In Chapter 13, Gardner states that educational reform depends equally upon four nodes: assessment, curriculum, teacher education and community support. I find the discussions about curriculum very interesting espically since in Chapter 10 he mentions Hirsch.
1.) I would like to know people's thoughts about this concept of "cultural literacy". Is there core information that schools should teach? If yes, why should they, what should it include and how does one determine what this core information should be? If no, what makes something (i.e. content) valuable and a worthy curriculum?
I mention these questions because there are books designed specifically for teachers that have this core knowledge approach like "What every 4th grader should know" which our project teacher uses. To a lesser extreme almost every student has had some experience with the standard school curriculum consisting of:
math (alegbra I, algebra II, calculus)
English (grammar, US Literature, British Lit..)
science (physical sci, bio, chem, physics)
social studies (US History)
You may not have had all of these classes but most schools do offer them and they offer very similar material. For instance out of all the books, poetry and short stories people have probably read "The Scarlet Letter."
2.) A question I keep asking myself is what separates "cultural literacy" and progressivism? Is "cultural literacy" the what and progressivism the how? It seemes to me they the two concepts are not incompatible, they're just addressing two separate issues. Progressivism deals with students who have greater/genuine understanding of the material they've been taught. Gardner talks about the shifting role of the teacher, use of projects, portfolios, apprenticeship and a lot of other experiences and assessments. He does not talk specifically about the content.
There are three other issues in these two chapters that catch my interest and maybe yours. They are the parents' and community's role in education, assessment and finally the entire issue of national standards and curriculums.
If I were to pose some general guestions for each of these topics they would be.
3.) Role of Parents and Community in education
How do parents affect children's learning? How can they be better
utilized to further the child's education? What way does the community
impact schools? What is the community's expectations for schools and what
should be the school's expectation of the community?
I know these are very general and broad questions but they are
always being asked and people have very differing opinions on each.
4.) Assessment
What's is the purpose of assessment?
How can we see if a student has
achieved the desired goal? Is there a general formula/procedure
(portfolios, self-evaluations, tests, etc.) that can applied to most
situtations?
The final point I'd like to make concerns teaching to every student. Some say (e.g. Gardner) that people have multiple intelligences. We often lose students or student's don't achieve their potential because the way schools currently operate only address specific ones. Gardner talks about using projects and other hands on approaches to stimulate these students and further enhance the student understanding. I would like to know other's people opinions of the theory if you're familar with it.
Hope this stimulates some ideas, opinions or reactions.
T-
Terry_Sherman@Brown.edu