Cultural literacy

Cultural Literacy is the ability to understand the shared background knowledge, idioms, and references used by literate people in a given nation or culture. It's the common familiarity with names, places, and events that provides the context in which we comprehend a news story or a political debate. Whereas decoding, vocabulary, and grammar are sufficient to understand "He completed the journey with grim determination," cultural literacy is necessary to understand that "He completed the journey like Sherman marching to the sea."

Hirsch

Educational Reform Controversy

Bibliography

E. D. Hirsch Jr. (1987). Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-395-43095-X.

E. D. Hirsch, Jr., et al, editors. (2002). The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, 3th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.