Hidden Curriculum For Public Schools

Hidden curriculum” refers to unwritten or unspoken rules, expectations, idioms, and metaphors that everyone knows, but are not directly taught. Often, students that lack understanding or knowledge of the unwritten social rules are prone to be bullied, ignored, or misunderstood. Students with learning disabilities struggle with observational skills necessary to understand and interpret these unwritten and unspoken rules. Some of these struggles can be seen in tardiness, use of the cafeteria, location of classes, use of lockers, and much more. Students with learning disabilities can be seen as unmotivated, uninterested, or lazy due to misunderstanding of the unspoken and unwritten rules. Often, students with learning disabilities may misinterpret

Jean Anyon discusses the “hidden curriculum” that is distributed in various schools throughout this article. The hidden curriculum is the certain things in schools that are not “a part of the curriculum” per say, such as teamwork and collaborative skills, social engagement skills, manners, or rules. When thinking back to past articles I was able to note that Dewey was typically more concerned with the “hidden curriculum” instead of the actual content. Anyon’s article also helped the readers understand that we view the world by others who influence us. Jean Anyon researched five different schools that were

Educational policies researcher Joel Spring (1996) discussed many arguments and historical background about various education topics found in the United States. For example, Spring tells us about the historical development of the Common Schools movement and the underlying groups—such as workingmen and political parties—that influenced the movement. In addition, Spring points out some of the implications the movement had on religious, ethnic, and multicultural groups. One particular idea that caught my attention was from the chapter entitled, “The Ideology and Politics of the Common School.” Indeed, my entire conceptual understanding of K-12 education had been predicated on the idea that high schools were part of the original conception of public

The hidden curriculum therefore consists of ideas, beliefs, norms and values which are often taken for granted and transmitted as part of the normal routines and procedures of school life. Bowles and Gintis argue that it is through the hidden curriculum that the education system prepares us for our future as workers in capitalist society.

Furthermore, knowledge of social disadvantage, cultural diversity, and inequality of students can broaden educators' understanding. Knowledge in these areas can be understood as forming part of the ‘hidden curriculum’. Blaise & Nuttall (2011) describe the hidden curriculum as unintentional actions which surround curriculum (p. 82). Due to the importance of the impact of factors in the hidden curriculum, it can be understood that it is critical for teachers to develop a broad understanding of the hidden curriculum so that they can be mindful while interpreting and delivering curricular experiences. Teachers need to consider the hidden curriculum to ensure children's needs are acknowledged and that a safe environment that is free from stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination is

On page 99-100 hidden curriculum is defined as “the attitudes and practices that others model, even though they do not explicitly teach them.” In the book Michael Wilkes gives a good quote explaining that even though we are taught and teach about how to be appropriate and respect different cultures, different health practices etc. the moment we are in a situation where a peer disses, or makes fun of a patient everyone kind of falls into it to be part of a so called “club” to fit in. So actually seeing is doing when training these new professionals, and to achieve true change comes from modeling the behavior that we want to see. My interpretation of the term was pretty close to the way the textbook explained it, that when we are in a professional setting even though we are always taught to have these standards on how we communicate things and deal with others we don't always follow that rule and sometimes like to poke fun at the fact to make our colleagues laugh which isn't always the moral thing to do.

Do teachers still teach what you expect the students can learn and remain in their social class or do you still teach them what will give them the flexibility to choose their path in life? According to Jean Anyon in the article “ Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum”, the Hidden Curriculum sets the students to remain within their economic class, which causes inequality in the society. Her findings challenged the work of sociologists who assume that the student's academic success depends on their self-motivation to succeed. I'm of the two mind that the more money you have, the better education your child receives. On the other hand, I also agree that the student success depends on their self-motivation. However, I don't concur that the Hidden Curriculum still exists in schools as at today because instructors are trying their best to rouse students towards achieving more prominent positions in life with the help of information technology, teachers also develop discipline in students and finally, education is reducing inequality in the United States. Therefore, I still maintain that the Hidden Curriculum does not exist in our schools as at present.

In “The Daily Grind: Lessons in the Hidden Curriculum”, Peggy Orenstein gives an observation of an eighth graders day in math class at middle school. Orenstein in this selection is trying to give the reader a view of how there is a gender gap between girls and boys and how control of power is different between male and female. In the beginning Orenstein states that Mrs. Ritcher the math teacher, “is a ruddy athletic woman with a powerful voice.”(97) While class is in session, Orenstein observes the teacher showing more attention towards the boys then the girls. The author observes that: “Allison, a tall, angular girl who once told me, “My goal is to be the best wife and mother I can be,” raises her hand to ask a question. Mrs. Ritcher, finishing

In “The Daily Grind: Lessons in the Hidden Curriculum,” by Peggy Orenstein, the reader is shown the extremely different personalities of the boys and the girls in Mrs. Richter’s class. Orenstein interviews Amy, an eighth grade honor roll student to get a better understanding of the classroom. Amy is a very self-confidant popular young girl but when she enters Mrs. Richter’s math classroom she becomes invisible. She is one of the top dogs in the eighth grade reigning elites but is portrayed as a totally different person in the class. When she enters a classroom with boys who are more confident then her she hides in her shell. This essay has gender inequalities portrayed by showing the boys as more intelligent and intimidating than the girls.

Public education in America began in the early to mid-19th century with the simple goal of “uniting the American population by instilling common moral and political values” (Spring, 2012, p. 5). Our country was founded by men who designed the constitution so that it could be amended to accommodate changing political and social climates. They believed in the ideology of the American dream which “holds out a vision of both individual success and the collective good of all” (Hochschild & Scovronick, 2004, p. 1). It is with this same ideology that our public schools were

In the Anthology, Rereading America, Jean Anyon and Jonathan Kozol challenge the reader to really think deeply into the cultural myths that society fills Americans with. In Anyons Article, From Social Class and The Hidden Curriculum, she discusses five different elementary schools all with different socioeconomic classes and talks about how each student is taught to fit the same types of jobs that their parents do so they remain on the same social class level. It can be justified that my educational experience was quite empowering throughout high school because of the good teachers who gave us a voice in the classroom, and brand new facilities which helped me feel comfortable at school.

Jean Anyon, author of the article “From Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work”, spent one year observing a fifth-grade class in a socially middle class elementary school. In this year, she was able to determine that the teachers taught the students by textbook based lessons and would ask questions that would verify if a student had done his or her reading assignments before coming to class. The students would then receive grades based on the amount of right answers they had given. Through her observations she saw that teachers did not bring up concepts that could be considered controversial in fear that parents would become angry. Anyon noted that the students learned by being given directions that often required some decision making,

Schools also have a hidden curriculum in which values and norms of behaviour are transmitted. For example, wearing a school uniform and keeping to a set timetable can all be seen as activities that encourage particular standards of behaviour which could be viewed as producing disciplined future workers. Therefore the hidden curriculum implies that pupils not only learn formal subjects such as English or physics but also receive hidden messages about their class, ethnicity and gender from their experience of schooling. Through the choice of teaching strategies and characteristics chosen to be employed by educational institutions it indirectly conveys to students the norms, values and expectations. This is what we refer to as the hidden curriculum. As we will later explore there are many that argue the hidden curriculum and processes within schools help to produce inequalities between children of different social classes. Whitty and Young (1976) view the

The purpose of this study is to provide empirical evidence of the existence of what the author calls a “hidden curriculum” in schools by observing the types and differences in school work across a spectrum of social classes (Anyon, 1980, p. 67). The rationale for this study is lies in a body of research suggesting that the type of curriculum offered to students is dependent upon their social class (Anyon, 1980). The curriculum variants observed include: behavior expectations and types of knowledge and skills offered. Consequently, the curriculum differences work to prevent movement across social class and prepare students only for the types of employment typical of their social class (Anyon, 1980). Anyon attempts to draw attention to this topic in the United States, as it had been largely ignored at the time (1980).

It is vital that teachers understand about the hidden curriculum. Often students who come from a low socio economic background can struggle and find it hard when it comes to the hidden curriculum. Having students struggle with the hidden curriculum can impact their learning in other areas of the curriculum, such as summative assessments. Teachers have the opportunity and responsibility to help foster and build upon skill such as social and life skills. By helping students with skills like these will not only build upon their academic skills, but outside of school as well. By having a balance of these life skills as well as intelligence and ability, students will be able to be successful throughout their education. If life skills can be developed and established it has been stated that students are more likely to be successful in the future (Crosswell, Bahr, Pedergast and Newhouse-Maiden 2010 p101). This can be done by building positive student-teacher relationships. This can help students to start to express their ideas and talents through the hidden curriculum. Research has shown that young adolescents need to have a caring school environment, serve with other young adolescents, have a caring family and also develop positive relationships with other community