Cultural Literacy

Put this on your To-Read-No-Matter-What list. Hasn't the popularity of "Dummies" books raised a red flag anywhere? What does that say about the average American reader's view of him/herself? Do we sense that we're educationally lacking?Too many of America's young people do not have, because they haven't been taught, the knowledge they need to preserve the exceptional way of life they've inherited. They know Harry Potter and... Read Full Review

In his book, E.D. Hirsch makes a good arguement that kids in America are not being taught the basic knowledge that they need in order to function and communicate effectively in our society. The book was published in 1988. Reading it was like hearing a voice crying in the wilderness. I can hear Hirsch's voice speaking louder with each passing year.This vital information that Hirsch refers to is simply not being taught in... Read Full Review

A great irony, while reading several of the negative criticisms of Hirsch's controversial position, occurs when one considers that these critics would simply be unable to attack without being the embodiment of Hirsch's central postion: that reaching the higher levels of Bloom's taxonomy requires a set body of knowledge. Analyzing, synthesizing and evaluating information is literally impossible without first knowing, comprehending... Read Full Review

I read this book in 1995 and found it fundamentally correct with respect to two ideas: 1) that a core of knowledge is necessary to infer, read-between-the-lines, and to understand wholly much written material; 2) that *content* is vital in education - the mental organization of which (though association and other means) is essential to becoming educated. To demonstrate another assertion, namely that public education is... Read Full Review