In E.D. Hirsch Jr's article Literacy and Cultural Literacy, he states that, "Cultural literacy lies above the everyday levels of knowledge that everyone possesses and below the expert level known only to specialists. It is that middle ground of cultural knowledge possessed by the 'common reader'... " (p. 19). The question lies as to what knowledge is considered cultural literacy?
Hirsch created a list of "What Literate Americans Know". His list includes things geographical items such as The Gulf of Mexico, Harlem NY, and Hollywood CA. It includes such people as Hitler, Alfred Hitchcock, Herbert Hoover, and Mao Tse-tung. Hirsch included many famous works of literature like Mary Had a Little Lamb, Pride and Prejudice, and Hamlet. He has created a list of "scientific" words that a literate person should know. These are items such as hemoglobin, heterogeneity, mass, mammal, and the quadratic equation.
If I were to create my own list of what a literate American knows you would find it would look like this:
- To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- The Harry Potter Series by JK Rowling
- We Didn't Start The Fire by Billy Joel (and can identify the places, events, and people in this song).
- The chromosomal difference between a male and a female human (You'd be surprised how many of my friends can't tell you this!)
- The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Michael Jackson
- Osama Bin Ladin
- Ground Zero
- The Itzy Bitsy Spider
- The Color Purple by Alice Walker
- Shakespeare
- Times Square
- Japan
- Natural Disaster
As I was reading through Hirsch's list of "What Literate Americans Know", I found myself thinking of all the nights my friends and I sit at trivia night. I began to wonder if the questions being asked could be considered what literate Americans know? Some of the questions are things that everyone would know. Most questions are not at the level of an expert. I challenge you to go to a trivia night and see what you know. Are you a literate American?
