Letter to Hirsch

Dear Mr. Hirsch,
I am writing this letter in response to some of your educational theories that I read. First of all, I want to commend you on taking the time to research cultural literacy and it's effect on our economy. It seems truly interesting to see if there is a direct correlation and I do believe that there is. I do however, disagree with some of your theories on these educational issues. I do believe as you say that the more literate we are as a society, the better off we will be economically. It's the process of how we achieve literacy and learn meanings of words that I disagree with. I believe that there is not one universal method of how to teach and how to learn. People are diverse and as a result have different learning styles. Some people can memorize words and retain as you say "brute knowledge", but others will try to make meaning and associations with the word in order to retain it. Furthermore, it is not just the job of the teacher to give knowledge solely to the students in my opinion. I know we have standarized tests to pass and this is what our schools are judged on, but we must not forget that are jobs should also include how to help students socially and be productive members of society. I think that if we are just going to learn like robots, we are not going to produce many productive individuals. Students must receive a well rounded education in my opinion and must not rely solely on learning facts that can help them pass standarized tests. The truth is that in education today, the students are actually learning more facts but just through better and more creative/ progressive methods. We are better off as teachers trying to make the knowledge whe want to pass to our students meaningful. Rote learning is often accompanied by forgetting the information 1 hour after the student has taken the test. The truth is that there was no real connection to the information made so it truly is harder to retain this type of rote information. Mr. Hirsch, I think that you are truly innovative in education today, but I hope I can get you to consider other options when approaching these subjects. Thanks for your time!

Sincerely,
Michael Menditto