Hirsch (now approaching 90) continues his crusade for knowledge/content-based teaching with his new book, WHY KNOWLEDGE MATTERS. Back in 1987 when he was arguing for enhanced cultural literacy he criticized ‘skill-based’ reading instruction. He offered examples such as an experiment by a University of Illinois researcher who had a group of Indian students and a group of American students. They each read texts on weddings, in the one case weddings in America, in the other weddings in India. The experiment confirmed that students from India could understand the account of weddings in India far more successfully than Americans could, and vice versa. This (not very counterintuitive) experiment confirmed that the more you already know about a subject the more prepared you are to read additional materials on that subject. In other words, it’s not simply a matter of having reading ‘skills’; it’s a matter of having actual knowledge. This flew in the face of college of education doctrine, which largely persists today, despite the fact that ‘skill-based’ techniques result in systematic failure vis à vis countries (Japan, e.g.) that stress content. This is one of the reasons why we fall behind other industrialized countries in the international PISA test (and yet we persist in utilizing failed methods).
In WHY KNOWLEDGE MATTERS Hirsch has changed his vocabulary somewhat. He characterizes the ‘skill-based’ methods as ‘naturalistic’, ‘developmental’ and ‘individualistic’, in part to link them with the nexus of theoretical notions and jargon associated with Dewey and traceable to the pantheism of Wordsworth and Hegel which so influenced him. Hirsch would substitute ‘community-based’ or ‘communitarian’ methods, echoing the notion that the acculturation of the young by adults, the introducing of the young to the breadth and depth of adult learning in their particular society is a far more ‘natural’ practice than treating the student as if he or she is some creature in a Rousseau-like state of nature who must learn on his or her own, in his or her way, at his or her pace.
Hirsch argues for building common curricula consisting of challenging texts that will be read and discussed by all students (as he long has done) with increased evidence here, principally the passing of the so-called loi Jospin of 1989. Basically, the French (who had a very strong system of education) suddenly decided to adopt American methods. The result (as the French themselves characterized it) was a “tragic debacle”.
The purpose of utilizing content-based reading materials is not just because they are more effective. They are also far more egalitarian; they are the best way to achieve equity in schools that consist of students who enjoy advantages as well as students who begin with considerable disadvantages. For example: vocabulary (which is expanded by reading substantive texts) is crucial to human economic success. One standard deviation in the size of a student’s vocabulary results in a differential of $10,000 in income (in 2012 dollars). One important study (described in detail—p. 167) examined the impact of discussion and feedback on the student’s resulting vocabulary. After four years of observation it was found that children from professional families heard 45,000,000 words, children from working class families 26,000,000 words, children from welfare families only 13,000,000 words. Content-based learning is best positioned to remedy these disparities. The bottom line is that there is really no such thing as a reading skill divorced from content. All reading ‘skills’ are based on domain-specific knowledge. A low-IQ student who knows a great deal about a given subject (stars, dinosaurs, football, whatever) is a better reader of texts in those areas than a high IQ student who lacks the domain-specific knowledge. Hence the goals of both reading achievement and reading equity are best served by a content-rich curriculum that spans a wide variety of human learning and human experience. (The latter points are reinforced at length by references to a wide body of contemporary research.)
Hirsch has utilized the resources from his bestselling 1987 book to establish a foundation that works with schools across the country (some 1200 now) to build content-rich curricula. These schools have achieved great success in the face of opposition from the education establishment. He has demonstrated the importance to a democracy of common cultural literacy, both for the advancement of all citizens and for their ability to communicate with each other. One review of this new book labels him a national hero. That is not an understatement.
Highly recommended (though the reader should also check out Hirsch’s earlier book, CULTURAL LITERACY).
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