student-centered vs. content-centered

On Wisconsin Public Radio this morning, Joy Cardin spoke with state representative Gregg Underheim about his bid to be the next State Superintendent of Public Instruction. He said his educational philosophy was "student-centered" rather than "teacher-centered" and that it aligned with the philosophy of E.D. Hirsch, the founder of the Core Knowledge Sequence. However, Core Knowledge is not student-centered; it's content-centered, built on a Hirsch-blessed mandate of "what your x-grader should know".

My vision of what student-centered eduational philosophy centers not around content (the "what"), but process (the "how"). My series of books would be something like "How to get your x-grader to think critically about the content s/he's shoveled by {insert E.D. Hirsch's book for x-grade here}."

Gregg Underheim, by the way, wants to use technology to more effectively teach Hirsch's content. He's lost my vote.