Response to E.D. Hirsch's "Cultural Literacy"

It’s a tortoise and hare story. I remember when E.D. Hirsch published Cultural Literacy back in 1987. It came just after Alan Bloom’s Closing of the American Mind which faulted American education for failing its students and democracy itself. Both books championed the value of great books and cultural history and both stirred up the always simmering conflict between progressive and traditional approaches to education. The reaction was fierce; critics vilified both books as retrogade and reflecting traditional elites. Still, they were wildly popular, and each spent months on best-seller lists.

Hirsch went on to spawn an industry with his series, What Your First Grader (Second Grader, Third Grader, and so on) Needs to Know. I suspected that many of those sales were to anxious parents or ones that wanted to fill their children’s heads with stuff. I confess, some years later when my own daughter reached third grade (a time when I thought kids probably had to actually start learning stuff) I bought one of them. But I never actually read it. I wonder how many of those millions of books sold actually did get read. Maybe it seemed a little too pat, a little too obligatory, like having to take your medicine. (My daughter survived third grade without it.)

The echo of that very loud reaction to Hirsch lingered during the 25 years since, but his ideas were clearly taking root. This year, schools in 45 states are adopting the Common Core Standards, nationwide guidelines that aim to make education more specific, consistent, and rigorous, and which fall neatly in line with Hirsch’s convictions. Curricula developed by his foundation are finding favor with school systems across the country, too. Even Hirsch’s critics recognize the connection. Slow and steady won that race.