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The Educational System Of 1988 Essay

Decent Essays

Education is everything

Was our educational system created on a deeply mistaken theory? According to E.D. Hirsch the educational system in 1988 was based on the teachings of a 50 year old theory from Jean Jacques Rousseau. Hirsch, talks about John Dewey, “the writer who has most deeply affected modern educational theory and practice”(Hirsch 1988). Dewey has based his theories on the old teachings of Rousseau. “Only by piling up specific, communally shared information can children learn to participate in complex cooperative activities with other members of their community”(Hirsch 1988) is what Hirsch said, which completely contradicts what John Dewey was teaching. Hirsch goes on to prove Dewey made assumptions and that he had been too reckless to reject certain teachings. The educational system of 1988 was deeply flawed, according to Hirsch, the purpose of the article was to show just that, his audience is anybody who will listen to his purpose, and his stance passionate and concerning.

Throughout Hirsch 's article his purpose is quite clear, and it was to show that the educational system of 1988 was deeply flawed by exhibiting a correlation of poverty and illiteracy. He demonstrated the system was flawed by first quoting John Dewey’s theory and then in the next sentence he displayed an opposite belief. “Dewey assumed that...education need not to be tied to specific content.[However, in doing so he] placed too much faith in children 's ability to learn general

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