Books: Readings
The tale that William J. Bennett relates in The Devaluing of America is of lessons learned in three high-profile positions in the Reagan and Bush Administrations: chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, U.S. Secretary of Education, and director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. The anecdotes and analyses will be familiar reading for those who have followed Mr. Bennett's career. Below, in the provocative style that characterized his tenure in the federal government, is Mr. Bennett's recasting of a position on curriculum that helped invigorate the debate over core requirements:
Acquiring "skills'' should not come at the expense of acquiring knowledge. Students should finish high school knowing not just the "method'' or "process'' of science or history; they should actually know some science and history. They should know fractions and decimals, and percentages and algebra and geometry. They should know that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, and they should know who said "I am the state'' and who said "I have a dream.'' They should know about subjects and predicates, about isosceles triangles and ellipses. They should know where the Amazon flows, and what the First Amendment means. They should know about the Donner party and slavery, and Shylock, Hercules, and Abigail Adams, where Ethiopia is, and why there was a Berlin Wall. They should know how a poem works, how a plant works, and the meaning of "If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.'' They should know the place of the Milky Way and DNA in the unfolding of the universe. They should know about the Constitutional Convention of 1787 and about the conventions of good behavior. They should know what the Sistine Chapel looks like and what great music sounds like.
Our students should also know our nation's ideals and aspirations. We believe in liberty and equality, in limited government and the betterment of the human condition. These truths underlie our society, and though they may be self-evident, they are not spontaneously...
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