Word: hirsch
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Hirsch defines literacy as "the ability to communicate effectively with strangers," and claims that only through educational conservatism can "grandparents communicate with grandchildren, southerners with midwesterners, whites with Blacks..." Does Hirsch really believe that the only way a Black can converse with a white is by appealing to their common knowledge of Herodotus? Communication is more than diverse individuals exchanging stored facts...
...most egregiously superficial chapters are the ones on literature, but summaries of several other disciplines lack substance as well. Perhaps Hirsch could offer a suggested reading list for elementary knowledge in fields like economics, anthropology, politics and psychology, but his glossy treatment of the fields does not do them justice. Even the dictionary's highlights--Kett's history chapters and Hirsch's chapters on the Bible and mythology--would be better served by a more extensive treatment than a list of key terms...
Another problem is that Hirsch strays from his proposed selection method of avoiding general or expert information. In his chapter on the Conventions of Written English, undoubtedly the worst in the volume, he includes entries like...
Supposedly, Hirsch weeded out specialized entries by using a formula of selecting only events, people or things that major newspapers would refer to without a definition. (Under that rationale, many of Hirsch's entries are extremely questionable.) The science entries, compiled by Trefil, are exempt from this qualification, since "there is little broad knowledge of science even among educated people." Granted, but does one need to know what thermal inversion is in order to function as a literate member of society? Similarly, would a science major feel a driving need to recognize that John Constable was an artist...
...want to quibble too much with Hirsch's choice of entries. (Although I wish W.H. Auden and Charles Schulz's Peanuts had made the list.) I'm not trying to harp on his errors. (Although the good citizens of Tallahassee will be thrilled to note that Jacksonville is listed as the capital of Florida.) But we must be wary of a 600-page list of information with an implicit message that says "You must read me." Perhaps knowledge is power, but is that knowledge confined to the superficial identifications E.D. Hirsch finds important? We should keep in mind another educational...