Cultural Literacy

What is the hallmark of a truly educated person? In 1987, E.D. Hirsch published a book entitled, Cultural Literacy. In it, he discussed topics that constitute the essential elements of literacy in science, geography, and the arts. He included a comprehensive appendix of historical and legendary figures, scientific, geographic, and literary terms, and quotations that most educated people would be able to identify. The list appears in alphabetical order. A brief excerpt from one of the pages illustrates the breadth of information.

L’etat c’est moi Lincoln Memorial
Let bygones be bygones Lincoln’s Second Memorial Address
Let me not to the marriage of true Lindberg, Charles A.
minds/Admit impediments linear momentum
Let sleeping dogs lie Linneaus
Letter from the Birmingham Jail lipid
Letter killeth, but the spirit givith life Lippman, Walter

How many current high school seniors, college students, or adults can identify all or most of the terms above?

According to Hirsch, a literate culture brings a nation together. In fact, it is much more inclusive that any ethnic culture. “It has no in-group, no generational or geographical preference. It can be mastered in the country or in the city, in a shanty or in a mansion, so long as the opportunity is given.” (p.106) Such an education is blind to race or ethnicity, so that inner city children would be exposed to the same information as those in the suburbs.

In February 2009, Liz Coleman, president of Bennigton College, addressed a TED conference that expanded on this idea. She expressed her concern that that a truly liberal arts education no longer exists. Instead, she maintains, the curricula offerings at most colleges and universities emphasize a narrow scope that causes students to focus “more and more on less and less.” She has re-vamped the curriculum at Bennington College to include cross-disciplinary hands-on learning. She argues that they must be versed in broad-based liberal arts courses.
Shouldn’t math and science students have the opportunity to read philosophy, literature, and history? Don’t we owe our doctors, lawyers and scientists, the ability to understand and appreciate the arts and music? Shouldn’t we strive to have all Americans culturally literate?

High School Students & Reading

The NAEP released a report on reading ability that indicates that, although scores for high school seniors have risen a few points from 2005, they are still below the level achieved almost twenty years ago. The difference in scores might appear insignificant (292/500 vs. 288/500). However the percentiles of achievement remain troubling. Only 38% of high school seniors performed “proficiently.” In fact, Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, stated, “Today's report suggests that high school seniors' achievement in reading and math isn't rising fast enough to prepare them to succeed in college and careers.”

First, let me admit that I began my professional experience as a high school English teacher. I have a Masters degree in British and American literature, so admittedly my viewpoint is somewhat biased. However, I firmly believe that exposure to challenging literature enriches the readers’ experiences in several ways. It not only enhances language skills (reading ability, vocabulary, and writing style), but it can also posit themes that challenge assumptions and beliefs. Therefore, when I assign novels and plays to my middle and high school students, I tend toward the “classics” of Western literature.

While some students in honors courses may be exposed to major literary themes and authors, many others manage to leave high school without having a broad base of literary exposure. At best, they may read an excerpt of a classic. Many schools do not require that all of their students include the following concepts and authors in their coursework: Aesop’s Fables, Greek, Roman, and Viking mythology, haikus, sonnets, Chaucer, Dante, Shakespeare, Dickens, Bronte, Hardy, Tolstoy, Chekhov, Dostoyevsky, to list just a few.
If a particular work presents potential difficulty to the students, I usually provide an introductory reading, to enable them to grasp the cadence of the language or sentence length. As one brief example, I recently asked students from a variety of school districts if they were familiar with the classic Christmas story by William Sydney Porter (aka O. Henry), “The Gift of the Magi.” Most were not, so I assigned the reading, along with a series of questions that I had devised to ascertain comprehension. Take a glance at the introductory paragraph, and compare it to the sentence structure and vocabulary of most contemporary literature.

"One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in
pennies. Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the
vegetable man and the butcher until one's cheeks burned with the silent imputation
of parsimony that such close dealing implied. Three times Della counted it.
One dollar and eighty- seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas."

Many high school students find the selection challenging. The short story provides opportunities for an analysis of writing style, vocabulary study, historical relevance, and theme in a few short pages. Provide opportunities for enrichment, and improvement will follow.