Week 8 – JESSICA WIEDEMANN

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 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!

Something I was not lucky enough to be taught in school was treaty education. During lecture today the question came up of “did any of you have treaty education in school” there was about 10% of the class whos hands went up. Being from Alberta I have been able to see the difference in the educational process between the two provinces and what the Saskatchewan curriculum emphasizes compared to the Alberta curriculum.

Treaty education is more than understanding that there were treaties signed between the first nations and the settlers coming to Canada. There is a meaning behind what a treaty means, its definition, and what it means today. The reason to teach treaty education to the children and youth of today is to give them the context of what has happened in history in regards to treaties and their meaning.

On a more general note, treaty education is important because it teaches students about the cultures of the first nations, Metis, and Inuit peoples and shows them how to appreciate it. It teaches them to be accepting and show support for causes like #orangeshirtday.

Something that was said in lecture today was “we are treaty people”. This idea brings about more than treaties being a part of our history living in Canada. Looking at where we came from in the ancestry of families who came to Canada and settled here there is a huge amount of meaning behind treaties. Treaties are what made Canada what it is today. Without the agreement to share the land between the British settlers and the indigenous peoples of the time the people that make up Canada and the cultures today would have been very different. Being “treaty people” means more than knowing about treaties, being a treaty person is respecting the treaties that were signed, respecting what those treaties meant, respecting the ceremony of making an agreement. A treaty person is honorable, accepting and supportive of others and their cultures. A treaty is a binding of two groups to make one. A treaty is a promise. Being a treaty person is to honor the agreements that were made when Canada was taking its first steps towards becoming the country it is today.

Coming from a different province and having a different upbringing in the schooling I was taught I don’t understand where the disconnect came in emphasizing this part of the curriculum. Why isn’t this taught in Alberta? Why isn’t this information mandatory to be taught and why is it just put on a shelf where we say “I don’t know how to integrate this into all the classes”? As a student and developing teacher, I want to know why I was deprived of this critical information and why my eyes were not opened to this when I was in school?

Featured Photo by Maher El Aridi on Unsplash.

Jessica Wiedemann

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

Hidden Curriculum and Inequality

Treaty Education