Cultural Literacy... Who Needs It?

In the seventh grade, our Language Arts teacher taught us from E.D. Hirsch’s Cultural Literacy. I remember loving those weekly lessons, in which I learned information pertinent to understanding many of the intricacies of the American culture and language. For example, we learned the meaning of ‘flora and fauna’, ‘et cetera’, and ‘quid pro quo’, all important phrases in our language. We also listened to Billy Joel’s We Didn’t Start the Fire, broke it down, and talked about each of the people and events he mentioned. Now, I don’t remember all of it, but I learned some very valuable information that I have remembered all these years, and that has helped me understand what is going on around me. There are so many expressions and idioms in our language that have roots in all eras of history that you are required to know. How about ‘Pandora’s box?’ If you have no knowledge of Greek and Roman mythology, you don’t know what this phrase means, though it is used very commonly in America to describe a ‘can of worms’ we don’t want to open. There is so MUCH to learn in order to be culturally literate in this country, it seems a daunting task to teach it

Now, we come to INTER-cultural literacy. While it’s possible to learn even the most trivial bits that make up the fabric of your own culture by being immersed in it, it is much harder to learn about other peoples and cultures, and furthermore, to remember what you learn. I am learning things now, in teaching my own kids, that I never learned in school. We’re learning things that I never dreamed I’d be teaching, but that I am beginning to understand are very important if I want my children to be able to understand the world around them, and the people with which we share this earth. For example, Jake just recited to me the Five Pillars of Islam. We have learned, in the past two weeks, about Muhammed and the Muslim nation, and what they believe, which makes it much easier to understand so many of the events in our past and in the current world. We’ve heard of Ramadan, a holy time for Muslims, but did you know that during the month of Ramadan, they do not eat or drink while the sun is up, in order to remind them of the poor and needy that go hungry all day? Knowing that makes it a lot easier to understand why they don’t want to fight during that month! They’re hungry! It’s amazing what a few cultural facts can do to your whole comprehension of a news story. While I feel home schooling has benefits that are too numerous to list, one of the big ones is how much MOM and DAD learn in the process!

Since we are New Testament Christians, I am also able to point out the differences in Islam and Christianity, as well as the similarities, and to show how their beliefs conflict with what the Bible teaches us. I believe that being armed with this kind of knowledge can make a huge difference in our lives and the way we deal with people and information we encounter. On the fun side, we also try to prepare meals from every region we study, so we had curried cous cous with almonds and Indian chapati (flat bread) for lunch yesterday, and Mjeddrah (lentils and rice) and chapati (again, because it was so good) for dinner. Craig is not quite as enthusiastic about international cooking, but I get terribly excited about trying new dishes and spices, and learning new ways of cooking the same old things. We finished it off with some chocolate cake with fudge truffle icing that is definitely not from the Arabian Peninsula, but it was good!

So, how important IS cultural literacy in America today? If you approached the average twenty-something man or woman, would they be able to tell you who Emily Dickinson was, or what the River Styx is, or who said, “to be, or not to be?” Or would they have to whip out the iphone and look it up on Wikipedia? Don’t get me wrong, I love my iphone. Dictionary.com is one of my favorite apps, I text more than I talk on the phone, and I’m a frequent Facebook user. I rarely hand-write anything these days, and it would be very hard to transition back to using paper maps if my gps were to disappear. I hope I’m not portraying an air of superiority, because I’m certainly as deficient in cultural knowledge as any other average thirty-something, as I’m painfully reminded every time I watch Jeopardy. But, I hate to think of our society losing touch with the people, books, and events that have shaped our culture, and wish I had more time to explore them myself. Every generation gets further away from not only the history, but the tangible things of today, as we are immersed into the world of virtual reality and electronics. I feel so blessed to be able to teach and learn things that I’ve not had the opportunity of learning before, and teaching my kids what they wouldn’t be learning in a public school. Some people think much of the information that our parents and grandparents learned, and even some that MY generation learned, is irrelevant to today’s youth, but I will continue to teach handwriting, grammar, and cultural literacy. I will continue to teach history, classic literature, and, state forbid, the Bible. And I will continue to learn it, myself. And then I’ll blog about it. I do think it’s possible to embrace the new, without forgetting the old. As the girl scouts say, “one is silver, and the other gold.”