The Knowledge Deficit

by Hirsch, E. D., Jr.

• ISBN13: 9780618872251
• ISBN10: 0618872256
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-04-01
• Publisher: Houghton Miff

Summary

The Knowledge Deficit illuminates the real issue in education today -- without an effective curriculum, American students are losing the global education race. In this persuasive book, the esteemed education critic, activist, and best-selling author E.D. Hirsch, Jr., shows that although schools are teaching the mechanics of reading, they fail to convey the knowledge needed for the more complex and essential skill of reading comprehension. Hirsch corrects popular misconceptions about hot issues in education, such as standardized testing, and takes to task educators' claims that they are powerless to overcome class differences. Ultimately, this essential book gives parents and teachers specific tools for enhancing children's abilities to fully understand what they read.

Author Biography

E.D. Hirsch, Jr. is the Linden Kent Memorial Professor of English at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, and the author of Cultural Literacy, The First Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, and The Core Knowledge Series. Dr. Hirsch is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and has been a senior fellow of the National Endowment for the Humanities. He is president of the Core Knowledge Foundation, a nonprofit organization devoted to educational reform.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xi
Why Do We Have A Knowledge Deficit?	p. 1
The Achievement Crisis	p. 1
The Curse of Romantic Ideas	p. 3
Should Schooling Be Natural?	p. 7
What About "Mere Facts"?	p. 8
Is Knowing How Better than Knowing What?	p. 11
Is Society to Blame?	p. 14
Making Better Ideas Prevail	p. 16
Sounding Out: Just the Beginning of Reading	p. 23
What We've Recently Achieved	p. 23
Is Reading Like Listening?	p. 26
Filling in the Blanks	p. 35
Are Some Kinds of Knowledge Better than Others?	p. 39
Reading Strategies: A Path to Boredom	p. 45
Knowledge of Language	p. 51
Learning the Standard Language	p. 51
Learning Grammar	p. 54
Learning the Elaborated Code	p. 56
Building Vocabulary	p. 58
Can Disadvantaged Children Catch Up?	p. 66
Knowledge of Things	p. 68
What the Text Doesn't Say	p. 68
Who Is the General Reader?	p. 70
How Much Knowledge Do We Need?	p. 73
Which Knowledge Do We Need?	p. 74
Why Not in the Reading Program?	p. 77
Using School Time Productively	p. 80
Wasting Students' Time	p. 80
Blaming Teachers	p. 83
Better Use of Time Leads to Greater Fairness	p. 85
Using Time Effectively	p. 88
Using Tests Productively	p. 91
Are Tests Driving Our Schools?	p. 91
The Flaws of State Tests	p. 93
The Nature of Reading Tests	p. 96
What Kinds of Tests Will Enhance Education?	p. 102
Achieving Commonality and Fairness	p. 107
Reading and a Wider Crisis	p. 107
Fulfilling Our Nation's Highest Ideals	p. 108
Constantly Changing Schools-A Critical Issue	p. 109
Localism and a Perfect Storm of Bad Educational Ideas	p. 112
Are There Decisive Advantages in Specifying Definite Content?	p. 115
Thinking the Unthinkable: A Core of Common Content in Early Grades	p. 119
The Critical Importance of an Adequate Theory of Reading	p. 127
Notes	p. 139
Acknowledgments	p. 159
Index	p. 161
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