"Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work"
By: Jean Anyon
"The procedure is usually mechanical, involving rote behavior and very little decision making or choice."
-Anyon is describing a working class school in New Jersey. These students have no creativity involved in doing their work and are told to do everything by procedure. They should be able to explore around a problem and try to figure it out using there own methods if they want. The teachers also do not give any information as to why they are doing what they are doing. They just let the kids do it the way they are told and that's that. This is terrible.
"In the middle-class school, work is getting the right answer."
- Schoolwork in middle class schools is a little different then working class schools because the main goal is to get the right answer. Middle class schools also have more thinking for the students to do when it comes to what to do next and the meaning of the problem. There is also more explanation of why a problem is done compared to the working class schools.
"A primary goal of thought is to conceptualize rules by which elements may fit together in systems and then to apply these rules in solving a problem."
-The work in executive class schools is more different from the other classes. These kids focus more on reason and getting logical answers. The teachers care less about the answers and more about how the students came up with the answers.
I was shocked by the fact of how different these schools operate. They are all close to each other in New Jersey and they all have very different teaching styles. It seems like the working class parents wants their kids to also be the working class types so they are put in school to achieve this and nothing more. I feel like this is terrible because it may not be what the student wants. The student may want to become a doctor or a lawyer and the school is not giving them a chance at that. The students in these school should be encouraged to be more creative and not just follow things step by step like the teacher or book says. They should try and come up with answers their own way.
Yeah I would hate to be a kid with a dream of being a doctor and be put in a school where its as if its out of reach. Where people look at you like "yeah okay good luck". Kids should have bigger dreams.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that all school work should be about getting the right answer I think it is the idea of how children get to the answers and their thought process, but now people are turning into robots to how to just get the right answer with everything.
ReplyDeleteI also think it is sad that kids are shut out of opportunities in life from no fault of their own. It is sort of depressing to know that even some of us have been led to paths we may be content with.
ReplyDeletei completely agree with what you said about your first quote. kids should be able to express creativity and explore possibilities, not be told exactly how to do something and then never get an explanation as to why.
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