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67th out of 125 books
—
139 voters
Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know
In this forceful manifesto, Hirsch argues that children in the U.S. are being deprived of the basic knowledge that would enable them to function in contemporary society. Includes 5,000 essential facts to know.
Paperback, 272 pages
Published
April 12th 1988
by Vintage
(first published 1987)
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Interesting contribution to the debate on National education. The gist of the book is that literacy is misunderstood. One can be proficient with a skill as a reader without having mastered comprehension of text. In other words the finite skill of interpreting letters into words and speed at which the reader translates them is only a small portion of comprehension.
Unfortunately, the Rousseau/Dewey approach to education rejects content heavy curriculum because they believed it distracts from the...more
Unfortunately, the Rousseau/Dewey approach to education rejects content heavy curriculum because they believed it distracts from the...more
This book is not enjoyable to read. It does have a very interesting thesis. The main idea in the book is that the education in America has changed in the last 100 years and the results are that children today struggle with reading and comprehension. Hirsch cites lots of research to validate his claim that reading and the comprehension associated with it require a certain amount of basic background information. The children with high vocabularies comprehend more of what they read. The vocabulary...more
To some degree, E. D. Hirsch’s contention that we need a type of “cultural literacy” or common coinage to communicate with one another intelligently—his notion of the liberal arts—is akin to applying a cosmetic. Henry Adams (The Education of Henry Adams) would have viewed Hirsch's project skeptically. Adams possessed “cultural literacy” in abundance yet he pauses at the end of each chapter in his carefully wrought autobiography, to remark that his education, so far, “was a failure.” What Adams s...more
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Overall best book on education that I have read. Excellent work. Interesting thesis: There are FACTS out there that educated citizens must know. Teaching skills is not enough. The reason is because communication of any sort is based on shared knowledge. Picture a Venn diagram: you and I can only communicate within our shared experience. Thus, a well-educated society is a society whose citizens have a solid grasp not only of their culture and language's shared knowledge, but of that of other cult...more
Just finished re-reading this 1988 book, which has become something of a classic of the educational policy debate. I'm always intrigued by canon-building and personally think there is plenty to be said in favor of some subset of the public school curriculum being nationally agreed upon. This is an idea that has somehow become the property of conservatives, who are faced with a balancing act between wanting to mandate a shared body of knowledge and supporting local (i.e. not federal) control of s...more
Bottom line: in order for people to communicate effectively they must speak the same language. Beyond the language itself are the cultural references that help us to speak in a kind of shorthand. Cultural references include a cursory understanding of our shared history, at least a glancing familiarity with classic literature and art and a basic knowledge of physical science. When the public education system abandoned the memorization of facts as "drill and kill" learning they set in motion the d...more
An important book. Just Google the theory. It is about the measurable, essential virtue of being literate in a culture. For example, American culture or your company's culture. As Hirsch illustrates, there is a huge difference between being able to read/listen with a dictionary-level understanding of the words and context, and reading/listening with a knowledge of culturally relevant references.
As an experiment, try reading the English version of a local news story in a different country's newsp...more
As an experiment, try reading the English version of a local news story in a different country's newsp...more
Are you interested in reading? How we learn to read? How we understand context? Then this book is a MUST read. A clear and to the point argument for why exposure to both cultural terminology and vocabulary are vital in order to develop into a good reader. A blistering and long-overdue evisceration of the modern educational idea (actually, not so modern, it was put forth by Rousseau, and popularized by Dewey)that somehow children learn on their own when left to themselves. That may be fine for sm...more
This is not a fun or enjoyable read, but is interesting! It's academic in nature. I suppose I have more patience for this kind of read now than I did when I first read it at 19!
Hirsch's main argument is that education needs to incorporate "cultural literacy" - an understanding of important historical & cultural references - in order for children/society to have good comprehension and literacy. Literacy is not merely decoding words, it is having a good comprehension of the words being read....more
Hirsch's main argument is that education needs to incorporate "cultural literacy" - an understanding of important historical & cultural references - in order for children/society to have good comprehension and literacy. Literacy is not merely decoding words, it is having a good comprehension of the words being read....more
I had a teaching teacher (professor of education) who hated Hirsch's guts, and at times during this reading I could sort of see her point-- there are phrases and themes that seem profoundly fishy in here-- and yet I can't help but agreeing wholeheartedly with his central thesis, which is that education should be broad with deep grooves, or, to use his terminology, to be intensive in matters of personal interest, yet extensive for everyone. To put it more polemically, there is nothing wrong with...more
it's a great idea, and hirsch acknowledges the difficulty in the task of assimilating such a list as culture is in perpetual shift (things could easily go west, using his compass system), which i think would even effect some of the base items he'd find immovable from cultural literacy.
i probably shouldnt have even read the book as im not even really aware of the educational issues in the past few years, besides a little bit of stuff from geoffrey canada, considering this book is almost 30 years...more
i probably shouldnt have even read the book as im not even really aware of the educational issues in the past few years, besides a little bit of stuff from geoffrey canada, considering this book is almost 30 years...more
Jan 04, 2013
Lindsey (Babies, Books, and Beyond)
rated it
1 of 5 stars
Shelves:
read-in-grad-school,
read-in-2013
Interesting idea, but really boring. The only part I liked was the list at the end of all the things that all Americans should be able to recognize.
May 30, 2009
Julie Suzanne
marked it as to-read
I'm going to read this out of curiosity; I remember learning about this in high school and I agreed with the premise then. I realized that I'd never have understood Z if I never knew X. I believe that a lack of knowledge of some very basic things does keep our children from understanding most satire even when they are developmentally ready to handle it, and I see that their reading comprehension suffers tremendously when they don't have the prior knowledge necessary to make meaning to texts that...more
I studied E.D. Hirsch's theory in graduate school at U of L. His thesis is that one needs to have the cultural background in religion, history, art, music, literature, etc. to understand reading. Essentially, there are certain things that every literate person knows e.g. Adam and Eve, Genesis, Abraham Lincoln, Gettsyburg, Martin Luther King's "I Have A Dream" speech, etc. Students who lack such core knowledge have great difficulty understanding texts.
I found this book stimulating and informative. Hirsch can be a bogeyman among progressive educators, but he marshals data from psychology and cognitive sciences to support his key point: reading ability requires elementary skills that most illiterate adults possess, and extensive background knowledge which they do not. I highly recommend this book to all educators and to anyone interested in educational theories.
This is a very good book. Even if you do not agree with Hirsch insofar as education goes, his analysis of why conversations with strangers can be difficult is fascinating. I hear there was a lot of controversy surrounding this book in the late 80s, and while I understand why, I think he was correct in most of what he says. The most interesting thing he argues is that the Western "canon" is inherently subversive, and he uses the Black Panthers' appropriation of the Declaration of Independence as...more
"Fascinating reading, particularly when we bear in mind that�it is an attempt to establish what all culturally literate Americans actually know, not what they ought to know.�Mr. Hirsch's proposal merits serious consideration." � New York Times
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Listen to Cultural Literacy on your iPhone, desktop, or smartphone.
The title and description are very misleading as to what this book is about. I thought it would be a review of culturally significant events/people/terms, but instead it was an argument for teaching cultural literacy in the K-12 classroom, with only a list of what is important specifically in the back, with the responsibility of the reader to find these items in other sources. Disappointed.
What danger we are in! I have watched over the years as public schools have become dumbed down academically. What a shock to realize, even more than I already suspected, that the underpinning culture, to say nothing of the religion-based moral principles, have been being undercut by relentless waves of sociological determinism and worse.
The most important part of this book is the appendix which contains Hirsch's list of what all thinking American's should know. His theory and overall point of view is thoroughly Progressive, and his use of "culture" is nationalist and utilitarian. Educators can glean a lot from this, but I hope they don't swallow the whole project.
Apr 22, 2011
Mendi
added it
An overall look at the deterioration of our school systems and how cultural literacy is important to our national education. I plan to read other publications by this author as I am interested in his specific solutions.
This book included a long list at the end of what "literate" Americans should know. Very interesting.
This book included a long list at the end of what "literate" Americans should know. Very interesting.
This book tries to tackle the illiteracy of our nation by claiming that we can't communicate if we don't have a shared core background knowledge - so schools should teach such a knowledge. Having seen high school kids not know things I assumed to be the most basic, fundamental ideas of our society, I do see some merit to this.
In 13 years of school and 2 of junior college, there were a lot of days I wasn't paying attention or I wasn't ready for the subject. This is a great read to help us know and understand why we read and why we should go back and read some of the things we missed in our younger "wiser" days.
Thought-provoking. Essentially, we need a common cultural legacy based in agreed-upon items; reading proficiency is based not only on the words on the page, but more importantly the background literacy/understanding we bring to that page; skills based education may therefore ultimately be a disservice to us.
Useful as a goad to irritation. I enjoyed it but the idea that one person can select things that "EVERY" American needs to know is kind of silly. I did think there were a lot of good points in the book, but a lot of important need to know stuff was left out.
Aug 09, 2011
Andy Mitchell
added it
In the 22 years since this book was published, Hirsch's vision of national standards and a consistent "extensive" curriculum is closer than ever to becoming reality.
One of the most influential books of educational theory in the past 25 years.
One of the most influential books of educational theory in the past 25 years.
Sep 09, 2012
Abby
added it
Great read! I definitely agree with the authors idea that all kids need to learn these things somewhere along they way so they can be politically and socially active in an intelligent way. Also, I need to learn some of the things in this book.
251 pages. Donated 2010 May.
In this forceful manifesto, Hirsch argues that children in the U.S. are being deprived of the basic knowledge that would enable them to function in contemporary society. Includes 5,000 essential facts to know.
In this forceful manifesto, Hirsch argues that children in the U.S. are being deprived of the basic knowledge that would enable them to function in contemporary society. Includes 5,000 essential facts to know.
Very good, should have taken notes. I imagine a lot of readers might see the title and make some assumptions about the author and his purpose. They would be wrong. Not right-wing, not narrow-minded. Informative. Prescriptive.
Though this book is dated, the problems are still relevant today and Hirsch's ideas and arguments are well put together. Though there is not easy fix to the literacy issues that American's face, this book is a must read and the list of terms is a challenge to all literate Americans to be more culturally literate.
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“Differences in reading ability between five-year olds and eight-year olds are caused primarily by the older children's possessing more knowledge, not by the differences in their memory capacities, reasoning abilities, or control of eye movements.”
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Apr 25, 2013 03:11pm