DARI CULTURAL LITERACY KE LITERASI BUDAYA: REFEKSI DARI KONTROVERSI PEMIKIRAN E.D. HIRSCH JR.

Abstract

This article is a reflection of the controversies on the thoughts of E.D. Hirsch Jr. concerning with the idea of Cultural Literacy. In his  book, Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know (1987), he criticizes the education system in the US, which he perceives to have been too accommodating the racial and cultural pluralism; and he wants to make the education system return to the one which could produce a high degree of literacy on the roots of “western” civilization.  It is in this sense Hirsch Jr. defines the concept of Cultural Literacy, i.e., a condition in which the whole US citizens are expected to have the knowledge and understanding on the roots of their modern civilization. This article attempts to draw what lessons can be taken from the controversies of Hirsch Jr.’s book for the making and implementation of the concept of “Literasi Budaya” in the Indonesian context.