The British government's current educational policy for England draws on E.D. Hirsch's writings on 'cultural literacy'. This paper aims to uncover the roots of Hirsch's influential views through a genealogical critique. Hirsch admired the Scottish Enlightenment educator Hugh Blair as a model architect of a hegemonic culture to unite disparate…

Forty-eight colleges and university English departments were asked to list books incoming students should have read before entering their institutions. From this listing the authors define what secondary students should read and what analytic skills such well-read students should develop. They present a three-point plan for developing a secondary…

Recommends eight books about literature, literary criticism, and the teaching of literature. (MG)

The intent of this book is to plead the case of children's literature as an integral part of the elementary school's curriculum, as well as an important factor in the lives of children. Children's literature is broadly defined as any creative literary work that has been especially written and designed for children's use. That literature is meant…

A compilation is presented of recommendations of teachable literary works. (JH)

After a brief explanation as to the rise of interest in literature from the Southwest the author discusses several areas of study about the area. For each area mentioned, he lists books and articles which he feels both teachers and students would benefit from reading. (LF)

Describes a study of the books and authors most frequently assigned as part of Great Books programs (GBPs). Finds that book selections are made by individual faculty rather than through cohesive curricular planning. Reports little evidence that GBPs have been reevaluated in the context of current social concerns or student needs. Includes survey…

This study investigated selected topics as universal folklore themes. The goal was to discover, from Indo-European and Afro-Asiatic languages, material that could be used in a secondary English unit that would emphasize the universality of themes in tales from different cultures. Among the conclusions reached were: (1) the Greeks have no monopoly…

To indicate what high school students have actually studied during the previous 10 years of changing secondary school curricula, this document reports the findings of a questionnaire survey conducted among 2,247 students who took the 1965-66 College Entrance Examination Board's English Composition Test. The report is divided into three…

GRADE FOUR OF THE NEBRASKA ENGLISH CURRICULUM EXTENDS AND REINFORCES CONCEPTS INTRODUCED IN PREVIOUS GRADES. AMERICAN FOLK LITERATURE, WITH ITS HEROES EXEMPLIFYING HEROIC QUALITIES OF THE CULTURE, IS STUDIED FOR ITS APPEAL TO STUDENTS AND ITS USE OF DESCRIPTIVE AND FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE. EFFECTIVE USE OF PHONOLOGICAL PATTERNS IS ILLUSTRATED IN…

THE NEBRASKA ELEMENTARY ENGLISH CURRICULUM IS BASED ON THE PREMISE THAT DESIRE TO READ, UNDERSTANDING OF ONE'S NATIVE LANGUAGE, AND COMPETENCE IN COMPOSITION DEVELOP FROM A CONTINUING EXPOSURE TO LITERATURE OF SUPERIOR QUALITY. THE SEQUENCE OF LITERARY WORKS AND ANALOGOUS COMPOSITIONS LEADS THE CHILD FROM AN APPREHENSION OF THE "MYTHIC"…

IN THE NEBRASKA ENGLISH CURRICULUM FOR GRADE TWO, DEVELOPMENT OF A SENSE OF LANGUAGE USAGE AND OF NARRATIVE FORM AND PLOT IS STRESSED. SUCH CLASSIC FOLK TALES AS "LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD" AND "THE THREE BEARS" POINT OUT THE REPETITION OF PLOT STRUCTURE AND LANGUAGE FOUND IN STORIES. FUN WITH LANGUAGE FORMS IS ENCOURAGED THROUGH…