E. D. Hirsch facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
E. D. Hirsch
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Hirsch in 2015
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Eric Donald Hirsch Jr.
March 22, 1928 |
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| Known for | Founding the Core Knowledge Foundation |
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Notable work
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| Influences | Antonio Gramsci |
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Eric "E. D." Donald Hirsch Jr. (born March 22, 1928) is an American educator and writer. He is known for his ideas about education. He used to be a professor at the University of Virginia.
Hirsch is famous for his 1987 book Cultural Literacy. This book became a national bestseller. It helped start the idea of having common learning standards in American schools. In the book, Hirsch listed about 5,000 "names, phrases, dates, and concepts" that he believed every American should know. He called this "cultural literacy." His ideas caused a lot of discussion in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Hirsch also started the non-profit Core Knowledge Foundation. This foundation creates and updates detailed learning guides for students from Pre-K to 8th grade. These guides are called the Core Knowledge Sequence.
In 1991, Hirsch and the Core Knowledge Foundation published What Your First Grader Needs to Know. This was the first book in the popular "Core Knowledge Series." More books followed, covering preschool through sixth grade. These books are based on the Core Knowledge Sequence. They are used in many schools and are also popular with families who teach their children at home.
Before focusing on education, Hirsch wrote about English literature. He also wrote about how to understand texts, a field called hermeneutics. His 1967 book, Validity in Interpretation, is important in this field. In it, Hirsch argued that when you read something, you should try to understand what the author originally meant.
Contents
Early Life and Learning
Hirsch was born in Memphis, Tennessee, on March 22, 1928. His parents were Eric Donald Hirsch Sr. and Leah Hirsch. His father worked with cotton.
Hirsch went to public schools in Memphis. He also attended other schools like the Pentecost Garrison School and the Todd School for Boys.
In 1950, he earned a degree in English from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. After a short time in the naval reserves, he went to Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. He finished his doctorate degree in 1957.
Understanding Texts and Authors
From 1966, Hirsch taught English at the University of Virginia. The next year, he published Validity in Interpretation (1967). This book was about hermeneutics, which is the study of how we understand texts.
In this book, Hirsch said that a text means what its author intended. He believed that readers can (and should) try to figure out the author's original meaning. He also said that the "meaning" of a text stays the same, but its "significance" (how important or relevant it is) can change over time. Hirsch argued that it is possible to understand texts in an objective way.
His ideas were different from some other thinkers. He believed in focusing on the author's original message.
How Writing Works
In the 1970s, Hirsch started studying how people write. He published a book called The Philosophy of Composition (1977). In this book, he talked about "relative readability." This means that some writing is easier and faster to read than other writing, even if it says the same thing.
Hirsch and his team did experiments. They found that well-written texts were indeed read faster. But they also made an important discovery: if students didn't have enough background knowledge, they struggled to understand texts, no matter how well they were written. For example, students at a community college didn't know about Ulysses S. Grant or Robert E. Lee. Because of this, they had trouble understanding a passage about the American Civil War. Hirsch realized these students lacked "cultural literacy." They could read the words, but they didn't have the general knowledge needed to understand the topic.
What is Cultural Literacy?
Hirsch was surprised that students in Virginia didn't know about important Civil War figures. This led him to strongly support teaching "cultural literacy" in schools, especially from kindergarten to 8th grade. His main goal was to help all students, especially those who were struggling, improve their reading by having more shared knowledge.
In 1983, with support from the Exxon Education Foundation, Hirsch put together a team. They started making lists of terms that "culturally literate" people know. This list became an important part of his 1987 book. It included about 5,000 "names, phrases, dates, and concepts" that he felt were the basic knowledge for Americans.
In 1986, Hirsch created the Cultural Literacy Foundation. Its goal was to create a curriculum rich in facts and try it out in elementary schools.
When Cultural Literacy came out in 1987, it became a national bestseller. Many people felt it showed problems in American education. The book encouraged a movement for common standards in schools. The United States Department of Education even suggested that cultural literacy should be part of the American education system.
In 1988, Hirsch helped write The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy. Later, in 1991, he and his team released What Your First Grader Needs to Know. This was the start of the popular Core Knowledge series.
Diane Ravitch, a historian of education, supported Hirsch's work early on. She encouraged him to publish Cultural Literacy. By 1988, Hirsch was leading a "crusade against noneducation" through his Cultural Literacy Foundation. The foundation aimed to fight ignorance and illiteracy in the U.S. and suggest solutions.
By 2015, Hirsch's Core Knowledge Foundation had become a key source for the Common Core movement. This movement focuses on what students should know, emphasizing "content knowledge."
Core Knowledge in Schools
Hirsch founded the non-profit Core Knowledge Foundation. It publishes the Core Knowledge Sequence, which are learning guides. The Foundation also publishes the Core Knowledge Grader Series of books. These books start with What Your Preschooler Needs to Know and go up to What Your Sixth Grader Needs to Know. These books are popular with homeschooling families and schools that use the Core Knowledge approach.
In 2011, a British version of The Core Knowledge Sequence was published online. Books were adapted for the UK, starting with What Your Year 1 Child Needs to Know.
By 2015, about 1,260 schools in the U.S. were using some or all of the Core Knowledge Sequence. These schools include public, charter, private, and religious schools in different areas.
Even though Hirsch wasn't directly involved in creating the Common Core State Standards, many people believe his ideas provided the "intellectual foundation" for it.
What People Think of Hirsch's Work
A 1999 newspaper article said Hirsch's system helped create educated children. It also caused debates in education, which helped his foundation grow. Hirsch said he designed the curriculum to give all children a common base of knowledge. He believed this would help ensure equal opportunities.
Sol Stern, a writer on education reform, called Hirsch's curriculum a "curriculum for democracy." He said it helps create better citizens and smarter kids. Stern also said Hirsch was "the most important education reformer of the past half-century."
The Core Knowledge Foundation says it is not linked to any political party. Hirsch himself is a Democrat. He has said he is a "political liberal" who became an "educational conservative." He realized that for all students to read and write well, schools needed to teach a lot of traditional, shared knowledge.
Some critics on the political left have called Hirsch an "elitist." They worry his ideas might lead to less tolerance for different viewpoints. On the political right, some have worried his ideas could lead to too much federal control over school curriculums.
Howard Gardner, a professor known for his theory of multiple intelligences, has often criticized Hirsch. Gardner felt Hirsch's curriculum was "superficial" and "anti-intellectual."
Influence in the UK
Michael Gove, who was the UK's Secretary of State for Education from 2010 to 2014, admired Hirsch's ideas. Gove made big changes to the national curriculum, adding more "hard facts." These changes were influenced by Hirsch. In 2014, the Core Knowledge books were published in the U.K.
A 2010 article in the UK magazine TES described Core Knowledge as a "kind of national curriculum." It outlines what children should know in subjects like English, history, geography, math, science, music, and art.
Influence in Other Countries
Portugal
E. D. Hirsch visited Portugal in 2004. His ideas became very important there, especially when Nuno Crato was the minister of education (2011–2015). During this time, school curriculums were changed. Detailed learning goals were added, focusing on the essential knowledge students should learn. These goals were built step-by-step, inspired by Hirsch's ideas. Many believe these strict standards helped Portuguese students improve their results in international tests like PISA and TIMSS in 2015.
Personal Life
Hirsch has been married three times. He was married to Gertrud Erna Winkelsen in 1956. From 1958 until her death in 2015, he was married to Mary Monteith Pope. He is currently married to Natasha "Tasha" Tobin.
He has four children.
Awards and Memberships
Hirsch has received many awards and honors. These include the Fulbright Fellowship and the Guggenheim Fellowship.
At the University of Virginia, he was a professor of English, Education, and Humanities.
He has also received honorary degrees from Rhodes College and Williams College.
Hirsch is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He lives in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Books by E. D. Hirsch
- Wordsworth and Schelling (1960)
- Innocence and Experience: An Introduction to Blake (1964)
- Validity in Interpretation (Yale University Press, 1967)
- The Aims of Interpretation (1976)
- The Philosophy of Composition (1977)
- Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know (1987)
- The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy (1988)
- The Schools We Need: And Why We Don't Have Them (1996)
- The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know (2002)
- The Knowledge Deficit: Closing the Shocking Education Gap for American Children (2006)
- The Making of Americans: Democracy and Our Schools (2010)
- Why Knowledge Matters (2016)
See also
- The Core Knowledge Foundation
- Daniel T. Willingham
