A Primer on

1. Cultural Literacy:
What Every American Needs to Know
By: Bridget Gaitor & Sarah Deuitch

2. Who is E.D. Hirsch Jr.?
Click the following hyperlink to read
the short biography written by the
Hoover Institute at Stanford University
where Hirsch was a distinguished
visiting fellow from 1999 to 2006
http://www.hoover.org/fellows/10666

3. Hirsch’s Theory:
Cultural Literacy
Hirsch believed that the education system
should strive for universal literacy. He
believed that in order to achieve this we must
have large amounts of specific information.
This theory lead to cultural literacy, the
specific information, needed to gain universal
literacy.

4. What is Cultural Literacy?
Cultural literacy defined by Hirsch 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.
 Cultural literacy: the set of cultural facts
that is known in a society

5. Cultural Literacy vs. Literacy
Cultural Literacy Literacy
The specific facts that The ability to
everyone should know comprehend and
in order to engage in decipher words in a
intellectual and text for knowledge.
academic
conversations.

6. Cultural Literacy Dictionary
Hirsch’s book ends with an appendix that
includes a list of 5,000 essential facts and
people that every student should know. Here
are a few:
 Galileo
 Mozart
 The years of the Civil War
 The Book of Genesis
 The solar system

7. Cultural Literacy Dictionary
Open the hyperlink below to read a full description of Hirsch’s updated Dictionary
http://books.google.com/books/about/The_New_Dictionary_
of_Cultural_Literacy.html?id=GAzOg4eQl2YC
Think about it:
How many of these things are you
“culturally literate” about?
How many are your students “culturally
literate” about?
Why do you think that is?

8. Visual “List” of Hirsch’s Cultural
Literacy Dictionary
If you have trouble viewing the video above, please click on the following hyperlink:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LadSZ-tB_A

9. Why is cultural literacy needed?
Cultural literacy is needed to connect society
together. It is the glue that allows us to hold
conversations with one another and have a
common understanding.

10. Hirsch and Cultural Literacy on
McNeil/Lehrer News Hour
If you have trouble viewing the video above, please click on the following hyperlink:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROIujiY1uZU

11. http://www.coreknowledge.org/

12. Issues with Hirsch’s theory
Even though Hirsch’s cultural literacy theory
has received much praise, some educators
oppose his theory for these reasons:
 Who decides what information constitutes
as cultural literacy?
 Why does cultural literacy outweigh other
information?
 Cultural literacy is always changing with
society.

13. References
Core knowledge. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.coreknowledge.org/
Cultural literacy. (2009). [Web Video]. Retrieved from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LadSZ-tB_A
E. Donald Hirsch Jr. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.hoover.org/fellows/10666
Hirsch and cultural literacy on Mcneil/Lehrer news hour. (2011). [Web Video].
Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROIujiY1uZU
Hirsch, E. D. (1988). Cultural literacy: What every american needs to know. New York:
Vantage Books.