From Social Class And The Hidden Curriculum

Of Work By Jean Anyon Essay, Research Paper

From Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work

By Jean Anyon

This essay tells of the different learning styles used in different social classes. Fifth grade classes were the groups studied. The social classes researched were: working-class schools, middle-class schools, affluent professional schools, and executive elite schools.

Social class designation

Working-class schools

-Lowest social classes

-Most parents have blue collar jobs (platform, storeroom, and stockroom workers; foundrymen, pipe welders, and boilermakers; semiskilled and unskilled assembly-line operatives; gas station attendents, auto mechanics, maintenance workers, and security guards)

-Jobs of mothers (waitresses, barmaids, and store clerks; assembly-line workers in storerooms and stockrooms)

-During the study, about 15 percent of the fathers were unemployed, and less than 30 percent of the mothers worked

-85 percent of families are white

-Incomes at or below $12,000 (below poverty level)

-Income is typical of 38.6 percent of families in the US

Middle-class schools

-Mixture of several social classes

-Parents occupations are divided into three groups:

1.) Small group of blue collar, “rich” (printers, plumbers, and construction workers)

2.) Working-class and middle-class white collar jobs (office jobs, supervisors in industry, firemen, policemen, technicians and teachers)

3.) Occupations such as personnel directors of local firms, accountants, “middle management”, and capitalists (owners of small shops in the area)

-Incomes are between $13,000 and $25,000

-Income is typical of 38.9 percent of families in the US

Affluent professional schools

-Upper income level of the upper middle class

-Professional jobs (cardiologist, interior designer, corporate lawyer or engineer, executive in advertising firm)

-Ninety percent of school is white

-Incomes are between $40,000 and $80,000

-Income typical of 7 percent of families in the US

Executive elite school

-Majority of families belong to capitalist class

-Fathers are top executives (presidents and vice-presidents of major companies, such as AT&T, American Express, U.S. Steel, and of other top financial firms on Wall Street)

-Mothers predominately do volunteer work (Junior League, Junior Fornightly, or other social groups), or are highly involved in town politics, while a few mothers have high paying jobs themselves

-No minority children attend the school

-Almost all incomes over $100,000, with some in the $500,000 range

-Income typical of 1 percent of families in the US

Types of educational experience and curriculum

Working-class school

-Goal: getting the work finished

-Work is mechanical with children doing very little decision making

-Very little actual thinking goes on. Here are some examples:

1.) While doing division problems in math class, the teacher went over examples, told them the correct procedure, and rarely required them to really think about the problem. The teacher merely said, “Three into twenty seven is seven: do your subtraction and there is three left over.” There was no class discussion of the problems.

2.) For social studies, the teacher copied material onto the chalkboard from a book, which the students then transferred to their notebooks. The teacher did not show the students pictures of the states or were the states were located.

-No creativity is used

1.) In an autobiography the children were assigned, they simply had to answer questions such as, “What is your favorite animal.” on a piece of paper entiltled “All About Me.”

2.) A social studies project encompassed coloring in a ditto and cutting it out to make a stand-up figure.

-The teachers were monotone and staccato, with no excitement for the material that was being taught. They were very much like drill sergeants.

-Teachers control classroom time and space by making decisions without consulting children or explaining to them the basis of their decision

-The teachers are very much into controling all aspects of the children’s schooling. Here are some examples:

1.) The students had no access to worksheets and materials. These were closely guarded by the teacher.

2.) The teachers stressed that everything in the room belonged to them. One teacher said to a child, “Bob, bring me my trash can!”

3.) Phrases such as “shut up” and “shut your mouth” are commonplace

4.) The teachers tried to control the children’s movements by yelling things such as, “Why are you out of your seat.!.”

-Classroom bells were often ignored

Middle-class school

-Goal: getting the right answer (usually words, sentences, numbers, or facts and dates), which the teacher can find in the answer book.

1.) One child commented that he “stores facts up in his head like cold storage-then retrieves it for a test or a job.”

2.) Doing well leads to other good things, like a job or college.

-Some choice, some decision making, and some figuring need to be done

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