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

Jessica Wiedemann

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.

Make sure to comment below and follow her on social media, she loves to reach out and connect with you!

The content in classrooms taught by the teacher is from the formal curriculum. This curriculum is written down in a formal and attractive document made by the provincial or federal government. Outside of this curriculum, there is much else that is learned within the classroom. The proper way to act, how to socialize, and things like dress code and organization are part of the informal curriculum called the hidden curriculum. This can affect the development of students more than the formal curriculum. Many of the rules in schools condition students to act in ways that are consistent with social norms. There are examples of dress codes, emphasis on punctuality, hard work, and following instruction. These types of underlying teachings prepare students for the work world. So, in the interest of creating citizens, workers, and fully formed adults this works quite well, sometimes. On the other hand, if teachers are to help students find who they are and realize their true potential and where they fit in society, how well do these types of structured teachings give students the freedom to explore their options as people?

Structures like those above were not always in the educational system. There is lots of history in the Canadian education system that has influenced the schooling of today. One of the parts of history that are still involved in the educational system today is an underlying idea of the factory model of schooling. This concept is that schools are machines to make young students into a perfect copy of the ideal adult in society. The structured rules and guidelines above shape students into the ideal adult for society. Following instruction and hard work are taught to create students that are good for the working world where there is a hierarchy of workers and with a boss of a company managing the work being done.

As a developing teacher, I am forming my own opinions od how schools should run and how the curriculum should be taught. With the roots of these structures still influencing schools today, will change be able to occur in these structures and will society still be similar to today’s standards for the ideal adult or will it be chaos?

Jessica Wiedemann

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.

Make sure to comment below and follow her on social media, she loves to reach out and connect with you!