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It’s a percentage because the $60 steak was assumably at a nicer restaurant where you received more in depth service.
Fine dining servers may only have a couple of tables at once, or even for the entire night. You’re paying more for more individual attention.
It also scales in reverse. A server on a shift with a $10 blue plate special will probably have 10 tables before things go off the rails. They’ll also put serious work into getting your ass off that table the minute your plate is clean.
Disagree with your underlying assertion that students do not read nonfiction books. Your textbooks are nonfiction.
In terms of more “classic” nonfiction materials, j don’t think it’s a very important skill. Something like Anne Frank’s diary or Night can definitely be powerful, but I don’t think reading a secondary source on the American civil war has any more value for a student than a chapter in a textbook.