The Knowledge Deficit

(Thanks Amazon for the picture of the book!)

I picked up this book because I felt my son's stroller basket was too full of chicklit and otherwise lightweight reading. I wanted some non-fiction and this was slender and short enough to guarantee at least the possibility of getting beyond the first chapter.

I wasn't too keen to read it--I've read Cultural Literacy, and I have to admit that my left-leaning biases made me agree too quickly with the liberal and politically correct criticisms of that book (mainly that Hirsch favors a western European model of curriculum to the detriment of other ethnicities in American schools).

But the book surprised me by giving me several lightbulb moments--that I actually agreed with!

Hirsch's first idea is that there is too much emphasis in elementary schools on teaching kids to read--phonics, comprehension, etc. His second idea is that we take for granted that giving kids this kind of instruction is enough to guarantee that they'll grow into fluent readers. His third idea is that this assumption (he calls it formalism) is wrong--kids need more than formal reading skills; they need a lot of background knowledge to help them understand what they're reading!

He cites a study (of course I didn't take note of who conducted it!) comparing a group of kids who tested well on reading skills versus a group with low scores but some knowledge of baseball, which was the subject of the passage they were tested on. The kids with low skills but some knowledge actually did better on the reading test.

Hirsch points out that kids who come from homes where educated parents talk with them about a wide range of subjects, where they are encouraged to participate in conversation, begin school with much more background knowledge than kids who come from poorer or less educated homes, and that this deficit will widen as they go through the school system. Schools can narrow this gap if they teach both reading and other subjects very well.

I suppose I'm not so set in my ways that I enjoy getting surprised. I was prepared to hate this book, but it really made me think and to admit that Hirsch argues his case so well that it deserves widespread discussion and debate. Some of the things he proposes (a more common curriculum across the US--rather than letting local districts compose 100% of their curricula, about 40-60% of it should be subject matter that is taught everywhere else; reducing explicit reading instruction time to accommodate instruction in social sciences, science and art, to cite 2) will be controversial for both conservative and liberal education thinkers. But that the debate takes place at all can only be good for America's children.