Dear E.D.Hirsch,
Although there are those who disagree with many of your theories on education, you should be commended for your life long work in trying to close the achievement gap. Your views on student instruction are vastly different from what is being put forth in current teacher/administrator preparation programs, but reminds me of what was taught during my undergraduate work in the 1970’s. At that time, the focus in education was on the inequities of schooling black vs. white students because of black dialects and lack of early, relevant real world experiences – hence, Headstart and other preschool programs which would narrow the gap.
Content rich early curriculum during the 70’s and 80’s seemed like the answer to student’s inability to comprehend. As we moved into the 90’s, we began to see that delivering content and providing early experiences had not significantly closed the gap and perhaps there were other changes that needed to be made to the way we educated students.
During the last decade, the fabric of our country has changed. It is no longer just children who are black and white, but children of all races, nationalities and religions who being educated in this country. The fact that reading performance has changed very little from the 1970’s to now would indicate that what we’ve been doing has not worked as well as we had hoped.
Some have criticized you for the changes it appears you have made in your thinking on core curriculum, but I admire you for being willing to update your views according to current research. Perhaps the answer lies somewhere between teaching core curriculum in a top down transmission format and a bottom up constructivist method.
Sincerely,
Elise Miller
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Dear Elise Miller,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your kind and beautifully written words. I, too, have centered much of my feelings and methods around that time, and I still believe in them today. I have taken much criticism from many of these letters, some harsh and some alright to deal with, but above all of it I also received commendation from many people about parts of my methods. You, however, are the first to truly see inside my work and what I am trying to accomplish.
However, many are correct in their belief that I needed to back my research better with data for my readers. I also am beginning to reach out to current methods and trying to morph it all together. Knowing that the race factor is beyond black and white also is something that I have to adjust my methods to as well.
As always, I am happy to hear feedback from my readers and hope that I have added to your love of education and curriculum.
Sincerely,
E.D. Hirsch