In drawing from my previous post on the Hidden Curriculum there are links to other concepts that can be made. For example, the hidden curriculum can be linked to a theory in education called the Reproduction Theory. This theory is that schools are simply reproducing the status quo, only remaking what is considered a good adult at the time. That there is no room for creativity or deviation from the norm. When I think of this idea, it hits me really hard and saddens me because I have gone through the schooling system. I don’t want to think that I was just a recreation of the status quo, that I am a carbon copy of the perfect adult today.
The link to the hidden curriculum is that the concept comes from within the hidden curriculum. With the separation and the disconnect between schools and its students, there is an atmosphere created that tells students they are only a number or just another carbon copy of their teachers and/or parents. The small things that teachers are teaching students without realizing have a huge impact on their well-being and their academic ability. Teachers may sometimes unconsciously be restricting students to what it is assumed to be their highest potential based on their race, socioeconomic status or their abilities. When this happens the impacts on students can be harmful to their self-esteem or how far they think they can go later in life. Michael Apple, a professor of Education at the University of Wisconsin, talks about the role of schools in reproducing inequalities in this article. There is a big impact of the school in the reproduction of inequalities within society. The status quo that is apparently being reproduced is inequality, bias, and prejudice.
Teachers need to realize the impact their actions have on students and the potential they have to succeed academically, economically, and socially. Taking the reproduction theory into account, who decides the status quo and who decides when it needs to change?
References
Michael Apple on Ideology in Curriculum. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://newlearningonline.com/new-learning/chapter-8/michael-apple-on-ideology-in-curriculum
Featured Photo by Adam Marcucci on Unsplash.
Jessica is a student at University of Regina. Her passion for helping others and advocacy for the prevention of bullying in schools has lead her to a career in education. She is a dog lover, photographer, and a food lover.
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