Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work

Jean Anyon wrote this piece to show the different ways in which different social classes are taught in schools as well as why they are taught that way and what happens because of it. The first thing that caught my attention was when she was talking about how children of different classes are rewarded. She says, "the working class for docility and obedience, the managerial classes for initiative and personal asstertiveness." i find that, through my experience, this is very true. Today i worked with me children in the service learning program and i have many examples which relate to this quote. There was a child in the hall who bumped in to one of my students and the teacher of that student scolded that girl until she was red in the face and almost in tears. She told her, "stop walking! turn around! come here, no, stand right infront of ths girl who you so rudely bumped into and say you are sorry."after the girl said she was sorry the teacher continued, "and what are you sorry for?" and continues still even after that... not only did this teacher humiliate her student and tell her exactly what to do but also humiliated the girl who got bumped. Another example is when we were sitting in phys ed class. there are two chairs for people sitting out of gym because they dont have sneakers and i let two girls sit in the seats and i sat oh the floor with another girl and a boy. Well, two teachers walked in and one said, "get outta that chair, i want to sit down." and then the other just looked at the other girl sturnly and she got up as well. i was shocked and horrified at the way that i saw students constantly being yelled at, made not to respect there teachers and other adults but to fear them. i was braught up around adults who respected me and in turn i respected them. if i got to the seat first, it was mine, especially if that seat was designated for students and the teachers were only there to flirt with the attractive phys ed teacher. The way that i was taught was the way that i believe people should be taught but, then again, i am from a different social class and, so, i believe my way is the right way because that is how i was raised.
The way that the middle class school is described sounds a lot like the way that some of my least favorite teachers used to handle the class. "If one accumilates enough right answers, one gets a good grade." i thought that this process was terrible and turned me off to both history and math. In highschool, i had many teachers, especially in history and science, who didnt care if you learned anything, it was all about memorizing dates to try and get a good grade. It didnt call for thinking or imagination at all and consisted of listening to lecures, usually read from notes or a text book, and taking notes/ reading from a text book.
Also, the mentioning the way that middle class language arts is taught reminds me of my service learning class. The students, today, had to write a letter to their teacher for next year. the teacher told them what to write and where and listed them in order on the board so they had something to look to. She said," open the letter by saying something nice, then say something about yourself, something you like and what your favorite subject is in school, then ask the teacher questions and end the letter by saying something like, "im looking forward to meeting you next year.""
i also love how Anyon mentions how much of the classwork is based around the homework. i always hated how we would go over things in class and then have to do the exact same thing for homework as we did in class...often times the homewirk would ask the same questions. i fealt as though i was doing busy work...drilling things into my head that i had just learned when i should have been applying the things that i learned to something more. Anyon talks about how, even when asking the class to make up answers, they read them from the book. The one big point that i noticed and liked about the middle class school was that, compared to the lower class schools, the teachers were much more trusting of the students and, most importantly, the parents were very helpful. i know that when i was younger, i had a folder that i kept my homework in and my parents were always willing to help me if i needed help but always made sure that i finished it until i was at an age where i wanted to and was responsible enough to get it done on my own.
I notices that, when reading about the Elite School and middle class school, i agreed with the majority of what they did. The teachers seam to give the children more freedome and respect, asking them questions and then not saying right or wrong, just wanting their oppinion, making the child feel that they, asan individual, matter. On teacher says, "It doesnt matter whether it is rigt or wrong. i bring them together and theres value in discussing there ideas." Another thing that i really liked is that children are able to leave the classroom as the please to go to the bathroom. "they sign their name on the chalkboard and leave." This is wonderful. The children see that they are trusted and respected and, so, dont want to abuse that trust.
I found that, though i believe my school is lower class, my teacher in the SL program does much of the same things that the middle class teachers do, her teachers aid, however, is the ideal model of a lower class teacher. My teacher says the same thing that a teacher Anyon uses as a example, "raise your habd if you do not agree." I feel like this is a good method and letting the children critique one another not only helps all of the children but the children who are being dissagreed with do not seam embaressed at all but want to know what they did wrong.
There are so many quotes in the elite school section that i agree with and love that i wont even try to list them all. The mutual respect that children and teachers seam to have for one another seams to play a big part in why the Elite schools seam to be so successful. The students are given loads of responsibility and trusted to do there work and because of the rest of the class also having this work, i believe that the students are driven to get it done in order to be up to speed with the rest of the class, not wanting to fall behind.