Failed Theories Famished Minds: Chapter Analysis

In Chapter 1 “Introduction: Failed Theories Famished Minds,” Hirsch starts this chapter by saying that America’s K-12 education is the least effective among the developed countries because of the political freedom and generous optimism. Hirsch says that “its controlling theories, curricular incoherencies, and what I call its ‘naturalistic fallacies’ are positive barriers to a good education” (1). The educators should be aware of the educational reforms based on the romanticism cause the failure of the American education. Hirsch analyzes the problems existing in American public education through the analysis of the growing social injustice, the premature polarization, the transition from cultural literacy to core knowledge, and the nature of