Cultural Literacy

Cultural Literacy is “the network of information that all competent readers possess.  It is the background information, stored in their minds, that enables them to take up a newspaper and read it with an adequate level of comprehension, getting the point, grasping the implications, relating what they read to the unstated context which alone gives meaning to what they read” (Hirsch 2). 

As a person who is pursuing a Master’s degree in the TESOL program I have come to the conclusion that Hirsch is right, we should all have background knowledge, but I don’t expect my future students to know what Hirsh is talking about when he randomly mentions some phrases, like, “wet behind the ears”.  As a whole world we don’t share the same background knowledge. For example, I grew up in Peru and during my elementary school years it was a part of the curriculum to memorize and learn the Peruvian history, geography and its political aspects.  When I arrived to the United States I was in the 8^th grade and I didn’t have much background knowledge on America history and American literature.  So where would that leave me?  I guess under Hirschs’ ideology I would be considered an illiterate.  What about the students who are enrolled in the high schools’ ESL programs that have just arrived to the states during their late teens, most of them don’t hold a deep understanding of cultural literacy.  I guess they wouldn’t have a chance either?  So in reality is Hirsch really looking to see minorities prosper in this country?  I guess he has it figured out that all ESL students that have come to the U.S.A without a solid background knowledge of cultural literacy are doomed and should just kiss their beloved American dream goodbye.

 “The people who run society at the macro-level must be literate in this culture…and more constructive to emphasize that blacks will be condemned in perpetuity to oversimplified, low-level tasks and will never gain their rightful place in controlling the levers of power unless they also acquire literacy in this wider cultural sense” (Hirsch 11). To Hirsch’s standard African Americans have it wrong too.  I wonder what cultural literacy he is talking about. It seems like he represents only the culture of the White Anglo-Saxon Protestant.  Doesn’t he know that U.S.A is a melting pot and that it is full of diversity?    

For ELLs (English language learners) it would be important to learn the necessary skills to improve their comprehension of the English language.  Once the students have learned how to use these life long skills they will be able to put them into practice in and outside of the classroom setting.  English language learners should be well exposed to reading, listening, writing, and speaking skills.  These skills will benefit the students by building their vocabulary, enhancing their comprehension, making them critical thinkers, and cognitive intellectuals. 

I do believe that we should have background knowledge of WWI, WWII, the civil war, and many other American history topics, but, it should be presented in integrated lessons.  Where the students would be enhancing their reading comprehension, spelling and grammar through the readings and writing of an American history class.