Hidden Curriculum For Public Schools

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

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

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

What does social class mean? Social class means a division of a society based on social and economic status. Now, what does hidden curriculum mean? Hidden Curriculum means a side effect of education, such as norms, values and beliefs in the classroom. Accordingly, Jean Anyon’s, author of “Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work” claims that each and every social class has it’s own very different way of teaching in schools. Anyon states a plethora of strengths and weaknesses in this article. She believes that all children have been taught to learn, comprehend, and behavior in plenty of different ways due to the social class’s they have been thrown into. Anyon examined each social class which have been named The Working Class, The Middle Class, The Affluent Professional Class, and lastly The Executive Elite Class. An educational perspective came well from her work view point and based off it - I have thrown in my own opinion by agreeing with her during this essay.

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 article “Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work” by Jean Anyon is about research conducted in five different schools of four different social classes; the Working Class, the Middle Class, the Professional Class, and the Executive Class. In the data collected, Anyon discovered the various ways that these five schools teach the children. First, the two Working Class Schools taught the children really poorly, often telling the children to follow steps to get the right answer, and always yelling at them when they’re out of line. The Middle Class School teaches the kids a little better, by making the children actually work to get the right answer. The Professional School sought to get the children to be more creative with their work. And finally, the Executive Class school will tell the children that they are fully responsible for their work, and they will not keep up with children if they miss assignments.

Schools systematically subjugate minority and black students when a school’s enrollment contains a huge racial majority. If students have no exposure to persons of different ethnicities, cultures, races, and religions, then these students will experience culture shock when they confront “other” people. Even in our class, we talk about black and minority students as another group, one that differs from “us.” We think about the inequalities in school systems as problems we need to fix, not as problems that have influenced our thinking and affect us as prospective teachers. For example, a white graduate student with

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).

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

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.

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

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

Hidden curriculum is not a new concept in the education system, and as a matter of fact, it begins early in a child’s education. According to Sociology: A Down-to-Earth Approach, “hidden curriculum refers to the attitudes and the unwritten rules of behavior that schools teach in addition to the formal education.” This includes rules and expectations. According to The Hidden Curriculum in Higher Education, “hidden curriculum emphasize[s] specific skills: learning to wait quietly, exercising restraint, trying, completing work, keeping busy, cooperating, showing allegiance to both teachers and peers, being neat and punctual, and conducting oneself courteously.” Hidden curriculum sets the standard for what is proper in society. This concept helps

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