Critical Literacy

What Every American Needs to Know

Eugene F. Provenzo, Michael W. Apple

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2015
• eBook ISBN: 9781317261865
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

In Critical Literacy Eugene F. Provenzo Jr. challenges E. D. Hirsch's assumptions about culture and education. Calling for a broader and more democratic vision than Hirsch, Provenzo critiques Hirsch's legacy up through the current conservative educational agenda for education which, he argues, denies, not only the United States' diversity, but its democratic traditions of democratic participation. His book shows why critical faculties and skills of students are essential not only to the success of individual students but to their participation in a healthy democracy. Provenzo offers a list of 5,000 things every educated American ought to know-- none of them the same items as those included on Hirsch's list in Cultural Literacy. Critical Literacy is essential reading for those concerned with our schools and the future of our children.

What Literate Americans Ought to Know—A Preliminary List

“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in a rather scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more or less.” “The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.” “The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be the master—that’s all.”

—Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass

The following list is intended as a response to E. D. Hirsch, Jr., Joseph Kett, and James Trefil's list of 5,000 items, "What Literate Americans Know: A Preliminary List," included at the conclusion of Cultural Literacy. A similar list of several hundred items was included by Rick Simonson and Scott Walker under the title "Opening the American Mind" in The Graywolf Annual Five: Multicultural Literacy (Saint Paul, MN: Gray wolf Press, 1988). Many of the items included by Simonson and Walker are also included in the list that follows. This list, unlike Hirsch et. al.'s list, is not intended as a definitive or canonical list, but is intended instead to suggest the limitations and narrow cultural, social, and political perspective of Hirsch's list. I hope it provides a starting point for dialogue and discussion and encourages the creation of competing lists or supplements that can expand our understanding of the meaning of cultural literacy. Those interested are encouraged to submit new words and their definitions to the website for this book at http://www.paradigmpublishers.com/book/critical_literacy.

• 9/11
• 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
• Abbey Theatre
• Abbott, Bernice
• Abbott and Costello
• Abernathy, Ralph D.
• AbFab (absolutely fabulous)
• Ableism
• ABMs (anti-ballistic missiles)
• Aboriginal art
• Aborigines
• Abortion clinic violence
• Abraham Lincoln Brigade
• Abstract
• Abstract expressionism
• Absurd
• Absurd, theater of the
• Abu-Jamal, Mumia
• Abzug, Bella
• Accessed voices
• Ache
• Achebe, Chinua
• Acidfreak
• Acidhead
• Acid house
• Acid jazz
• Acid pad
• Acid test
• Acmeism
• Acrylic
• Action figure
• Action painting
• Action research
• Active aging
• Active birth
• Active citizen
• Active listening
• Acton, Lord
• Actor’s Studio
• ACT-UP
• Acuff, Roy
• Acupressure
• Acyclovir
• Ada
• Ada, Countess of Lovelace
• Adair v. United States (1908)
• Ad creep
• Adams, Scott
• Adaptable cars
• Adaptive technology
• Addams, Douglas
• Addams Family
• Adderley, Cannonball
• Addis Ababa
• Additive
• Adidas
• Adinkra cloth
• Adire cloth
• Adler, Larry
• Adlerian
• Adobe
• Adobe Corporation
• Adorno, Theodor
• Ad valorem tax
• Advanced Research Projects
• Agency (ARPA)
• Advertising
• Advertorial
• Advocate, The
• Aeneas
• Aerosmith
• Affluential
• Affluenza
• Afghan Rebels
• Afghan War
• African American
• African American vernacular
• English
• African diaspora
• African National Congress (ANC)
• African nationalism
• Afro
• Afrocentric curricula
• Afrocentrism
• Afterlife
• Agee, James
• Ageism
• Agent
• Agent Mulder
• Agent Orange
• Agent Scully
• Aggregation
• Agitprop
• Agni
• Agnosticism
• Agon
• Agora
• Agrarian radicalism
• Agribusiness
• Agrotourism
• Aid fatigue
• Aid for Dependent Children (AFDC)
• AIDS cocktail
• AIDS Quilt
• AIDS ride
• AIDS walk
• Airhead
• Airside
• Akbar the Great
• Aladdin
• Alar
• Albee, Edward
• Alberich
• Albers
• Albright, Madeleine
• Alcázar
• Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF)
• Alcoholics Anonymous (AA)
• Alcoholism
• Alcott, Bronson
• Aldrin, Edwin E.
• Alexander’s Ragtime Band
• Alexandra Palace
• Alhambra
• Ally McBeal
• Aliased graphics
• Alien abductions
• Alimony
• Aliterate
• Aliteration
• All-climax porn
• Allen, Paul
• Allen, Paula Gunn
• Allende, Isabel
• Allende, Salvador
• Alliance for Progress
• Allman Brothers Band
• Alpaca
• All People’s State
• Alpha test
• Al-Qaeda
• Altair 8899 computer
• Altamira
• Altar girl
• Alternative
• Alternative medicine
• Alternative theatre
• Althusser, Louis
• Althusserianism
• Alt key
• Altman, Robert
• Alvin Ailey
• Alzheimer’s disease
• Amado, Jorge
• Amateur porn
• Ambient music
• America Online (AOL)
• American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society
• American Association of Retired People (AARP)
• American Association of University Women (AAUW)
• American Dilemma, An
• American Enterprise Institute
• American Federation of Teachers (AFT)
• American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)
• American Graffiti (1973)
• American Indian Movement (AIM)
• Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
• America’s Attic
• Amerindians
• Amnesty International
• Analog computer
• Analysis
• Anansi
• Anarchism
• Anarchist cinema
• Anarchist fiction
• Anarchist’s Cookbook
• Anasazi
• Anaya, Rudolfo
• Ancestor worship
• Anderson, Marian
• Andre the Giant
• Androcentric rule
• Androcles
• Androgyne
• Android
• Andropause
• Angel dust
• Angel Island
• Angelou, Maya
• Angioplasty
• Anglo-Irish Agreement
• Angry young men
• Angst
• Aniline dyes
• Anima
• Animal Farm (1945)
• Animal House (1978)
• An...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Cultural Literacy and the Loss of Democratic Dialogue
• What Literate Americans Ought to Know—A Preliminary List
• Bibliography
• Index