In E.D. Hirsch Jr's list of "What Literate Americans Know", he formed a tedious list of what he feels every American should know in order to be considered literate. In his piece, "Literacy and Cultural Literacy", he states that "Professor Chall is one of several reading specialists who have observed that 'world knowledge' is essential to the development of reading and writing skills. What she calls world knowledge I call cultural literacy, namely, the network of information that all competent readers possess" (pg. 2). Thus, background knowledge is crucial for a person to have in order to learn other specific tasks. Having background knowledge is essential in all areas if one hopes to be a successful citizen.
Hirsch formed a very long list of what he feels is important for an American to know. Some of these concepts are "herpes, mammon, Prince Albert, rainbow, volcano, and wet behind the ears." With a list well over 50 pages long, I begin to wonder how he came up with these concepts. Sure, I admit that some of them are necessary for the average American to know but even I didn't know what a lot of these words or concepts meant. I am a 22 year old, middle class woman who graduated high school with an advanced regents diploma, graduated Cum Laude with two majors in my undergraduate program, and am continuing my education to receive my Masters. I would consider myself more literate than a lot of other Americans. After reading this list however, it made me question myself. Am I not literate enough to be a teacher? I don't know what a good amount of the stuff on this list means and apparently I am supposed to. I have lived my whole life now knowing what "wet behind the ears means" and I have never felt the need to understand this saying. Why does not knowing this make me "illiterate"?
Continuing on the fact that I don't know what "wet behind the ears" means, I have to question if maybe this list is out of date. This list was published in 1988. Hellooo! I was BORN in 1988! Would perhaps my grandparents know what this means? Is it a saying that was common in previous years but soon died out? For Hirsch to take so much time composing this list of concepts he claims we all need to know, he should take the time to compose a more recent list ... or maybe he did?! When attempting to make a list of every topic a person should know, I feel strongly that this list will change with time. Things that were extremely important years ago, may not be as vital today.
This holds true in the classroom. I do not have my own classroom yet but I hope to teach integrated algebra. I have listed some important topics and vocabulary words that I feel are necessary to be successful in this course. This list is as follows:
Commutative, Function, Monomial, Roots, Radical, Whole Numbers, Systems of Equations, Probability, Equation, Distributive, Linear Equation, Binomial, Axis of Symmetry, Multiplying/Dividing Radicals, Integers, Systems of Inequalities, Sample Space, Inequality, Associative, Quadratic Equation, Trinomial, Vertex, Like/Unlike Radical, Natural Numbers, Substitution Method, Tree Diagram, Variable, Additive Identity, Parallel, Polynomial, Maximum/Minimum, Simplest Radical Form, Irrational Numbers, Elimination Method, Event, Check, Multiplicative Identity, Slope, Degree, Parabola, Adding/Subtracting Radicals, Rational Numbers, Complement, Expression, Additive Inverse, Slope (Horizontal), Term, Zeros, Empirical Probability, Like Terms, Multiplicative Inverse, Slope (Vertical), Linear, Turning Point, Theoretical Probability, Coefficient, x-intercept, Quadratic, Solutions to a Quadratic Equation, Reciprocal, y-intercept, Cubic/Quartic, Factoring, Independent Events, Inverse Operations, Ordered Pair, Constant, Solving Quadratics by graphing/algebra, Dependent Events, Evaluate, Undefined Slope, Standard Form, Set, Simplify, Union, Solution Set, Intersection, Absolute Value, Permutations
This list is exhaustive to read and while it would be ideal for an integrated algebra student to know all of these concepts, if a student did know what a few of these topics were, it would not necessarily mean that they are not going to be successful in the math classroom. In addition, I think that it is important to note that this list would have to change yearly, as the curriculum changes and the use of technology increases. I am not saying that I listed every single topic in the integrated algebra course, or listed every key vocabulary term - there are probably many other ideas that could be added to this list. However, I am aware of this and would keep this in mind and alter my list if I really wished to make an accurate list of what every American should know in the math classroom.
I am not sure why Hirsch felt the need to do this, and I am not sure that I agree on the need to know every topic he listed but I can conclude my blog by saying if that were me, I would have done an updated list!
*I did look online at www.phrases.org the meaning of "wet behind the ears". If any of you don't know, it means "naive." It alludes to the inexperience of a baby who is so newly born they are still wet behind the ears. Who knew! I've never heard the expression in my 22 years.
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