Talking Points #8

Jean Anyon
"Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work"

1)"In the middle-class school, work is getting the right answer. If one accumulates enough right answers, one gets a good grade. One must follow the directions in order to get the right answers, but the directions often call for some figuring, some choice, some decision making."

I thought this quote was interesting because this is how my elementary school was. The teachers were more worried about the right answer than the process of getting the answer. I used to ask questions on how to get the answer and many times the teacher had trouble explaining it to me in a way that I could understand. It wasn't until I got to middle school that the teachers starting giving points on math quizzes for showing the work. After thinking about it, I realized that my elementary school worksheets didn't even have spaces for work, just the answer.

2)"Work tasks do not usually request creativity. Serious attention is rarely given in school work on how the children develop or express their own feelings and ideas, either linguistically or in graphic form."

I think this is a problem in the school curriculum. I think that if subjects allowed creativity then students would be more open to them and more excited to learn. I remember once in the seventh grade, we had a book journal. It was essentially a book report, but we had blue journals that we wrote in after every chapter and we also drew a picture for every chapter. I loved it. It was way more memorable than the other billion boring book reports or other projects I did.

3)"Scholars in political economy and the sociology of knowledge have recently argued that public schools in complex industrial societies like our own make available different types of educational experience and curriculum knowledge to students in different social classes."

I think that it is interesting that the curriculum of schools is different according to the economic level of the school. I don't think that it is necessarily a bad thing to have different types of educational experiences as long as the quality of the education is equal. I don't think that always happens though.

I found the article interesting and it was a very easy read. I could place my schools in the different categories. I moved from a middle-class school to an affluent school and I did notice the changes in style when I reflect. I think that it is important for creativity to be expressed not only in the affluent schools, but in every school. I think that when a child is allowed to use his or her creativity in school, they retain more information. It provides an outlet for all the extra energy young children have. Personally, I loved when we could make pictures from a scene in the book or do a replica of an archaeological dig and then make up a story about what we think happened there. Those are the kinds of things that stick with you and the rest of it fades in to the background.