Annette Torna
EDF3214
Tues/Thurs
Prof McNair
Reflection 27
Reflection #27: Describe the cultural literacy debate. Having read all of the
articles, do you think Hirsch is correct?
Culture is a people's way of life. My understanding of culturally literacy is
that it is the ability to understand and appreciate the similarities and differences
in the customs, values, and beliefs of one’s own culture and the cultures of
others. Based on the readings, the underlying issue of cultural literacy in the
United States, where our cultural heritage is a smorgasbord of different cultures
from all over the world, is self-identity. This self identity requires us to dig deep
within ourselves and ask, “Where exactly do I stand in my own culture and how
does it relate to other people’s culture?” Hirsch also questions whether or not
the people of the United States, or any society, necessarily shares common
cultural elements and if we do, who gets to decide what those elements are?
This debate impacts the way we educate our children and the way we write our
laws.
Also, from what I can gather on E.D. Hirsch’s Cultural Literacy debate,
Cultural Literacy is one of the most controversial books ever written on American
education because Hirsch believes that our schools should be focused around a
core of basic knowledge. Hirsch’s reasoning behind this is that the American
educational system has lost its core. He claims that the core set of common
understandings is what every American needs to know to function in society, and
allow people in a common culture to communicate. Hirsch came up with a list of
about five thousand specific items that are the essential core of cultural literacy,
and that every American should know. This cultural literacy is what he calls the
“network of information.” I agree with Hirsch when he said that children need to
master the simpler elements of this content before they can move on to the more
difficult ones, and that all children at a certain grade should receive this material
at the same time without “wasteful repetition” from one year to the next. I don’t
necessarily think that all repetition is wasteful though.
Hirsch also said that kids today don’t know enough to read and write
effectively or communicate their points of view. I guess his beliefs stem from the
fact that our youth do not seem to be learning much in school. I do agree with
Hirsch that teachers need a more rigorous training in the subject matters they are
to teach, this goes without saying. Hirsch also said that education schools are to
blame for today's education problems, which emphasizes process instead of
content. I agree that new teachers should have detailed knowledge of the subject
matter that they are to teach, but he should not put most of the blame on
educational institutions because there are many factors involved.
Every child’s learning styles, temperament, and personal preferences are
different. If children are to be valued as truly free and creative beings, they must
learn fundamental content regardless of the methods used to teach it. Hirsch also
advocates the whole class instruction because he believes that it is often the
most efficient way of delivering knowledge and skills. He also thinks that children
must be continually measured by "objective" tests and that those who fail them
should receive remedial work or even repeat the grade.
His ideas of what are really happening in the classroom are not
necessarily realistic. He thinks that children and their teachers do whatever they
want whenever they want to do it. Hirsch claims that the schools that have tried
his methods work and that reading scores have risen. Unless I see actual proof
of this, and regardless of his beliefs, I don’t think that standardized curriculum
necessarily produces better long term results.