Jean Anyon - Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work

I found Jean Anyon's "Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work" to be very interesting and shocking in a way. Anyon discusses what she believes to be the hidden curriculum in schooling, or the idea of tailoring school work to prepare students for a life in the social class that they come from. It is really disheartening that students would receive schooling like this, I always thought the point of an education was so that you could go above and beyond the life you had growing up, or that is what was always drilled into my head by my family. While reading Anyon's summary of the four different categories of hidden curriculum in different schools. The schools are working class schools, middle class schools, affluent professional schools, and executive elite schools. Now the way that the categories are summarized leads the appeal to either affluent professional schools or executive elite schools as they would give students the best education. But from my own experiences it seems as if working class schools and middle class schools are the most numerous.

In working class schools Anyon says that:

"The procedure is usually mechanical, involving rote behavior and very little decision making or choice. The teachers rarely explain why the work is being assigned, how it might connect to other assignments, or what the idea that lies behind the procedure or gives it coherence and perhaps meaning or significance. Available textbooks are not always used, and the teachers often prepare their own dittos or put work examples on the board... Work is often evaluated not according to whether it is right or wrong but according to whether the children followed the right steps."

I feel like I most grew up with this type of schooling. I think that an education like this really does not teach students much other than listening to the rules and following orders. It does not give students the creativity or leadership they would need to really excel past low level positions in the workforce. Also by evaluating work not according to if the answers are right but whether they follow the directions would teach students that there can only ever be one way to find answers to problems.

This is completely different from the basis of affluent professional schools where:

"work is creative activity carried out independently. The students are continually asked to express and apply ideas and concepts."

This seems like the ideal type of schooling but not every student would like working in an environment like this. Some students really strive on structure and a school environment that revolves around creativity might not excel in this environment. Its difficult to say that this is the type of curriculum that should be given to all students when its obvious that not all students would learn well from it.

Anyon ends this article about her own views on the hidden curriculum and whether or not it really is good for students. She writes:

"The 'hidden curriculum' of schoolwork is tacit preparation for relating to the process of production in a particular way. Differing curricular, pedagogical, and pupil evaluation practices emphasize different cognitive and behavioral skills in each social setting and thus contribute to the development in the children of certain potential relationships to physical and symbolic capital, to authority, and to the process of work."

This still implies that it keeps each child in the class that they grew up in. Though these curriculums work with students to their "social learning skills" they would still keep some students back from ever going beyond those social classes.