Cultural Literacy

by Kelly Knowlden

In 1987, E.D. Hirsch, Jr. published a book called Cultural Literacy.  In it he talks about what every American needs  to know in order to be culturally literate.  The premise of the book was to focus “on the background knowledge necessary for functional literacy and effective national communication.”  He acknowledges that while it is necessary to keep up with the changes that language and influence from foreign cultures brings, yet in making a list of items necessary to know, 80% of them have been in use for more than 100 years.

To have a common cultural conversation, we must be able to convey common ideas drawn from a common set of information.  It is this background information that Mr. Hirsch is trying to establish in his book.

At ICS we also are trying to establish that background information.  We want students to know about where phrases come from like, “too many cooks spoil the broth” and what a topic sentence is, and what topsoil is, where Toronto is, and who Sojourner Truth was and to know the theme of The Tortoise and the Hare.  We want  children to understand who Arthur Miller, and Michelangelo, and John Stuart Mill are and what contributions they made to our present cultural conversation.  So we work very hard at helping children to understand the facts they are studying as well as the context in which the facts fit.  Our desire is for students to be able to critique those facts through the lens of the Bible so that they can contribute something important to the cultural conversation.