E. D. Hirsch
| Eric Donald Hirsch, Jr. | |
|---|---|
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Hirsch in 2015
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| Born |
March 22, 1928 Memphis, Tennessee, USA |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Literary critic, educator, and writer |
Eric Donald Hirsch, Jr. (/hɜːrʃ/; born March 22, 1928), usually cited as E. D. Hirsch, is an American educator and academic literary critic. He is professor emeritus of education and humanities at the University of Virginia. He is best known for writing Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know (1987), and is the founder and chairman of the Core Knowledge Foundation.
Beginning in 1990s, Hirsch began publishing books in the Core Knowledge Grader Series which the Foundation describes as "an engaging, illustrated guide to the essential knowledge outlined in the Core Knowledge Sequence", including information and activities for teachers, parents and children, as well as suggestions for related readings and resources. There are currently eight books in print, beginning with What Your Preschooler Needs to Know and ending with What Your Sixth Grader Needs to Know. The books have been particularly popular with parents who homeschool, as well as parents whose children attend Core Knowledge schools, and have been revised and updated over the years.
In 1996, HirschThe Schools We Need and Why We Don't Have Them. In it, Hirsch proposed that Romanticized, anti-knowledge theories of education are not only the cause of America's lackluster educational performance, but also a cause of widening inequalities in and race. Hirsch portrays American educational theory as one which attempts to give students intellectual tools such as "critical thinking skills", but which denigrates teaching any actual content, labeling it "mere rote learning". Hirsch states that it is this which has failed to develop knowledgeable, literate students.
A sample passage on Romantic, from The Schools We Need and Why We Don't Have Them:
Romanticism believed that human nature is innately good, and should therefore be encouraged to take its natural course, unspoiled by the artificial imposition prejudice and convention. Second, Romanticism concluded that a child is neither a scaled-down, ignorant version of the adult nor a form piece of clay in need of molding, rather, the child is a special being in its own right with unique, trustworthy impulses that should be allowed to develop and run their course.
The Schools We Need included sharp criticism of American schools of education. Hirsch described the contemporary ed. school as a "Thoughtworld," hostile to research-based findings and dissenting ideas.
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