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CULTURAL LITERACY
RESEARCH FINDING:
Students read more fluently and with greater understanding if
they have background knowledge of the past and present. Such
knowledge and understanding is called cultural literacy.
COMMENT:
Students' background knowledge determines how well they grasp the
meaning of what they read. For example, students read passages
more deftly when the passages describe events, people, and places
of which the students have some prior knowledge. The more cul-
turally literate students are, the better prepared they will be
to read and understand serious books, magazines, and other chal-
lenging material.
Most school teachers, college professors, journalists, and social
commentators agree that the general background knowledge of Amer-
ican students is too low and getting lower. Surveys document
great gaps in students' basic knowledge of geography, history,
literature, politics, and democratic principles. Teaching is
hindered if teachers cannot count on their students sharing a
body of knowledge, references, and symbols.
Every society maintains formal and informal mechanisms to trans-
mit understanding of its history, literature, and political in-
stitutions from one generation to the next. A shared knowledge
of these elements of our past helps foster social cohesion and a
sense of national community and pride.
In the United States, the national community comprises diverse
groups and traditions; together they have created a rich cultural
heritage. Cultural literacy not only enables students to read
better and gain new knowledge; it enables them to understand the
shared heritage, institutions, and values that draw Americans
together.
Anderson, R. C., Soiro, R. J., and Montague, W. (l977). School-
ing and the Acquisition of Knowledge. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum
Associates.
Finn, Jr. C. E., Ravitch, D., and Roberts, P. (Eds.) (1985.) Challenges
to the Humanities. New York: Holmes and Meier.
Hirsch, E. D., Jr. (Spring l983). "Cultural Literacy." The
American Scholar, Vol. 52, pp. l59-l69.
Hirsch, E. D., Jr. (Summer l985). "Cultural Literacy and the
Schools." American Educator, Vol. 9, No. 2, pp. 8-l5.
Levine, A. (l980). When Dreams and Heroes Died: A Portrait of
Today's College Student. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, Inc.
Resnick, D. B., and Resnick, L. B. (August l977). "The Nature of
Literacy: An Historical Exploration." Harvard Educational Re-
view, Vol. 47, No. 5, pp. 370-385.