.

From watching television, I would conclude.