Talking Points #8

Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work
By: Jean Anyon

1."Work is often evaluated not according to whether it is right or wrong but according to whether the children followed the right steps." p.3
I picked this quote because it was something that really bothered me as I read it. I feel that this isn't new to the educational system, I feel that there are some teachers that base grades on whether or not they feel the student followed the procedure and not if the student got the question right. I feel that if the student is not following the right steps, then the teacher should still give the student credit if the right answer is produced. There are always many different ways to come up with an answer, so the student shouldn't be penalized for following a different procedure, but rewarded for being able to figure it out on their own.

2. "The four fifth grade teachers observed in the working-class schools attempted to control classroom time and space by making decisions without consulting the children and without explaining the basis for their decisions...very often ignored the bells to switch classes...Things in the room "belonged" to the teacher." p. 5
I picked this quote because this is something that bothered me too, this is also something that I can connect with. While reading this passage I thought of my middle school experience, where some of my teachers would do the same things that the teachers in this passage would do. Often times, teachers would ignore the bell and keep us after the allotted time because they didn't finish their lesson plan. Everything in the classroom belonged to the teacher. We did have clocks in the classroom however, so the students weren't nearly as dependent on the teachers as the students in the passage are. But the thought that these students are so tightly controlled in this article bothers me a lot.

3. "Social studies also involves almost daily presentation by the children of some event from the news. The teacher's questions ask the children to expand what they say, to give more details, and to be more specific. Occasionally she adds some remarks to help them see connections between events." p. 8
I picked this quote again because this is something that I can relate to. During my fifth grade class, we did "current events" and every monday students presented their article to the class. We were to pick an article out of the newspaper, bring the article to class, write a short summary explaining the article and then connect to our lives. I thought and still think this is a good idea, it is a great way for students to get involved with their community and learn what is going on in the world.

I found this article to be an interesting one, especially because I related to many of the instances in the article. This has to be one of my favorite articles to date, I love reading about the differences between social classes. I found that the higher up the child is in the income bracket, the more fun they had in school, and the more freedom they had. The lower income students didn't have any freedom, most of their lesson plans were repetitive, they didn't have fun with any of the projects. The problem with this kind of learning is that it is basically memorization. The students who came from privileged families had more freedom to express their imagination and creativity. They learned without textbooks, did many different kinds of projects, worked together, and had more freedom to roam around the school. The teachers considered them while doing lesson plans, and negotiated with the students. I like to think that this is the best way to teach, if the students are having fun, they will put forth more effort and there will be a better turn around for both the students and the teachers.