Preview

Cultural Literacy

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1548 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Cultural Literacy
What is Cultural Literacy … Can it Truly Exist ?
Cultural Literacy. What is it? How can one define it? Is it knowing the answers to questions such as: who are Joseph Stalin and Frederick Douglass? Who fought in WWI? What was the Louisiana purchase? What is the second commandment? Name an amendment to the constitution? Try this on for size, who is the host of Total Request Live on MTV? Who is J. Lo engaged to?
Cultural literacy is knowledge of what one should know in order to be a functional member of an educated society. It includes an understanding of one 's language, grammar, pronunciations, syntax in speech, and the basic listening, reading and writing skills along with the knowledge of mathematics and history. Many argue whether cultural literacy is possible or not, whether it can truly exist. The whole concept of cultural literacy is an important one. Especially to America. America, being the great melting pot that it is needs to have this for everybody. We are constantly receiving new people into our country and as they come, our cultures "rub off" on each other, they begin to intertwine with another. By understanding these different groups we understand their cultures and we become more culturally literate (to the other persons culture) and our cultures actually mix. America is great because of this. The concept of cultural literacy is an important one to understand in order to make America a better place to live for everybody. To answer the question of whether or not it is possible for cultural literacy to exist, we need to break it down. We have to know what it means and who it applies to. We also need to understand how it works.
The works of E.D. Hirsch, Jr., "Cultural Literacy (excerpt)," and Jay Chaskes, "The First-year Student as Immigrant," expose the definition of what cultural literacy is and how this definition varies as it comes across various cultures, groups, members and individuals in a society. Cultural literacy is possessing the



Cited: Chaskes, Jay. "The First-Year Student as Immigrant." From Inquiry to Argument. McMeniman, Linda. Allyn & Bacon, 1999. Pg.29 Hirsch Jr., E.D. "Cultural Literacy (excerpt)." From Inquiry to Argument. McMeniman, Linda. Allyn & Bacon, 1999. Pg. 214

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Woodhouse, Howard R. “Critical Reflections on Hirsch and Cultural Literacy.” Interchange 20.3 (1989): 80-89. Print…

    • 1895 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    E.D. Hirsch JR. makes a case in the writing “Preface to Cultural Literacy” that to be culturally literate, is to possess the basic information needed to thrive in the modern world, and how cultural literacy is the only outlet for disadvantaged children. This has created debate about how the American Education system has been following a flawed system created by Jean Jacques Rousseau and John Dewey. Hirsch believes that for a better future we must reform the education system and change the ideas of how children are taught thus giving them a chance to not be condemned to the same social and educational state that their parents had gone through.…

    • 449 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Diversity Paper

    • 512 Words
    • 3 Pages

    There are many challenges for one to become culturally competent, one may have to look at their own bias’s or prejudices in order to gain an understanding of why we make some of the decisions that we do. Education plays an important role in understanding how to become more sensitive to cultures, ethnicities, and genders different from our own.…

    • 512 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Knoblauch Summary

    • 394 Words
    • 2 Pages

    It’s Knoblauch’s goal in his essay to show that there isn’t only one definition of literacy. His theory is that there are 4 senses of literacy and he not only defines them, but explains in detail what language is implied by each sense and how the group defining them use these different ways of literacy in everyday life. Knoblauch’s point is that there is no wrong or right way to view literacy but that is more than one way. The groups defining the 4 types are based on their belief system and what they value. The first sense is functional literacy. I would say this is the way most Americans view literacy. It’s basically being able to read and write at a level that makes a person capable to live fine in a society where writing is a big deal. If you have functional literacy, it’s easy to fill out job applications and to participate in activities where you are given writing instructions. It’s basically the low man on the totem pole. People with this literacy have little power in both social and economic groups; you probably wont see someone with only this literacy as a CEO or business owner. The second definition of a literacy being used today is Cultural literacy. This group is more advanced than the functional literacy group because they can not only read and write at a level high enough to survive, they read high culture literature and other types of writing that will help preserve their cultural beliefs and values. They have a more proper language. The next form of literacy would be the personal growth literacy. It’s to my understanding that their type of writing helps them find themselves. It exercises their imaginations and expresses their feelings. Poems may be a popular type of writing; songwriting maybe. And the last is critical literacy, critical meaning its of the most importance to sound smart and know what your talking about because it’s almost as if it’s a means of power, which makes sense. It isn’t often that you see a CEO or owner of a company using…

    • 394 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the essay “Cultural Literacy,” E.D. Hirsh argues that raising our literacy levels cannot solely depend on researching new and varies “teaching techniques”, but by implementing “cultural literacy” into our school curricula. In fact, he suggests that educational institutions steer away from teaching “cultural literacy” in fear of “imposing cultures and ideologies” which is a factor in the decline of literacy. He references a couple of experiments which helped him realized that students weren’t literate in cultural aspects or “cultural literacy”. Hirsh claims by administering these cultural concepts into the classroom, literacy will increase.…

    • 592 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Culture is defined as the beliefs, language, values and beliefs that are shared by people in a specific society and cultural competency while is not easy to define precisely enough to make into actions it’s defined as a “set of congruent behaviors, attitudes, and policies that come together in a system, agency or among professionals and enable that system, agency or those professions to work effectively in cross-cultural situations” (Cross et al, 1989), which basically means being able to evolve from diverse perspectives, it is about being aware of one’s cultural identity, views and being able to learn and build on the varying cultural and community norms others.…

    • 671 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Emerging Standards of Care

    • 1811 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Emerging standards regarding culturally competent care is very important in the health care field. Nurses need to understand and care for individuals with varying cultural beliefs and behaviors about health and well being which is shaped by race, ethnicity, nationality, language, gender, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, and occupation. Cultural competent health care is a type of care which is provided to the patient by the health care worker being responsive to varying attitudes or different attitudes and values, verbal cues, and non verbal cues of the patient (Goldsmith, 2012). Cultural competence includes understanding the individual’s needs specific to their cultural environment which can also include individuals with mental health issues. Patients with mental health issues require the nurse to be capable of providing understanding of their unique characteristics and needs.…

    • 1811 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Best Essays

    King, M. A. (n.d.). How is cultural competence integrated in education? Retrieved August 9, 2012, from http://cecp.air.org/cultural/Q_integrated.htm…

    • 2068 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Schoorman, Diyls. "Immigrant Education: Contemporary Issues." Encyclopedia of the Social and Cultural Foundations of Education. Vol. 2. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2009. 433-35. Print.…

    • 1257 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Teacher Julie Phung needs to improve her ways of teaching her student. Culturally relevant pedagogy does…

    • 1369 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    |Definition: |Cultural Competence is a set of values, behaviors, attitudes and practices within a system, organization, program or among |…

    • 1221 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Cultural Competence

    • 1003 Words
    • 5 Pages

    "A set of congruent behaviors, attitudes and policies that come together as a system, agency or among professionals and enable that system, agency or those professionals to work effectively in cross-cultural situations. The word "culture" is used because it implies the integrated pattern of human thoughts, communications, actions, customs, beliefs, values and institutions of a racial, ethnic, religious or social group. The word competence is used because it implies having a capacity to function effectively."…

    • 1003 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Cultural Competency

    • 6767 Words
    • 28 Pages

    • A set of congruent behaviors, attitudes, and policies that come together in a system, agency, or among professionals that…

    • 6767 Words
    • 28 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Cultural Literacy According to E.D. Hirsch According to E.D. Hirsch, to be culturally literate is to possess the basic information to thrive in the modern world. It is the "grasp on the background information that writers and speakers assume their audience already has." In his book, Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know, Hirsch sets forth 5,000 essential words and phrases of which each person should be knowledgeable.…

    • 958 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Netw360 w4 ilab

    • 383 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Having cultural competence is something that is gained through experience with other cultures other than your own. This means understanding that different cultures do in fact exist and one must be aware that we are all different with different cultures. For me a time that I connected with a different culture in a work environment was a few years back when I was working as a driver and my assistant was an African man, very nice man, who was new to the job and I had to train him by showing him how things get done properly. When we would communicate it wasn’t that bad since he had studied the English language back home he only had some words that he couldn’t pronounce, so I would help him.…

    • 383 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays