The Knowledge Deficit: Closing the Shocking Education Gap for American Children

Hirsch lays out a lot of research to build his claim that American reading skills suffer, especially at the low end, because local control of the curriculum is tantamount to no control.Mechanical reading skills and reading strategies, while necessary at times, do not advance the ball when it comes developing a deep understanding of complex content. We need to think seriously about what the common cannon of understanding should be in each grade so students aren't reading random unrelated content that leaves many out in the cold.The metaphor I liked compared choosing a systematic series of K-12 reading topics to deciding whether to drive on the right, or left side, of the road. Either traffic system works, but each country has to choose one or the other so its citizens know how to drive with each other on busy streets. Likewise we have to decide which grade to teach the Mayflower. It doesn't matter if it's 1st grade, 2nd grade or 8th grade it can be taught well at every grade. But it shouldn't be taught by one teacher in 1st the next in 2nd and so forth boring the students who have read about it before and displacing content that they haven't encountered. The lack of a system hurts mobile students from low SES backgrounds the most, Hirsch says, leaving them so they can't understand what their fellow citizens are writing or saying.

This is the type of information students training to be teachers should be getting. The Liberal Arts philosophy of education makes so much sense and is sorely needed in public schools today.Forget about political correctness. What is the greater value of an education? Education is much more than just preparing someone to get a job. It is about becoming a well rounded person.Today's emphasis on multiculturalism is reaction to years of indoctrination in a system that devalues the individual. The failure of public education is: compromising knowledge for the sake of political correctness. This is the "knowledge deficit."The concept of core knowledge sets standards that are vital to a well balanced education. Commonality of knowledge bonds individuals from diverse backgrounds. Instead of having multiple cultures vying for attention, Core Knowledge enables individuals from different backgrounds to learn the universal language of knowledge. Having a common understanding brings people together; not "celebrating their differences." After experiencing the mutual benefit of "Core Knowledge" individuals can better appreciate other cultures and nurture their natural curiosity about the world around them. This is truly the foundation for mutual respect among people and lifelong learning.

First of all, it's important for you to know that I had to read this for a class. That being said...The first chapter was great! It really grabbed my attention and I thought "Wow, for an educational book, this one is going to be pretty amazing!". That was short lived unfortunately. The beginning of each subsequent chapter grabbed me but after the first paragraph, the information became repetitive. Towards the end, the last few chapters were repetitive on the previous ones.There were others in my class who thought this book was fantastic. I just didn't feel it like they did. I *wanted* to like this book but I don't do repetition well (except for in writing this review about how repetitious this book is!)I'm disappointed that I still have a knowledge gap when it comes to closing education gaps in American Children. I believe my professor might as well.

Good compliments to this work are Mortimer Adler's "How to Read a Book" and Michael Pressley's "Reading Instruction that Works". I learned about syllogism in Hirsch's text. Man is mortal, Socrates is a man, therefore Socrates is mortal. Isn't it true then that all proceeds from the sale of this book benefit Hirsch? He states on the jacket all proceeds from the sale of this book go directly to the Core Knowledge Foundation (of which he is founder/president). If all proceeds benefit the Core Knowledge Foundation and E.D. Hirsch is the Core Knowledge founder, isn't he REALLY telling us that all proceeds benefit E.D. Hirsch? Maybe I learned a little too much from his book.

To respond to tests and deal with texts, students need instant recall of many facts. The brain needs them to synthesize conclusions, inferences, critical thinking. But facts are out of fashion, so students do not recall enough or recall it too slowly. So the author is right. Trouble is that people who insist on these neurocognitive basics are branded as right wing. The opposite should be happening.

There is a place for "knowledge" in education. How about that! Hirsch effectively argues that reading comprehension would improve for kids today if they had more background knowledge, more general knowledge that previous generations seemed to gather naturally. Why the huge deficit in basic info? It's complicated. Hirsch's ideas are winning the argument and have caused the current trend toward placing more nonfiction in curricula.

My experience has me agreeing with this book. Frightening the back up to the thesis of book is researched and valid.

A must read for those who care about developments in education . . . and the future of American society,

Thought provoking and more liberal than I was expecting. I like the principle of ensuring kids have a broad exposure to a wide range of cultural and scientific vocabulary and ideas. Every primary (and secondary) teacher should read.

Excellent product which was quickly dispatched.

Informative and thought provoking. A great read for any parent who has trouble understanding why their children are not achieving the desired/promised outcomes of the process-based vs knowledge-based education that is prevalent in schools today.

Desmonta la ideología "naturalista" en pedagogía, tan dañina en la educación pública, especialmente para los alumnos de las clases populares. Asimismo, muestra el engranaje destructivo que opera en el sistema educativo estadounidense y cuáles han de ser las acciones que hay que llevar acabo para acabar con el desastre que produce.

Very interesting argument for a newly contentious and famous (in narrow education circles) essaying and cultural critic. I found lots to agree with here, although some of the attendant solutions being peddled in his name are less satisfying!