Bikkurim, Chapter 3, Mishnah 7. The mishnah before us teaches an interesting subject relating to literacy, or more precisely, to its absence.
The three stages in the mishnah:
"BaRishonah, kol mi sheyodea likros - korei" - originally, whoever knew how to read would recite the declaration over the bikkurim himself.
"VeChol mi she'eino yodea likros - makrin oso" - whoever did not know how to read would have the words recited before him, and he would repeat them after the reader.
"Nimne'u mehavi" - people stopped bringing bikkurim altogether, because they were embarrassed by their inability to read.
The nature of the difficulty needs clarifying: this was not a matter of reading from a book, but of the ability to read Hebrew and pronounce the words in the holy tongue. During the time of the Second Beis HaMikdash the common language was Aramaic rather than Hebrew, and so there were many who did not know how to read the text of the declaration.
From here the fear of embarrassment arose: anyone who needed to have the words recited before him was publicly exposed in his lack of knowledge, and because of this people refrained from bringing bikkurim at all.
The enactment: the beis din ruled "sheyihyu makrin es mi sheyodea ve'es mi she'eino yodea" - whether a person knew Hebrew or not, the words were recited before everyone, and everyone repeated after the reader, regardless of his level of knowledge.
In summary: in this way the recitation was uniform for all, and consequently no one was left with any reason to be embarrassed.