Critique+of+E.D.+Hirsch's+What+Ever+Literate+American+Should+Know

Thomas D. Monteverde Issues in Literacy for Diverse Learners(EDS549) Professor Tuck 6 July 2009 Formal Paper Assignment: Critique of E.D. Hirsch's What Ever Literate American Should Know Literacy is more than the ability to read, write and speak. Literacy is the means in which humans communicate. Without the power of literacy people are unable to communicate their thoughts and confront social injustice. The role of literacy in education can have profound effects on students status in the community and there ability to cause social change. The methods for developing literacy in students has become a contentious issue among the American education community. The debate over literacy education can be accurately illustrated through the contrast of opinions of Lisa Delpit and E.D. Hirsch. Both Delpit and Hirsch are highly regarded philosophers of education and there are several similarities in their philosophies of literacy in education. The main comparison that could be made between Delpit and Hirsch is there understanding of the social importance of literacy. Delpit asserts that, “if schooling prepares people for jobs, and the kind of a job a person has determines their economic status and, therefore, power, then schooling is intimately related to that power.”(1995, p.25) Hirsch makes a similar assertion that, “The complex undertakings of modern life depend on the cooperation of many people with different specialties in different places. Where communications fail so do these undertakings.”(1988, p. 2) This understanding of the social importance of literacy drives both Delpit and Hirsch's philosophies of education. D elpit and Hirsch also have similar beliefs about the methods that should be used to foster literacy in students. Delpit believes that both a skills and process approach to literacy is necessary in order to foster literacy in students especially those who are not associated with the culture of power. She feels that explicit instruction is a means of simplifying literacy education which makes the content much more accessible. As Delpit stated in The Silenced Dialogue when analyzing the process/skills debate, “In short, the debate is fallacious; the dichotomy is false. The issue is really an illusion created initially not by teachers but by academics whose wold view demands the creation of of categorical divisions – not for the purpose of better teaching, but for the goal of easier analysis.”(1995, p. 46) Hirsch also states early on in Literacy and Cultural Literacy that, “content must receive as much emphasis as skill.”(1988, p. 1) There are subtle similarities between Delpit and Hirsch's, but the obvious differences of opinion eclipse these similarities. The main difference between Delpit and Hirsch is the role the student and community takes in their own development of literacy. Delpit explicitly states in The Silenced Dialogue that, “We must keep the perspective that people are experts on their own lives. There are certainly aspects of the outside world of which they may not be aware, but they can be the only authentic chroniclers of their own experience.”(1995, p. 47) Delpit's philosophy is that the people associated with a particular culture are most capable of developing effective educational methods and that community participation is the only way to develop effective instruction. Hirsch however attempts to develop a universal form of literacy in order to improve communication. Hirsch states that, “Although nationalism may be regrettable in some of its world wide political effects, a mastery of national culture is essential to mastery of the standard language in every modern nation.”(1988, p. 18) Hirsch later provides his readers with a list of necessary words and concepts needed to be considered literate. Delpit's community centered development of literacy through the study of differing perspectives is the polar opposite to Hirsch concept of nationally standardized literacy. Currently the idea of universal literacy dominates the American educational environment through the use of pre-packaged curriculum and standardized testing. The negative implications of the universal or standardized literacy of E.D. Hirsch are numerous and are especially devastating to students of minority cultures. Culture plays an important role in a persons development. A communities history, language, and beliefs play an integral part in the education of that communities children. E.D. Hirsch's list of what Americans should know is cultural biased. This would be the case of any individual list of what literate Americans should know. The range of cultural diversity throughout the United States results in a diversity of acceptably knowledge from region to region. The imposition of another's culture ie list of literacy knowledge can be devastating to a students education. The Native American fight for control of education of their community illustrates this point. Prior to the imposition of western industrialized society's concept of institutionalized education Native Americans had developed educational systems that were formalized and intentionally designed to achieve pedagogical goals.(Lomawaima 2006, p. 28) The determination of the educational systems of the 19 th and early to mid 20 th century to remove Native American culture and language from the curricula created extreme educational disparities between Native and Non-native Americans. The trend toward Native American community control of education in the later portion of the 20 th century showed how the inclusion of community, culture and language helped to foster literacy among students. The example of Rock Point showed how literacy education in Navajo helped students develop literacy skills in English. Lomawaima stated that, “Longitudinal data from Rock Point demonstrate that Navajo speaking children who learned to read first in Navajo not only outperformed comparable Navajo students in English only programs, they surpassed their own previous annual growth rates and those of comparison group students in BIA schools.”(Lomawaima 2006, p.121) Applying Hirsch's philosophy of universal literacy would disenfranchise this demographic. Native Americans would not be the only group affected by the use of a standardized literacy. African Americans have suffered from oppression for centuries. Despite the emancipation of slaves and the abolishment of slavery, African Americans are still being systematically discriminated against. Cultural and linguistic differences in African American culture are commonly discriminated against through biased assessment practices in the American educational system. Standardized literacy as proposed by Hirsch would also result in a standardized assessment of knowledge. This standardized form of assessment and the testing constructs that are utilized for these assessments are extremely biased against minority cultures. An example of a biased testing construct is the basic word list. The basic word list is very similar to the list of what all Americans should know proposed by Hirsch. The questions proposed by Hilliard are, “ What is the criteria for the establishment of a basic word list? Is a basic word list something that all Americans can be expected to have had an equally likely chance to encounter?”(2002, p. 98) These question are rhetorical, there is no criteria for a basic word list because each student has had different life experiences and has as a result formed a completely singular vocabulary different from anyone else's. Minority cultures that utilize a dialect that is different from “standard” English have greater trouble when dealing with standardized word lists because their common language deviates from that which is assessed. As Delpit asserts, “When students do get a chance to speak, if anyone uses what the teacher considers to be bad English, the transgressor is told that he or she is speaking incorrectly and must fix the language in order to gain a response.”(2002, p. 40) The problem with this is that no particular language or dialect is superior to another so to consider a dialect commonly used by a particular minority culture as deficient or incorrect is to discriminate against that minority group. The good intentions of educators to create a common literacy and language among Americans is overshadowed by the inherent bias of dismissing culturally diverse language and knowledge in the name of nationalism. The diversity of language and culture throughout the United States has caused literacy to be equally as diverse. Attempts to standardize knowledge and literacy based on one arbitrary opinion is extremely foolish. Lisa Delpit's philosophy where of community based literacy that celebrates diversity is the best method for fostering literacy among students. Students that feel their opinions, cultures, dialects, and communities are respected feel more comfortable and are more confident in the school environment. The development of assessment should be specifically tailored to each student to accurately assess a students progress and process in learning, but the most important aspect of education is that each student is understood and their opinion is respected. It is impossible to accurately assess what a student has learned with out fully understanding what they previously knew and if a students opinion is not heard and respected then they will feel like there interests are ignored. The purpose of education is to avoid at all cost the silenced dialog and create an environment where each student can achieve.