REVISED POSTING
awhodat
Most of you may have already responded to my post. However, this is
just a revised version since I was not totally pleased with the one I
submitted before
Dewey writes that “the only true education comes through the
stimulation of the child’s powers by the demands of the social
situations in which he finds himself.” I choose to begin this
discussion with this quote simple because I do agree with the author.
The only way we can know if the child’s educational needs are being
met is to give the child a voice in the decision making process of his
or her education. As I was reading the different articles, I think I
now have a broader understanding of what Hidden Curriculum is.
Although not all conclusive, I will credit Ahwee, et al for making it
clear as they defined Hidden Curriculum. How often, we as teachers
sometimes perpetrate the travesty that goes against our very core
simply because it is being forced upon us and the children we teach.
As I was reading the articles, I was especially drawn to The Hidden
and Null Curriculums: An Experiment in Collective Educational
Biography. One aspect of the hidden or null curriculum that I would
like to draw attention is the "Marginalized Groups and the Null
Curriculum". It is said that "all men are created equal"{ and
therefore have equal rights. In America, one of those rights is a
quality education for all - equal opportunity, equal access, and
equality of instruction (Van, 2006). It would be great if this
statement was true and is practiced in all aspects of life here in
America.
As a teacher in an urban community I see the disparity in the
curriculum and the resources provided to students for academic
success. On example of that is the fact that I teach in a
predominantly African-American population and I find that the culture
and the people are not being celebrated. What I mean by this is that
the students are not participating in activities that celebrate the
accomplishments of African-American. They are not being made aware
that there is more to their culture than Hip-Hop, Rap, and sports such
as Basketball. One thing in particular in my school that disturbs me
is the fact that the curriculum requires the children to write a
biography as a part of the writing curriculum. However, the children
do not have the necessary resources to help them write and learn about
a subject they may choose. There are no special assemblies held to
promote the accomplishment of "Black" America and neither is it
included in the curriculum. When the children would attempt to
research an African-American figure, they do not have enough resources
to support their research. And, when they do find any resource, it is
usually either not enough or written in a way that the children are
not able to read and make connections. No wonder, Suzette Ahwee, et
al. addresses the issue of the marginalized groups and the null
curriculum by highlighting the fact that marginalized groups such as
women, African Americans, gays and lesbians are being excluded from
the curriculum. Ahwee went on to further refer to the fact that their
issues, struggles, contributions and triumphs have not been deemed
worthy of celebration. I choose to highlight this quote simple
because that is how I feel sometimes, as though their contribution to
society was not valuable. In other words, the education system is not
meeting the needs of the children in that they are failing to give
them the tools necessary to help them read and make meaning of their
world. The hidden curriculum is in dictating how what and how the
children are being taught, what they learn, how the teachers are to
disseminate the information, the level of parental involvement and how
assessments are used to place the children.
As a teacher in the negotiation curriculum class the question now
becomes "how do I make changes to this disparity of resources for my
children?" Is this a purposeful and deliberate exclusion of the
perspectives, issues, and histories of particular population and
cultures as is asked in the article, or is it just generally an
oversight that no one is paying attention to? As a Caribbean-American
teacher, I can choose to either be quiet about this issue or bring
about awareness to it by making sure that the students in my classroom
have the resources necessary to learn about their culture. This is an
important aspect of my teaching practices as is mentioned by Ahwee, et
al , since one of my pedagogical creed is to prepare space for my
students to become critical thinkers and problem posers instead of
problem solvers. As teachers we become the transmitters of unintended
instruction because we are participating in a travesty that does not
create an unbias space for children learning. However, it does not
have to be so. We can join with Dewey (pg. 19) and tap into the
children’s funds of knowledge, seeing school as a place where certain
information is to be given, certain lessons to be learned and where
certain habits are to be formed, while at the same time not stripping
the children of who they are. Like Dewey we are to realize that
learning begins at home and is continued in school and beyond, that
the children come to us with their own funds of knowledge and that we
should celebrate what they bring to the classroom. Dewey writes
further that “education must be conceived as a continuing
reconstruction of experience that the process and the goal of
education are one and the same thing” (21).
The three articles I would like to explore further are The Schooling
of Literacy (Street); Letting in the Sun: Native Youth Transform
Their School with Murals; and Minority Parents Should Know More about
School Culture and Its Impact on Their Children's Education. These
articles are important to me both as a teacher and a parent. As a
parent it draws awareness to what I should be looking for in what my
children are being taught and how it influences their learning and or
academic successes. For example as I was reading the article about
Minority Parents some of the same concerns are my concerns too. My
daughter attended a gifted elementary and gifted junior high school.
Now that she is in high school, the enthusiasm is no longer there.
She is not as eager to study like she did before. Needless to say I
am getting on her for not doing her best considering her past
educational experience. And, like the parents in the article that
addresses how the culture of the school impacts children education, I
too want to know how my child did so well in elementary and junior
high school and now that she's in high school, the same zeal and
enthusiasm is not being manifested. However, knowing what I know
now, I am now in a position to “advocate for equity of education for”
my child. I don’t have to take what her school is offering at face
value. I can also advocate on behalf of my students to make sure that
they too are getting what they deserve so that they can be successful
in and out of school. In referring to “Letting the Sun. . . and,
considering my own pedagogical goals, I would aim to nurture the
child’s sense of place by stimulating his or her natural curiosity.
If the authors of the three articles I choose were in my 1300
classroom, they would value the fact that we are constantly actively
engaged in discussions about how we as educators are being made aware
of the different aspects of the hidden curriculum and how it
influences our decision making process. They would be pleased to know
that we are avowing to make changes in our own classrooms now that we
are more knowledgeable about what the “Hidden Curriculum” is. They
would further encourage us to understand that “it is the business of
everyone interested in education to insist upon the school as the
primary and most effective interest of social progress and reform in
order that society may be awakened to realize what the school stands
for, and arouse to the necessity of endowing the educator with
sufficient equipment properly to perform his task” (Dewey, 23).
The pedagogical implications I see in all of this is to know that if I
had things my way, I would not keep the children locked in a classroom
for the entire day. My ideal school setting is a half day of academic
instruction and the other half day enrichment. Like the teacher in
“letting in the Sun” who was willing to take a chance, I too would be
that children. Children should be given the space necessary to
express their creativity because they have a lot to share but is not
able to do so because they are being forced to stay locked in a
classroom listening to instruction that is sometimes boring to them.