Cycle Two - What Should Schools Teach? How Should They Be Held Accountable?

I read with interest, anger, and eventually, some semblance of agreement, chapter  5 of E. D. Hirsch, Jr.’s Cultural Literacy and the Schools. I found Hirsch’s negative opinion of public schools to be off-putting, but I suffered my way through the chapter and was struck, both negatively and positively, by many of his observations.

Hirsch believes that, in order to be successful readers, students must first have a base of knowledge that they should learn in early elementary school. He argues that the current emphasis of arming students with reading skills is the wrong approach to guarantee successful comprehension. He writes that, “Every text, even the most elementary, implies information that it takes for granted and doesn’t explain. Knowing such information is the decisive skill of reading” (112).  While I agree that prior knowledge is an asset to understanding, I disagree that it is the most important aspect of reading for meaning. I teach eighth grade, and we arm our students with the various skills necessary to comprehend informational text. These skills have helped our students to approach a reading assignment with an organized plan of attack. Because of this, students are more confident and successful when reading an article or text book assignment in any class. I have even benefitted by acquiring new strategies for reading informational text, so I know firsthand how much more comfortable I feel by having a plan to tackle challenging reading assignments.

The author goes on to take issue with the “self-selection” method where students choose their own reading materials. Our curriculum director is certainly a proponent of students selecting their own texts, so we are trying to move away from large literature units where all students read the same book. While I can see why a student might be more engaged by choosing a book that appeals to his or her interests, I have also resisted changing over to 100% books of their choosing. I have settled on a mix, with students picking their own books for their daily reading, interspersed with a whole class study of a novel. Our school, like many other schools across the nation, has embraced Nancie Atwell’s ReadingWorkshop approach which promotes student choice of books. However, I do see a benefit of exposing students to critically acclaimed or classic books which they might otherwise not choose for themselves. In fact, in discussions about this very point with my curriculum director or colleagues, I have asked the question, “How could a person possibly survive in life without reading To Kill a Mockingbird?” Perhaps I was exaggerating a bit to get my point across, but not by much. So, I guess, even though Hirsch sounds rather elitist and narrow with his emphasis on Shakespeare and the like, I do agree that there are certain works of literature that students should be exposed to.

Hirsch is a traditionalist who is not shy about sharing his criticism of public schools. He believes private schools are superior to public schools. He also supports vouchers and charter schools. One’s social standing or background, Hirsch believes, has nothing to do with one’s success in school. However, he doesn’t acknowledge the fact that parents of private school children tend to be more supportive at home. I teach in a school where 70% of the students receive free or reduced lunch. I know that many, many of my students go home to absent, uninvolved, or disinterested parents. Certainly, this has to be a factor in a student’s motivation and success. Hirsch quotes Diane Ravitch to support his opinions on this very topic. It is interesting to me that since this book was written in 1988, Diane Ravitch has broken ties with this way of thinking. In 2010, Ravitch, a former proponent of No Child Left Behind, and the Assistant Secretary of Education, published her book entitled, The Death and Life of the Great American School System, How Testing andChoice are Undermining Education. In the book, she supports educators over politicians and businessmen in making decisions about education, believes that charter schools should not compete with public schools, and believes in a common national curriculum.

Although Ravitch has admitted her mistakes from the past, Hirsch has held steadfast. He is critical of Ravitch’s book in The NewYork Review of Books. Hirsch is not without his own critics, however, as in the blog by English professor, Joel Shatzky, in the Huffington Post.