Abstract
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 members of a nation. Following Hirsch, the government
Department for Education in England called for ‘shared
appreciation of cultural reference points’ and ‘a common stock of
knowledge on which all can draw and trade’. Consequently, the
literature curriculum in England increasingly disenfranchises a significant
component of the population in terms of both gender and
cultural heritage. Recent ‘culture wars’ have highlighted the legacy
of colonialism and have led educators to decolonise the curriculum
and prioritise social justice. Continuing racism within civil society
demonstrates the need for a general recognition that cultures are
desirably diverse and internally plural.