Cultural literacy: what every American needs to know

Cultural Literacy - Issues & Answers About the Value of Hirsch's Book

What is Hirsch's definition of cultural literacy? Hirsch reports in the Introduction on page x that cultural literacy is the "shifting body of information that our culture has found useful" and hence it is "worth preserving." It is the "foundation of our public discourse," he continues, allowing us to have a basic grasp of what we see and read in the media and newspapers. Cultural literacy gives Americans the "context" through which people can relate to what is said and printed; it "falls between the specialized and the generalized" (Hirsch xi).

Moreover, on page xiii author Hirsch asserts that there is a powerful need to upgrade functional literacy since there has been a trend towards declining literacy among all students, not just low achievers. Teachers and others who have communicated with Hirsch about his book "endorse the proposition that achieving high universal literacy" should be the main focus of any reforms in American education (Hirsch xii).

To sum up Hirsch's presentation, Jeremiah Reedy writes in the journal Academic Questions (Ready 2006), there are five generalizations worthy in that regard. One, Hirsch believes that if democracy is going to work, "communication among citizens is essential"; two, without literacy, "intelligent communication is impossible"; three, there is ample evidence from multiple sources that there is a "serious decline in communication skills" among young people today; four, the blame for this dramatic decline in communication skills can't be pinned entirely on television, racism, dysfunctional families or poverty; and five, Hirsch (quoted here) asserts that "...the chief cause of our educational failures in the domain of literacy" is a wrong-headed philosophy of education (quoting Reedy) "based on the romantic notion that each child has (quoting Hirsch) "an inborn, instinctive tendency to follow its own proper development."

Ready, who is the executive director of the Minnesota Association of Scholars, and professor of classics emeritus at Macalester College, goes on to say that if he were creating a "Cultural Literacy for College Students," (the title of his essay) there would never be a statement such as "...this is what we think graduates of liberal arts colleges should know." On the contrary, in the spirit of Hirsch's book the statement would be, "...this is, as a matter of fact, what readers of publications that are addressed to the college-educated segment of our population are expected to know" (Ready 2006).

Two (a): In what ways does Hirsch say the American educational system is failing? Hirsch builds the case over several pages that reading is vital to learning. He explains that the easiest way to learn a new thing is to "associate it with something we already know" (Hirsch xiii); and good readers tend to know more than poor readers and hence knowledgeable people tend to learn "new things faster" than people who don't read well and hence don't have the knowledge base to draw from when they read something new. With that as background, on page xv Hirsch explains that the American educational system has used "skills-oriented" materials in elementary and secondary grades that are supposedly "relevant." Two (b): What does this failure have to do with not ensuring cultural literacy? By emphasizing skills and "relevant materials," schools have omitted the curriculum of "literate culture" that was traditionally part of the learning process in schools; i.e., "traditional history, myth, and literature" (Hirsch xv). It has been a mistake "...of monumental proportions," the author asserts. Teachers and school officials continually bring updated content to young children assuming that the more contemporary materials the more interest children will show. His contention: this strategy is "empirically wrong" and it has had "disastrous consequences for national literacy." Also, Hirsch states that when schools "fail adequately to transmit the literate national language and culture," there is a resulting decline in the "unity and effectiveness" of that country (Hirsch xv).

Three: What evidence does he cite to support his contention? On page xvi Hirsch explains that there are new materials - through print and mass media - that are frequently being introduced into schools that reflect cultural reforms and changes. However, he continues, the recently introduced materials relating to literate culture "constitute about a fifth of its total." About 80% of new materials do not relate to a literate American culture, which is a fairly sad statement for the future of learning in America. Ninety-six percent of literate culture is "undisputed territory" and eighty percent of literate culture has been "in use for more than a hundred years," Hirsch writes on page xvi.

Moreover, there is a "big gap" in schools between those who can read and those who can't (Hirsch vii), and since the author has made clear that without good reading skills, a student cannot obtain the knowledge necessary to become culturally literate. But people who carry out policies in schools "have not been very sophisticated" about making good choices about teaching reading - more evidence that knowledge is being lost. The vision school policy makers have about reading comprehension is "vague and clouded."

Four: when Hirsch uses the word "schema" he means a way to code experience so the mind can see the pattern through events; or put another way, a schema is a set of connected ideas about something, or a basic understanding of a concept - all of which gives meaning to the reader as his or her eyes follow along with the words and connect the dots along the way.

Hirsch offers numerous examples of empirical studies (www.coreknowledge.org) that shows his emphasis on "core knowledge" (e.g., cultural literacy strategies) is effective in schools. For example, "Evaluation of the Core Knowledge Preschool Program in Arkansas" (Nov. 2005); "An analysis of Academic Progress of Children Participating in the Core Knowledge Preschool Program in Baltimore county Head Start Centers" (Aug. 2005); "Core Knowledge Curriculum and School Performance: A national Study" (Sept. 2004); "Walberg study: The Effects of Core Knowledge on state Test Achievement in North Carolina" (Phase 3) (April 2004); "Walberg Study: The Effects of Core Knowledge School Factors on State Test Achievement in North Carolina" (Phase 2) (April 2004); and "New Longitudinal Study Shows Core Knowledge Boosting Scores, Closing Gap Between Advantaged and Disadvantaged" (January 2004).

Five: Hirsch believes curriculum tests, not competency-based tests, are the key to successful educational reforms. He writes in the Web site for Core Knowledge (www.coreknowledge.org),a foundation that he launched, that a "well-devised curriculum, monitored by good curriculum-based tests" should greatly enhance the cultural literacy (knowledge) of the student, over a reasonable period of time (Hirsch (www.CoreKnowledge.org).He goes on in this essay to say that improvements that are needed in teacher training, in classroom materials, and in the tests themselves "cannot occur overnight." But he insists that curriculum-based tests are "the most promising educational development in half a century."

Hirsch goes into detail in this essay to explain that there is an upside and a downside to competency-based tests. The downside is that some schools have failed to put in place the right training for teachers and some schools haven't done "...the hard work of deciding which aspects of the content are the most essential" to go into the textbooks, the tests, and the teacher seminars. The upside in terms of the value of competency-based testing is that those tests can indicate (if they are administered correctly) "a reliably high correlation between test scores and real-world competencies."

As for curriculum-based tests, Hirsch in this essay in www.CoreKnowledge.orginsists that it is the most fair system; these tests help teachers determine how well "specific content standards in a particular domain for a particular age group have been learned." In the long run, Hirsch continues, the public, parents, taxpayers, and students themselves should be able to see clearly that both tests "show a positive correlation." Hirsch wants to know how a competency-based test - which probes a student's knowledge of social sciences, practical affairs, passages from literature and specifics the natural sciences as well as vocabulary and the meanings of individual sentences - "disconnected from any specific curriculum, so reliably calibrate academic achievement, learning-readiness, and even real-world competency?"

Hirsch presents a theory which posits that both competency-based and curriculum-based testing are valuable, albeit he has said on many occasions that a competency-based test as a stand-alone is not the answer in terms of reforming education. But meanwhile, his theory is that "the level of one's reading ability (reflected in vocabulary items and passage-types on a reading test) predicts the level of one's ability to learn new things." And a person learns new things, as was reported earlier in this paper, by associating them with things that person already is familiar with. The more you know, the easier it is to learn more. The breadth of one's knowledge "is a far greater factor...than socioeconomic status," he insists. In the end, the theory is that good scores on reading tests (coupled with a curriculum that builds reading skills) portends later positive job performance and solid citizenship.

Six: Hirsch certainly has his opponents indeed, and some are saying that his policy and his views of teaching "are faulty at best and fail to respect the moral dignity of students," according to Claire Andre and Manuel Velasquez writing in the Marrkkula Center for Applied Ethics (Santa Clara University) (http://www.scu.edu).Andre goes on to say some critics see Hirsch's efforts to bring culture into the classroom are not so much "cultural literacy" but more like "cultural indoctrination." Not only is the Hirsch strategy and methodology seen as flawed, Andre and Velasquez continue, the "content" he prescribes is subject to criticism. For example, the question of "Whose form of knowledge, culture, vision, history and authority will prevail as the national culture?" should be asked, and Hirsch knows that is an issue. "Will they, like Hirsch, be white, middle-class males?" Andre wonders, and will they be elitist?

Hirsch meanwhile answers these accusations in his Core Knowledge Web site, saying that the contend must arise from "a broad consensus of diverse groups and interests." That consensus should include the parents, teachers, scientists, "professional curriculum organizations, and experts on America's multicultural traditions." The "central motivation behind" his core knowledge initiative is "to guarantee equal access for all to knowledge necessary for higher literacy and learning" (Hirsch (www.coreknowledge.org).

Seven: If there are identifiable political tones within Hirsch's view of what American students should study they would be considered progressive, or "liberal" in today's vernacular. For example, on page 300, "Reagan, Ronald" (a very conservative president) is seen as a man who promised to "work towards a balanced federal budget" but in fact "the federal government went deeper into DEBT throughout Reagan's presidency" (Hirsch 300). If Hirsch was a political conservative, he would not likely have used the fact of Reagan piling up the national debt. And on page 301, "Religious Right" is defined as "A coalition of RIGHT-WING (Hirsch's emphasis) Protestant fundamentalist leaders" but a conservative author would not have used "right wing."

Annotated Bibliography

Booklist. "Reference Books Bulletin: The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy." (2003): 1702.

In the first edition of Hirsch's book, the author was criticized as being "elitist," but the Subsequent editions add "tools for assessing cultural literacy" that makes sense and Now it does "keep up with changes in American culture."

Chylinski, Manya S. "Hirsch, E.D. Jr., & others. The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know." Library Journal, 127.18 (2002): 78-80. Chylinski writes that the book has been given "an exciting update" - "sorely needed"...for those "who like to have a great reference work..."

Giddings, Louise R. "Beyond E.D. Hirsch and Cultural Literacy: Thinking Skills for Cultural

Awareness." Community Review Vol. 16. (1998): 109-119. Hirsch's arguments "seem