Child-centered individualism started the slide in American education. A recommitment to shared knowledge can ratchet it up again. No images? Click here Education Next logo SHARED KNOWLEDGE AND THE RATCHET EFFECT Child-centered individualism started the slide in American education. A recommitment to shared knowledge can ratchet it up again. Recent studies confirm the crucial role of shared background knowledge in understanding and using language effectively, writes E. D. Hirsch Jr. in a new article for Education Next, adapted from his forthcoming book, The Ratchet Effect: Shared Knowledge, Shared Values. The research supports the idea that interpreting speech requires more than just knowing words; it involves guessing the speaker’s intended meaning and understanding the context or genre of the utterance. From shared intentionality, we move to shared word meanings, and we ratchet upward from there. The so-called "ratchet effect" explains how schools act as cultural ratchets, preserving and advancing shared knowledge. This view challenges the child-centered education model, emphasizing instead the importance of cumulative, shared content to boost literacy and social cohesion. “Reading and speech comprehension each depend upon shared, unstated knowledge and on correctly gauged intended meanings,” Hirsch writes. “Our error about the existence of an all-purpose reading level has led to alarming declines in our reading test scores—and in our unity as a nation, which depends, like our reading scores, on shared background knowledge.” Read article ABOUT EDUCATION NEXT Education Next is a scholarly journal committed to careful examination of evidence relating to school reform, published by the Program on Education Policy and Governance at the Harvard Kennedy School. For more information, please visit educationnext.org. TwitterLinkedInFacebook Program on Education Policy and Governance Harvard Kennedy School 79 JFK Street Cambridge, MA 02138 Phone (877) 476-5354 Fax (617) 496-1507 You’re receiving this because you subscribed from our website   |