Equality and Kindness
Chapter 9: Patriotism: Shared Knowledge and Kindness
1. “Until the last generation”: Diane Ravitch, “Should We Teach Patriotism?,” Phi Delta Kappan 86, no. 8 (April 2006): 578–81, https://doi.org/10.1177/003172170608700806.
2. “I believe that a man”: “Citizenship in a Republic,” Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910, The Works of Theodore Roosevelt, Vol XIII, 506–29.
3. Theodore Roosevelt: https://www.snopes.com/tachyon/2020/01/lincoln-and-free-speech.png.
4. Professor Ravitch . . . said: “Should We Teach Patriotism?” Phi Delta Kappan 87, no. 8 (2006), https://doi.org/10.1177/003172170608700806.
5. up some 30 percent: Reported by the Centers for Disease Control, https://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/suicide/.
6. It’s more effective politically: See Richard Rorty, Achieving Our Country: Leftist Thought in Twentieth-Century America (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998): “The pre- Sixties reformist left, insofar as it concerned itself with oppressed minorities did so by
proclaiming that all of us—black, white, and brown—are Americans, and that we should respect one another as such. This strategy gave rise to the ‘platoon’ movies which showed Americans of various ethnic backgrounds fighting and dying side by side. By contrast, the contemporary
cultural left urges that America should not be a melting pot, because we need to respect one another in our differences. This Left wants to preserve otherness rather than ignore it. . . . Insofar as this prevents someone from also taking pride in being an American citizen . . . from being able to join with straights or whites in reformist initiatives, it is a political disaster” (100).
Rorty speaks not just for the “Old Left” but also for all of the Enlightenment, from Benjamin Rush to the present. The romanticizing of ethnicity is indeed a political disaster. It’s also a moral failure, and a scientific mistake.
7. a “precipitous drop”: Doris A. Santoro, “Is it Burnout? Or Demoralization?,” Educational Leadership 75, no. 9 (June 2018): 10–15, https://www.ascd.org/publications/educational- leadership/summer18/vol75/num09/Is-It-Burnout%C2%A2-Or-Demoralization%C2%A2.aspx.
Index
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accommodation, 87 Alekhine, Alexander, 120 alienation, 184
American Dictionary of the English Language (Webster), 11–13 An American Dilemma (Myrdal), 173
American Dream eroding of, 5 as fantasy, 7
plasticity and, 110–11 American fantasy, 7 Americanization, 67 anthropology, 109 Appleton, William H, 13 assimilation
association and, 51 of immigrants, 148–49 association, assimilation and, 51 authenticity, 111
authentic learning, 20
background knowledge communication needing, 24
as critical for speech transaction, 160–61 curriculum imparting, 139–40
dependency on, 52–53
disadvantaged children lacking, 99 as enabling, 58
mastery of, 26
sharing of, within community, 200n76 as silent, 28–29
as unpredictable, 39 Baker, Franklin, 16–17, 173 behavior, 109
changing of, 190 engagement and, 48 Bell, Paul, 169–70 Bellamy, Francis, 179 Bourdieu, Pierre, 136–37 brains
as big, 82
evolution of, 106–7 flexibility of, 109 mechanisms in, 117 research on, 4 rewiring of, 108
shortcuts created by, 124–27 bullying, 105, 201n105
Canada, 171
Chase, William, 121–23 chess, 120–22
child-centered civics, 43–45 child-centered classrooms
centers within, 36–40 critical thinking in, 42 child-centered learning, 4, 17
as defective, 25, 32–34 Dewey and, 90
dominance of, 65 emotional origins of, 31
as isolated and compartmentalized, 56
knowledge-based learning contrast with, 47–56 liberation from, 57–58
materials used in, 35–36, 44 romanticism and, 18–21 children. See also infants
as advantaged and disadvantaged, 8
background knowledge lacking in disadvantaged, 99 engagement of, 48, 54–55
excitement of, 193 future for, 189 as gifted, 45–46 instincts of, 20
love and affection for, 31 mental development of, 104–6 as proof, 190
steps for success for, 167–68
transportation for, 74 tutoring each other, 89 uniqueness of, 58 citizenship
character and, 162
communication, effective action and, 185–86 developing of, 55
Civic Mission of the Schools, 95 civil law, 150
civil religion, 179–80 civil rights movement, 173 Civil War, 15–16, 146–47, 172
CKLA. See Core Knowledge Language Arts Clark, Richard E., 100
class size, 75 coercion, 157–58 cognitive psychology, 7
branches of, 98–99 constructivism and, 88 Simon and, 120, 123 in universities, 80 coherence, 165
of content, 69 desire for, 170 as essential, 161
knowledge-based learning and, 51 cohesion, 14
loss of, 6 national, 9
collaboration, communication, creativity and, 116 college, 47
Columbus, Christopher, 12 commonality, 69, 148
acceptance of, 159 argument for, 167 in curriculum, 155 as essential, 161 increase in, 154 loss of, 6
national need for, 9–14 as reactionary, 175
Common Core State Standards, 159–61, 165–67, 171, 198n26 Common School Act, 148
Common School Journal, 14, 81–82 common school movement
Enlightenment and, 18 ideal of, 17
Mann as founder of, 11, 14 readers used in, 15
romantic individualism taking over, 19–20
unity sustained by, 16 communication
background knowledge needing, 24 citizenship, effective action and, 185–86 collaboration, creativity and, 116 at distance, 184
knowledge, community and, 28 necessity of, 24–25
preservation of networks for, 157 social, 76
community. See also speech community communication, knowledge and, 28 problem-solving in, 44
schools as, 54
shared knowledge creating, 55–56 compartmentalization, 52, 56 Constitution, US, 3, 147, 162, 172 constructivism, 60, 200n88
cognitive psychology and, 88 explanation of, 89
failures of, 97 in France, 133–41
ignorance developed from, 92 implications of, 96
instructivism compared to, 105 Kant and, 88
in Sweden, 131–32 content knowledge, 52 cooperation, 199n29
global, 6 as required, 76
within social groups, 178
Core Knowledge Foundation, 74, 189–92, 204n170 Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA), 192 Core Knowledge Sequence, 170
Craigslist, 164 creativity
collaboration, communication and, 116 happiness, imaginativeness and, 91 critical thinking, 5, 85
myth of, 127 packets for, 41–42 skills in, 33
subject matter and, 115–16 cultural literacy list, 168 culture, 9
honoring, 67, 112 as intergenerational, 7 literacy, unity and, 67–68 unity and, in schools, 53–54
variations in, 106–7 curiosity, 119
curriculum
background knowledge imparted by, 139–40 commonality in, 155
constructivist, 89–96 as content-rich, 166–67 decisions surrounding, 171–75 investing in new, 192
for knowledge-based learning, 46, 69 parents understanding, 71–72
for social studies, 92 unity in, 67
debate, techniques for, 72
Declaration of Independence, 112, 147, 172 Delpit, Lisa, 98
democracy, 7, 146 children in, 8 equality and, 76
modernity and, 203n147 normalcy in, 174 at risk, 16 schooling in, 9
vocational meaningfulness within, 187
Democracy in America (de Tocqueville), 149–50 demonization, in politics, 5, 173
Department of Education, US, 71 Deutsch, Karl W., 28, 156, 158, 198n28 Dewey, John, 19, 78–79, 83–86, 152–53
child-centered learning and, 90 How We Think by, 85
praise for, 162 dictatorship, 147
Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, 168 differentiation, personalization and, 45–46 van Dijk, Teun A., 117–18
discovery learning, 79 discussion, 47–48
The Disuniting of America (Schlesinger), 5 diversity, 112
in American schooling, 154–56 unity, knowledge and, 156 unity in, 113
Durant, Sheila, 66–67, 72
Durkheim, Émile, 6, 156–58, 178–83, 197n6
educational failures, 129–30 educational psychology, 98 elementary schools, 4
curriculum in French, 134–36
grade-by-grade topic sequence for, 165 improvements needed for, 189–90 physical setup of, 33–34
in Singapore, 163–64 steps for success for, 167–68 empathy, 67
engagement behavior and, 48 of children, 54–55
through teaching materials, 68 England, 173
Enlightenment, 18, 110, 204n185 common school movement and, 18 hope of, 111
equality
democracy and, 76
liberty, kindness and, 183–87 moral principle of, 112 safety, happiness and, 180
shared-knowledge curriculum and, 100 Ericsson, Anders, 116–17, 123
ethical laws, 72 ethnicity, 4, 185
ambiguities of, 111–14 as essentialized, 179, 202n112 identity and, 181
nationality and, 29, 197n4 patriotism and, 180–81 race and, 111, 186 romanticizing, 204n185 ethnos (nation), 185 European Union, 156–58 Euwe, Max, 120
evolution, 81 apex of, 184 of brains, 106–7 of language, 26
evolutionary psychology, 82–83, 109
facts
as inconvenient burdens, 92 need for, 115–20
as useless, 173 family dynamics, 51, 54 federalism, 113–14
Fine, Reuben, 120
Fordham, Thomas B., 93–94 fragmentation, 5, 156 France, 150
curriculums in, 133–41 reading scores in, 139 verbal scores in, 138 Franklin, Benjamin, 18, 147 freedom
of choice, 172 new birth of, 15–17 French Revolution, 183
Garcia, Dan, 73–74 Gates Foundation, 161 Gattegno, Caleb, 68 Germany, 130–31, 181 Germany Over All, 181 Gildea, Patricia M., 126 globalism, 156–58, 199n29 Google, 125–26
Grissmer, David, 61–62, 99–100, 199n62 de Groot, Adriaan, 120–23
Hamilton, Alexander, 11, 146 Hanford, Emily, 79, 96 happiness, 91
equality, safety and, 180 free pursuit of, 112 Harari, Yuval, 183–84 Hegel, Georg F. W., 18 hope
of Enlightenment, 111 symbol of, 4
horizons, expanding, 43
How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, School, 114, 115 How People Learn II: Learners, Contexts, and Cultures, 114 How the Other Half Learns (Pondiscio), 70
How We Think (Dewey), 85 Hudak, Michele, 32–49, 199n35 humanitarianism, 184
humility, 203n147 hypernationalism, 181
Icahn, Carl, 66
Icahn Core Knowledge schools, 69–75
idealism, 193 identity
concept of, 4 ethnicity and, 181
race, intersectionality and, 112 shared, 154
ideological protest, 7 ignorance, 173 imaginativeness, 91 immigration, 55 independence
as encouraged, 72 individualism and, 86 loss of, 172
of states, 6
individualism, 83, 167 as enemy, 87
independence and, 86 as romantic, 154 individuality, 16
individualized topics, 86–87 infants, 81
The Inheritors (Bourdieu and Passeron), 136–37 innovation, 11
inquiry, knowledge arising from, 37 instincts
of children, 20 nature and, 80 power and, 84 as unreliable, 82–83 instructivism, 105
instructivist approach, to phonics, 96 intersectionality, identity, race and, 112 invented spelling, 38
inventiveness, 172 IQ, 117
Jefferson, Thomas, 14, 18, 147–48
J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College, 98
Kalisman, Nir, 108–9 Kant, Immanuel, 88 Kent, James, 12 Keres, Paul, 120 Kett, Joseph, 168
Kilpatrick, William Heard, 78–79 Kindergarten, 19
kindness
liberty, equality and, 183–87 patriotism and, 200n67 King, Martin Luther, Jr., 173 King Lear (Shakespeare), 83
Kinter, Cathy, 32–47, 49–56, 199n35 Kintsch, Walter, 117–18
Kirschner, Paul A., 96–97, 100, 122–23 knowledge-based learning, 34–35, 42
child-centered learning contrast with, 47–56 coherence and, 51
curriculum for, 46, 69 effectiveness of, 59 future of, 140 opposition to, 174 potential of, 190 success of, 62–64
vital political center produced by, 174
language
as dependent on knowledge, 21, 25–26 evolution of, 26
manners and, 9–10 mastery of, 25 proficiency, 33
of public speakers, 153–54
shared knowledge, values and, 114, 157–58 studies of, 4
unity of, 12 language arts, 166
culture necessary for, 118
reading, writing and literature as, 89–91 Leslie, Lauren, 118–19
Levine, Arthur, 96 liberty, 3
equality, kindness and, 183–87 valuation of, 11
Lincoln, Abraham, 15–16, 151, 181 literacy
centers for, 37 standards for, 32
unity, culture and, 67–68 Litt, Jeffrey, 66, 70–75, 175 Locke, John, 106–7, 110–11 Long, Lester, 69
loyalty, 16, 150
to American flag, 179 to birthland, 178 secular, 203n147
Lyles-Crouch Traditional Academy, 59–65
Madison, James, 110–11, 146, 147, 151 Mann, Horace, 11, 14–15, 81–82, 146, 171 manners, language and, 9–10
Marshall Cavendish Education, 162–64 McClellan, Robin, 191
McGuffey, William, 15
Melville, Herman, 16, 111, 183, 185 memorization, 172–73
memory
function of long-term, 119–23 knowledge connected to, 52 limitations to, 124
long-term, 110 short-term, 125 training of, 117
mental development, 104–6 Miller, George A., 124–26
modernity, democracy and, 203n147 morale, 63
Morrison, Toni, 186 multiculturalism, 112, 158 Myrdal, Gunnar, 173
NAEP. See National Assessment of Educational Progress nation (ethnos), 185
National Academy of Sciences, US, 114
National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 94–95, 170 nationalism, 156. See also hypernationalism
Nationalism and Social Communication (Deutsch), 28 nationality, ethnicity and, 4, 29
A Nation at Risk report, 22–23, 91, 134 natural science, 4
nature, 18–19, 78–79 following of human, 186 of humans, as malleable, 109 instinct and, 80
of skills, 114–15 Nelson, Christy, 192 neocortex, 106–9
centers of, 201n106 coding within, 160 nursery rhymes, 26–27
opportunity, 8
optimism, 152–53
Other People’s Children (Delpit), 98
parents
curriculum understood by, 71–72 demand from, 175
hopelessness of, 189 as solicitous, 62
Passeron, Jean-Claude, 136–37 patriotism, 6, 16, 55, 148, 197n6
decline of, 152 as essential, 198n28 ethnicity and, 180–81 kindness and, 200n67 mutual, 169
as religion, 183 Roosevelt on, 182 as unfashionable, 178 vital center for, 173–74 Peabody, Elizabeth, 19 personalization, 45–46, 86 personalized learning, 46 phonics, 90, 96
PISA. See Program of International Student Assessment PISA Schock, 130–31
plasticity, 108, 110–11 Plato, 187
Pledge of Allegiance, 173, 178–79 polarization, 152
Pondiscio, Robert, 70 poverty, 53, 66 pragmatism, 193 precision, 26
pressure, influence of, 75 pride, national, 6
problem-solving
as based on knowledge, 120 in community, 44
Program of International Student Assessment (PISA), 23, 31–32 best-performing nations in rankings by, 161–62
in Germany, 130 in Sweden, 131–33 progressive education, 19 progressivism, 19–20, 89, 152 project-based learning, 21, 44
“The Project Method,” 78 prosperity, 178
psycholinguistics, 10, 98–99, 198n26
race, 180–81 ethnicity and, 111
identity, intersectionality and, 112 racism, 186
Ravitch, Diane, 92–94, 179–80, 183 reading, 5
complexity in, 204n166 comprehension skills for, 118 decoding print for, 80
proficiency in, 191
scores for, decrease, 21–25
shared knowledge creating skills in, 173 Reagan, Ronald, 21
reality principle, 115 Recht, Donna, 118–19 Recognition Schools, 199n66
religion, 111–12, 150–51, 183, 203n147 Republic (Plato), 187
Revolutionary War, 18 Reward Schools, 66–70, 75 Riddle, John, 164
romantic individualism
common school movement taken over by, 19–20 power of, 154
tradition of, 167 romanticism
child-centered school and, 18–21 confidence and, 83
educational, 78–80, 86, 96–98, 129 new wave of, 172
Roosevelt, Theodore, 6, 181–82, 197n6 Rush, Benjamin, 146, 147, 203n147, 204n185
sadism, 199n29
safety, equality, happiness and, 180 Sapiens (Harari), 183–84
SAT standardized tests, 23 Schelling, Friedrich, 18
Schlesinger, Arthur M., Jr., 5, 113 secession, 6
segregation, 5
segregation, in schools, 60 self-discipline, 73
self-fulfillment, 110 selfishness, 83
self-transformation, 111 sensory perceptions, 107
sentiments, 10
Shakespeare, William, 83 shared knowledge, 131–32
arising from inquiry, 37
communication, community and, 28 community created through, 55–56 as cumulative, 60
decline of, 152 desire for, 46
diversity, unity and, 156 examples of, 25–29 as foundation, 61
as foundation for competence, 187 importance of, 199n35
language, values and, 114, 157–58 language dependency on, 21, 25–26 necessity of, 159
power of, 29, 199n29
reading skills developed through, 173 traditional, 155
shared-knowledge curriculum equality and, 100
in France, 140–41 integration of, 155 manifestation of, 199n35 range of subjects within, 69 rejection of, 174
in Sweden, 131–32 Simon, Herbert A., 120–23 Singapore, 161–66
skills
abstract, 167
as domain specific, 115–17 nature of, 114–15
standards based on, 36 slavery
economic dependence on, 15 opposition to, 14
social class, 138–39 social customs, 27 social disadvantage, 24 social equality, 13 social fairness, 148, 185 Socialism, 137, 179 social morality, 184 social organizations, 107 social studies
as constructivist, 93 curriculum for, 92 standards for, 43–44
socioeconomic diversity, 64 sociolinguistics, 10
solidarity, 148, 186 solitary lifestyle, 107–8
South Bronx Classical Charter School, 68–69 Soviet Union, 157–58
specificity, 161, 165, 175 speech community, 4, 7, 29
classrooms transformed into, 58, 160 definition of, 200n76
forming of, 76
Speller (Webster), 11–13 standardized tests, 66 standards
content compared to skills, 36 eliminating need for, 166 for literacy, 32–33 as naïve, 198n26
for social studies, 43–44 teachers meeeting, 34–36 as unspecific, 5, 32
“Star-Spangled Banner,” 173 student protests, 136
suicide, 184 Sweden, 131–33 Sweller, John, 100 Switzerland, 157
Tartakower, Savielly, 120 teachers, 3
as citizen makers, 186–87
conference of, for content sequence ratification, 168–71 confusion of, 186
content training for, 174 empowerment of, 51 shared curriculum for, 56 standards met by, 34–36
Teachers College project, 90–91, 96 teacher training schools, 24
dominant ideas within, 78 educational psychology for, 98 teaching materials
child-centered learning use of, 35–36, 44 as engaging, 68
Ten Commandments, 108 tenet, 126
textual complexity, 166 Thorndike, Edwin, 16–17, 173
Thought and Choice in Chess (de Groot), 120–21
thought control, 165–66, 172, 173 de Tocqueville, Alexis, 149–50 Trefil, James, 168
tribalism
as human universal, 111 morality and ethics in, 184 as religious, 203n147 tribalization, 5
Unger, Harlow, 13 uniformity, 11, 172 unity, 5
of citizens, 189
common school sustaining, 16 culture and, in schools, 52–54 in curriculum, 67
desire for national, 146 diversity, knowledge and, 156 in diversity, 113
literacy, culture and, 67–68 in multiplicity, 16
validity of, 179
values
shared knowledge, language and, 114, 157–58 shared social, 10–11
vital center, 113
Wars of the Reformation, 111 Washington, George, 12, 146–48 Webster, Noah, 3, 9–10, 14, 81, 146
American Dictionary of the English Language by, 11–13 Speller by, 11–13
Whitman, Walt, 16
whole language instruction, 79, 90, 97 Wilde, Oscar, 28
Wilson, David Sloan, 83, 201n105 Wilson, E. O., 83, 201n105 wisdom, historically gained, 184 Wordsworth, William, 20–21 World War I, 181
World War II, 129 Wright, Silas, 151–52
Zissios, Patricia, 60–64
About the Author
E. D. HIRSCH, JR. is the founder and chairman of the Core Knowledge Foundation and professor emeritus of education and humanities at the University of Virginia. He is the author of several acclaimed books on education, including the New York Times bestseller Cultural Literacy, The Schools We Need, The Knowledge Deficit, The Making of Americans, and Why Knowledge Matters. A highly regarded literary critic and professor of English earlier in his career, he has persisted as a voice of reason in making the case for equality of educational opportunity.
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HOW TO EDUCATE A CITIZEN. Copyright © 2020 by E. D. Hirsch, Jr. All rights reserved under
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