In praise of E.D. Hirsch

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Thursday, October 29. 2009

In praise of E.D. Hirsch

At City Journal, Sol Stern on E. D. Hirsch�s Curriculum for Democracy: A content-rich pedagogy makes better citizens and smarter kids. One quote:

The �Massachusetts miracle,� in which Bay State students� soaring test scores broke records, was the direct consequence of the state legislature�s passage of the 1993 Education Reform Act, which established knowledge-based standards for all grades and a rigorous testing system linked to the new standards. And those standards, Massachusetts reformers have acknowledged, are Hirsch�s legacy. If the Obama administration truly wants to have a positive impact on American education, it should embrace Hirsch�s ideas and urge other states to do the same.

Posted by The Barrister in Best Essays of the Year, Education at 12:38 | Comments (2) | Trackbacks (0)

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I bought Hirsch's "Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know" when it was first published, and it has brought me countless hours of enjoyment. School choice could provide a laboratory for the Hirsch approach- I would imagine that some of the independent, private and parochial schools are already using it. Interesting that Taxachusetts, America's educational leader in the 19th C., had the late 20th C vision to give it a go. Note the results where it has been introduced in MA and NYC. What are we waiting for, NEA?

#1 greenmtnpunter on 2009-10-30 08:14 (Reply)

I'm a native of MA. I fought long and hard, hired tutors, taught my son myself, to get him through the government factory schools of this state. I saw every trick in the book pulled to process my child, and others, through the public schools in this state. I did not know of one family (low to middle income)who did not hire a tutor or remove their child to private school to have them educated. Was not impressed with this system.
In the fifties there was an emphasis placed on reading, writing and arithmetic that is no present today.

#2 J on 2009-10-30 08:45 (Reply)

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Thursday, October 29. 2009

In praise of E.D. Hirsch