I’m sure that if Plato hadn’t been against music with a strong sexual beat, Bloom would have kept quiet about rock-and-roll.
Our society cannot afford a two-tiered system in which the affluent have access to superior education, while everyone else is subjected to a dull and incoherent classroom experience. Academic excellence, educational equity, and fairness demand a strong foundation of knowledge for all learners.
We have ignored cultural literacy in thinking about education. We ignore the air we breathe until it is thin or foul. Cultural literacy is the oxygen of social intercourse.
The achievement of high universal literacy is the key to all other fundamental improvements in American education.