UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Tuesday, April 19, 1994
7
BANK OF TAIWAN
Think fast... if you can
Following are five items taken from E.D. Hirsch's book, "The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, What Every American Needs to Know."
REGAINING CULTURAL KNOWLEDGE
1. What was the
1. What was the Austrian-based dynasty that ruled much of the central and parts of Western Europe from the 13th to the 20th centuries?
A. Hapsburgs
B. Carolingians
C. Bradys
D. Meringovians
2. What was the name of the courthouse in Virginia where General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant in April 1865 effectively ending the Civil War?
3. What is it called when the boundaries of legislative districts are changed to favor one party over another?
A. Jim Crow Laws
B. Gerrymander
C. Salamander
D. Writ of amends
A. Douglas County
B. Fords Theater
C. Vicksburg
D. Appomattox
4. What is a descriptive term for strict and unreasonably harsh rules, laws and penalties?
A. Draconian
B. Capital punishment
C. Expatria
D. Discipline
5. What is a term that originally referred to Europe but now includes North America and South America?
A. Orient
B. Occident
C. Accident
D. Peident
B' C' D' B' C' D' B' C' D' B' C' D' B' C' D' B' C' D' B' C' D' B' C' D' B' C' D' B' C' D' B' C' D' B' C' D' B' C' D' B' C' D' B' C' D' B' C' D' B' C' D'
sial 4,500-item list called "What Literate Americans Need to Know."
Hirsch had noticed that students in his classes weren't grasping historical and literary references he made in his lectures. In "Cultural Literacy," Hirsch described an instance in which his son, a high school Latin teacher, explained to his class that Latin was a dead language, only to have a puzzled student ask what language was spoken in Latin America.
Hirsch became intrigued by stories such as this and began research. In the late 1970s, he conducted some reading experiments at a community college in Richmond, Va.
But 17.1 percent of the sample responded "Latin America" or named a Central or South American country.
Anne Cunningham, an assistant researcher in the University of Washington's educational psychology department, tested Hirsch's anecdote about his son's Latin class—with chilling results.
"I discovered something very surprising," Hirsch said in a recent phone interview. "The data I got showed that students could read quite well, but performance in the reading declined as soon as the subject matter got a little unfamiliar."
In one instance, Hirsch gave the students a passage about Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee's meeting at Appomattox. The students had problems understanding the passage, Hirsch said. It wasn't because the language in the text was advanced or difficult, the students just didn't know who Grant and Lee were or what was decided at Appomattox.
In a study published last year, Cunningham and a colleague asked 268 undergraduate students to name a country in which Latin currently was the primary language. The students were scored correctly if they responded that Latin was a dead language.
Students lack knowledge
"I found they could read just as well when it had to do with friendship and roommates, but when it got to Lee's surrender to Grant at the Appomattox Courthouse, I began to realize that these kids weren't getting the knowledge we thought they were getting in high school."
Hirsch argues in his book that there is a direct correlation between individuals' amount of cultural knowledge and their ability to understand what they read. How much they understand what they read determines how much they learn.
"A lot of people have assumed that reading and writing were skills," he said. "But they're not. It's much more complex than that. It's based on knowledge."
At least 13 different European nations and Africa, Cyprus, Jerusalem and Lapland also were given as places where Latin was spoken.
These were not the only responses that startled Cunningham.
Another question was designed to test the student's grasp of the number of Muslims compared to the number of Jews in the world. This type of knowledge, the say says, is important not only to understanding history but also to the continuing understanding of world affairs.
According to the 1939 edition of The World Almanac and Book of Facts, Muslims make up 17.7 of the world's population, while Jews make up 3 percent. But 60.6 percent of the students indicated that they thought there were more Jews in the world than Muslims. And 69.3 percent thought that the number of Jewish people was equal or greater to the number of Muslims.
"The study points out clearly that students don't have the knowledge necessary to make good decisions regarding voting." Cunningham said in a recent phone interview. "I think it points out very vividly to the lack of general knowledge that's necessary for educating the populace."
Another surprising finding, Cunningham said, was that students surveyed from the University of California, Berkeley, a more selective university, did not seem to have the
"Although the Berkeley population did know more, they didn't know as much as you'd think they should know," she said. "Even at good universities, pockets of knowledge are missing."
knowledge and cultural literacy that they needed.
Solving the problem
Hirsch thinks that he might have the answer to the cultural literacy gap. Using the proceeds from his book, he has established the Core Knowledge Foundation in Charlottesville, Va. Hirsch said that the foundation, now used by about 130 schools across the nation, provided a program that helped grade school and high school teachers stop the cultural illiteracy problem before it started.
The program sets a minimum standard of specific information students must know before the exit each grade. For example, he said, in most schools, first-graders learn basic map skills, but what is taught is up to the individual teacher. But under Hirsch's program, the students would learn the difference between north, south, east and west and would know the seven continents and a few other geographical locations before they exited first grade.
U. S. Senate members also think that they have an answer. At the end of
March they approved the Goals 2000: Educate America Act. The program attempts to put in place a set of area-wide educational standards. Like Hirsch's plan, it outlines specific areas in history, geography, English and other subjects students should know before graduating from high school.
But who defines what culture is included in the definition of cultural literacy?
Evidence of this conflict can be seen at KU and nationally. In 1990, a group at KU, Students Concerned About Discrimination, accused the Western Civilization department of having a culturally biased reading list in Western Civilization courses. The group claimed the list was taught from a white, Christian male perspective. The department responded in 1992 by replacing works such as "Candide," by Voltaire, with "The Table" from the Koran and replacing Thomas Jefferson's "The Declaration of Independence" with W.E.B. Du Bois' "The World and Africa."
When what is considered "knowledge" is eroded, redefining it becomes political. Even the SAT, considered an indicator of a prospective college student's knowledge, has not escaped criticism. In March, a new SAT was unveiled after the old one was accused of being biased against girls, minorities and low-income students.
And last year, Hirsch released a revised edition of his book, "The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, What Every American Needs to Know," after critics said he had not placed enough emphasis on multiculturalism.
But some question remains as to whether this knowledge is even necessary to make a living or to survive in the real world. In the end, knowing who Billy Budd isn't won’t earn you a penny—unless you get on Jeonardy!
KU professor Cook agreed that culture, and therefore cultural literacy, was difficult to define.
"I'm not certain that people like William Bennett and Hirsch who have come up with lists of things we should know are on track either," he said. "I guess everyone kind of assumes that their own cultural mix they have been brought up and raised on is kind of the noi.n."
Cook said that on the university level, he was not sure what the solution to the problem of missing cultural literacy was. The problem, he said, is generational.
"There is no solution except to recognize that the problem exists," he said. "In my opinion, it has really always existed. I'm sure my elders felt the same things about me. My feeling is that different people in different times know about different things."
T
QUIZ BOWLERS HAVE THE KNOWLEDGE TO TACKLE TRIVIA
he category is cultural literacy.
The question is: What makes college quiz-bowl students so smart?
The answer is: What is
The answer is: what is
—They don't know.
But Economides, Olathe senior and member of the College Bowl team, is not sure exactly what got him there.
Economides and his team members spend their free-time preparing for quiz-bowl type tournaments, where they answer a variety of questions in categories such as history, literature and geography. To achieve this position, their cultural literacy needs to be above average.
absorb what you learn in school and may pick up a little more later.
"There's not really any way to prepare it," he said. "You just have to
But Economides said that he thought his knowledge would be valuable beyond tournament-time.
situation. You can always carry on conversations better if you have knowledge of what you're talking about. And you never know when you'll need to know something for your job.
"It's very valuable to have a good base in cultural knowledge," he said. "Knowledge is the key to pretty much everything. The more you know, the less lost you in any
Jessica McNickde, Ashland sophomore and another member of the College Bowl team, said she thought her unusual grasp of cultural knowledge came from her love of reading.
"I read a lot," she said. "I read a mixture of things. Even in books that aren't classics, there are references to things that you just pick-up."
But McNickle said that although the knowledge was nice to have, she didn't think it was necessary for real-world survival.
"It's a nice background to have for classes, but it's not necessary knowledge," she said.
Brian Lipacomb, Olathe senior and College Bowl team member, agreed that the knowledge wasn't necessary for real life. But it can be used to impress people, he said.
"You get a larger picture of the world," he said. "And at social functions, it sometimes can be impressive. You get to be able to talk about almost anything."
Think fast... if you can
Following are six items taken from E.D. Hirsch's book, "The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, What Every American Needs to Know."
1. What are religious writings that have been accepted as Books of the Bible by some Christian groups but not by others?
A. The Koran
B. Apocrypha
C. The Branch Davidian
D. The New Testament
2. What is another name for the Pope?
A. Pontiff
B. Pharisee
C. Patriarch
D. Prodigal Son
3. What was the name of the youngest of the king's three daughters in the play "King Lear" by William Shakespeare?
A. Ophelia
B. Regan
C. Juliet
D. Cordella
4. What do you call a thought that does not logically follow what has just been said?
A. Quid pro quo
B. Faustian bargain
C. Non-sequitir
D. Motif
5. What is the lowest range of the female singing voice?
A. Contratto
B. A tenor
C. A baritone
D. An Iranian rebel
6. What is amending a book by removing passages and words deemed obscene or objectionable?
A. Hacking
B. Balderdashing
C. Bowlerizing
D. Bowling
Answers: 1. B; 2. A; 3. D; 4. C; 5. A; 6. C
'Baraka' reveals many worlds in images
Music score no dialogue opens mind
An image is worth more than a thousand words, but what about a movie made of a thousand images and no words?
By Geraldo Samor Special to the Kansan
Thursday is your last chance to see "Baraka" on the big screen. Conceived and directed by Ron Fricke, "Baraka" is a compilation of images from 24 diverse countries. The movie, however, has neither a plot nor a story. It does not even have a verbal narrative. The cast is not famous either: Australian aborigines, Latin American slum dwellers,
kneeling Muslims and other uncommon characters are featured in a film in which not a word is uttered.
MOVIE REVIEW
Because images are the main channel to convey "baraka"s themes, they are more than simple visual elements. They have weight, smell, taste and temperature. They appeal to all the five human senses, like a good piece of poetry would.
posed by Michael Stearns, who made a Philip Glass-type of arrangement, uses not only instrumental music but also religious and indigenous chants. At other times, only the sound of people can be heard. Silence often suffices, too.
The thrilling soundtrack com-
In some of its best sequences, "Baraka," which, in ancient Sufi, means "blessing" or "breath of life," dives into the multiplicity of world religions to show their typical garments, ceremonies and believers. In a subtle invitation to religious tolerance, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, Orthodox Christianity and Catholicism show their individual beauty one at a time. The viewer is taken from the sacred waters of the Ganges to the interior of Rome's St. Peter's Basilica, passing through Jerusalem's Walling Wall.
"Baraka" reveals many worlds, long hidden and forgotted by the
urge and the hurry of 20th-century modernity. By contrasting the images of Buddhist monks praying and tormented, urban citizens crossing the streets when the light goes green, the movie falls short of taking an accusatory stance toward modernity. What is the sense of money and of a college degree when one is confronted with civilizations that simply ignore the existence of those things? How can one justify the pull of the modern world?
"Baraka" invites the viewer to reflect on that. In one of its most political sequences, the movie shows people strolling through a metro station. The scenes are filmed in a speed faster than the normal one so that one can barely see the faces of individuals. They become faceless mass contours. Cut. In a poultry plant, tiny yellow chicks are being poured out by a machine. There is no individuality either, and when one
starts feeling sympathetic toward the chicks, the viewer notices the catch: He or she is one of them.
Another opposition from which "Baraka" draws its strength is the dichotomy between the natural and artificial. The viewer is invited to contemplate mountains, rivers, forests, clouds and stars, which parade on the screen in a succession of images so novel that it seems impossible to obtain an angle better than the one found by the camera. But "Baraka" also takes the viewer into Asian electronic industries where there is no sign of nature, rather,
Here, the absence of words becomes vital to the movie, which could easily turn into a pamphleteer's speech or espouse a nihilist perspective if it had the chance. The strong criticism offered by "Baraku," however, is in no way impaired by this lack of words. Rather, it is strengthened by it.
where Charles Chaplin's "Modern Times" has been re-edited, where men and women are just machines with goals and deadlines to meet.
"Baraika" shocks because the truth of its images is so evident that it does not need words to be expressed, and it appalls because that very truth has been dangerously neglected. It's not a movie for environmentalists, who are likely to applaud it, nor for businessmen, who may feel inclined to boo it. It is a movie for whomever has not had much time to stop, see and think about how fast the world is going toward nowhere and how many other realities exist beyond our grasp.
"Baraka" is playing at Liberty Hall,
642 Massachusetts St., at 4:45 p.m., 7
p.m. and 9:45 p.m. Admission is
$4.25 for students and $4.75 for non-
students. Mattees are $3.25.