The Hidden Curriculum Essay

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

Critical issues facing educators today include; educational inequity, socio-economic status of students, cultural diversity, stereotyping, dominate cultural paradigms, and social disadvantage. Because of these issues, educators will be best prepared for classroom life if they find ways to adapt and modify the learning environment in order, to provide for inclusive regardless of the learners needs. All children in Australia are presented with the opportunity to attend schools which are designed to be inclusive for any and all abilities. Due to the diverse nature of the school age population in Australia classrooms are made up of an assortment of needs in relation to social, cognitive, and physical areas of learning.

He attempts, and succeeds, in shocking readers into remembering their school experiences in a more negative light, achieved by juxtaposing the strict Prussian military system with our current educational environment. Gatto has no quarrels mentioning the rigid segregation this system is especially tailored to create between the powerful, yet numerically minute, elite and a gargantuan working class forced into general servitude. The sensitivity of such a topic and the long history of social stratification the United States has endured forces readers to understand that, beneath the colorful language and indefatigable tone, this article is a very serious analysis of educational corruption and the abuse of social class as it relates to educational background. A focal point of Gatto’s argument remains the already apparent lack of individuality within school systems. He does not write about how constricting school uniforms can be to an identity or the ability to express oneself being diminished. No, Gatto concerns himself, and his readers, with how students are treated as machines by administrative staff in schools. Students are to be pass produced, manufactured using interchange parts and fixed when something does not fit the mold. He writes about how children are used from the second they enter kindergarten as small cogs in a larger machine of conformity, a machine which exists purely to prevent the elite from being forced of their high horses. Stringing each of the myriad arguments he makes regarding the motive schools hide behind an encouraging positivity together into a magnificent tapestry of dissent, Gatto forces readers to reevaluate their own perspective on one of the most singularly fundamental aspects of their life and

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.

As anyone can see there is corruption in the schools corrupting society's youths, and is quite detrimental to this society. Current society can be seen going on a similar path with almost all teachers being forced to teach from a strict guide leaving no room for teachers to add skills like discussion. Proving that our society may be heading on a similar path due to the strict government regulations on education. Another example of corruption of youth can be found again where Clarisse and Guy are talking and walking about the state of education when Claisse says, "'It's a lot of funnels and a lot of water poured down the spout and out the bottom, and them telling us it's wine when it's not'" (Bradbury 27). Bradbury demonstrates the corruption of youth in his novels society by showing how teachers will just say this is so even if it may not be as they are mandated. This also stops learning and it forces their populace to be knowledgeable because no one will love learning if it memorizing untrue facts and never being able to ever discover more or even not having discussions to peak some people's interests. I feel that this parallel is very clear and defined as the government mandated common core leaves no room

When I was in middle school, I remember this one student who everyone knew was very intelligent for his age and on many occasions the teachers spent their time listening to his strategies and thinking processes. At the end of the year everyone had to conduct a project and I remember it was an important part of our grade and our teacher told us that we would be presenting our projects to her and the class. Then our teacher told us that the superintendent was coming for the viewing of James’, which was the intelligent student, project and we were to be on our best behavior and be respectful of James and our other guests. I viewed this particular time as a way hidden curriculum was provided for one student instead of every student. The attention and assistance that the student received for being a gifted learner made her other students not feel as important or worthy of their own work. I feel as if the teacher was quick to forget the importance of her other students education and was so persistant on defining James’ educational

I teach in an eighth grade classroom that is set in a Jr-Sr. High school. It is located in the Jr. High hallway, near the rear of our high school. I have thirty-two student desks situated in rows and two small tables at the front of my room used for paper pick up. I painted my room a turquoise beach blue and it is decorated with various beach themed paraphernalia. I also have many inspirational quote posters up around my room, hoping to engage my students into deeper thinking. The students all have their own Chromebooks and I have a desktop computer as well as a Samsung Tablet. Many computer applications suited for 1:1 schools are used in our building. We begin our day at 7:40am with a zero period for professional development and meetings. The students have seven, forty-five minute periods beginning at 8:20am and continuing until 3:15pm. My classes include four “regular” English classes, one “Honors” class, an Essential Skills class that rotates every week with two other teachers, and a prep period. My duties throughout the year consist of sponsoring the Jr. High Student Council as well as parking lot duty for two weeks during second semester. We adhere closely to the Indiana State Standards and use the ISTEP and NWEA mandated assessments. We, as teachers, are given free rein to teach how we see fit; however, we were asked to submit curriculum mapping outlining the content/topics, key terms, sources/resources, assessments

Anyon gives specific examples of social classes and the curriculums of grade schools. In response to a comparison of the working class school and the executive elite school,

The Education system currently in use by the United States of America is a modified version of a methodical tool used to implement obedient control at young age and centralized power solidification. A problem with the system is the obsessive culture of

We all have learned that society’s models repeat themselves in patterns through time cycles. Entertainment has been offered freely to the citizens as substitutions for education since Roman times, systematically done to keep the power. The revealing of the facts has been concealed, not disclosed in their entirety. Following the formula: The larger the percentage of ignorance of the many, the stronger the power of the few. A deliberate substitution that has been proven successful.

Through Anyon’s comprehensive research, she discovered that in a wealthy community, affluent professional institutions focused on educating and enlightening students towards career paths involving law, medicine or business as their families’ class is “predominantly professional” with an income between “$40,000 and $80,000”. Likewise, Anyon observed an educational institution in a working-class community and recognized that children were unambiguously instructed to grow into working-class citizens, following the same footsteps of their family to obtain an income “at or below $12,000”. Furthermore, throughout the article, Anyon provides several direct quotes from instructors and children. In fact, the methodology used by instructors and the behaviors of the children strongly support Anyon’s argument of a hidden curriculum according to class. For example, students apart of the working-class master “rote behavior, and very little decision making” whereas the executive elite schools shape students into “developing one’s analytical intellectual powers”.

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

order to gain an education and as a result, to qualify in some form to

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