This is only one of E.D. Hirsch's many books. This is the entire book in PDF form that I was fortunate enough to find online and copy for free with permission. Actually, Hirsch should be our mascot because another book he's written is pretty much the name of this website. The Schools We Need. Anyway, I've attached the link to the entire book at the bottom of this blurb I've copied from the first page. A very worthwhile read.


"I am sure that the power of vested interests is vastly exaggerated compared with the gradual encroachment of ideas.... Soon or late, it is ideas, not vested interests, which are dangerous for good or evil.
— J. M. Keynes, The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money (1936)
by E. D. Hi rsch, Jr.

The Achievement Crisis
The American public sees that something is badly amiss in the education of our young people. Employers now often need to rely on people from other countries to do the math that our own high school graduates cannot do. We score low among
developed nations in international comparisons of science, math, and reading. This news is in fact more alarming than most people realize, since our students perform relatively worse on international comparisons the longer they stay in our schools.

America’s fourth graders score ninth in reading among 35 countries, which is respectable. By tenth economic success depend on high reading and/or math ability. We have learned from the phenom- enon of outsourcing that those who have these abilities can find a place in the global economy no matter where they happen to live, while those who lack them can be marginalized even if they live in the middle of the United States.

Reading ability is the heart of the matter because it correlates with learning and communication ability across subjects. Reading proficiency isn’t in and of itself the magic key to competence. It’s what reading enables us to learn and to do
that is critical. Given current and rapidly growing uses of technology in daily life and in many jobs,

Reading proficiency isn’t the magic key to competence: It is what reading enables us to learn and to do that is critical.

Why do we have a KNOWLEDGE DEFICIT?

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SCIENTIA EST POTENTIA
Knowledge is power