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Jean Anyon: Social Class And the Hidden Curriculum of Work
Is there a hidden curriculum in schools for teachers to approach their classes based on how smart the teachers perceive the students are, and what socioeconomic status teachers believe students fall into? Essayist Jean Anyon observed five elementary schools during a school year in 1980, and it is her belief that students in certain schools are "being prepared to occupy particular rungs on the social ladder," which is abhorrent to some educators and leaders since there has been a sense in American education that all students should be motivated to achieve the best they can achieve.
What do I disagree with in her essay? In the working class schools the teachers did not make any attempt to explain the reasoning behind the math problems, but instead just drilled them on steps to take. This is somewhat familiar to me as I recall the math drills, just do it right don't ask why we do it this way. And I totally disagree with working class schoolteachers not showing these kids how to write essays, how to read and understand essays written by authors and others. Just doing punctuation, and looking at ditto sheets, and answering questions on ditto sheets is outrageously short-sighted....
Given that these observations by Anyon were made in 1980, one would hope that more creative and updated methods of teaching the skill of the written word, written communication, and of understanding the importance of the correct use of language would have evolved subsequent to 1980.
The condescending approach to teaching science in the working class elementary schools smacks of cultural bias. Assuming that these students, just because they are from working class (and low income) neighborhoods, are not intelligent or capable of learning, is prejudicial to them and demeaning as well. Teachers in these classrooms are stealing the future away from many young people. I also vehemently object to the language used by teachers in the working class schools. The principals of these schools should have been fired for tolerating such abusive and quasi-fascist approaches to classroom deportment. In the middle class schools at least the teachers honor the bell schedules but for teachers to avoid social studies because they might have to relate to "controversial subjects" that parents might complain about, that is patently absurd.
I agree with the creative, independent assignments that students must complete in the…
Works Cited
Anyon, Jean. (1980). Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work. Journal of Education,
162(1), 1-13.
Sacks, Peter. (2007). Tearing Down the Gates: Confronting the Class Divide in American
Education. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
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