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By: Bridget Gaitor & Sarah Deuitch Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know

Hirsch 2012

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Page 1: Hirsch 2012

By: Bridget Gaitor & Sarah Deuitch

Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know

Page 2: Hirsch 2012

Click the following hyperlink to read the short biography written by the Hoover Institute at Stanford University where Hirsch was a distinguished visiting fellow from 1999 to 2006

http://www.hoover.org/fellows/10666

Who is E.D. Hirsch Jr.?

Page 3: Hirsch 2012

Hirsch believed that the education system should strive for universal literacy. He believed that in order to achieve this we must have large amounts of specific information. This theory lead to cultural literacy, the specific information, needed to gain universal literacy.

Hirsch’s Theory: Cultural Literacy

Page 4: Hirsch 2012

Cultural literacy defined by Hirsch is the network of information that all competent readers possess. It is the background information, stored in their minds. That enables them to take up a newspaper and read it with an adequate level of comprehension.

Cultural literacy: the set of cultural facts that is known in a society

What is Cultural Literacy?

Page 5: Hirsch 2012

Cultural Literacy Literacy

The ability to comprehend and decipher words in a text for knowledge.

The specific facts that everyone should know in order to engage in intellectual and academic conversations.

Cultural Literacy vs. Literacy

Page 6: Hirsch 2012

Hirsch’s book ends with an appendix that includes a list of 5,000 essential facts and people that every student should know. Here are a few:

Galileo

Mozart

The years of the Civil War

The Book of Genesis

The solar system

Cultural Literacy Dictionary

Page 7: Hirsch 2012

Think about it:

How many of these things are you “culturally literate” about?

How many are your students “culturally literate” about?

Why do you think that is?

Cultural Literacy DictionaryOpen the hyperlink below to read a full description of Hirsch’s updated Dictionary

http://books.google.com/books/about/The_New_Dictionary_of_Cultural_Literacy.html?id=GAzOg4eQl2YC

Page 8: Hirsch 2012

Visual “List” of Hirsch’s Cultural Literacy

Dictionary

If you have trouble viewing the video above, please click on the following hyperlink:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LadSZ-tB_A

Page 9: Hirsch 2012

Cultural literacy is needed to connect society

together. It is the glue that allows us to hold

conversations with one another and have a

common understanding.

Why is cultural literacy needed?

Page 10: Hirsch 2012

Hirsch and Cultural Literacy on

McNeil/Lehrer News Hour

If you have trouble viewing the video above, please click on the following hyperlink:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROIujiY1uZU

Page 11: Hirsch 2012

http://www.coreknowledge.org/

Hirsch founded the Core Knowledge Foundation in 1986 to promote “Educational Excellence and Equity for All Children”

Page 12: Hirsch 2012

Even though Hirsch’s cultural literacy theory has received much praise, some educators oppose his theory for these reasons:

Who decides what information constitutes as cultural literacy?

Why does cultural literacy outweigh other information?

Cultural literacy is always changing with society.

Issues with Hirsch’s theory

Page 13: Hirsch 2012

Core knowledge. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.coreknowledge.org/

Cultural literacy. (2009). [Web Video]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LadSZ-tB_A

E. Donald Hirsch Jr. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.hoover.org/fellows/10666

Hirsch and cultural literacy on Mcneil/Lehrer news hour. (2011). [Web Video]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROIujiY1uZU

Hirsch, E. D. (1988). Cultural literacy: What every american needs to know. New York: Vantage Books.

References