The Implicit Harm of Censorship: An Exploration Of The Hidden Curriculum
Posted: Thursday, October 27, 2011
by Michael Eza
Abstract
Today’s teachers face a difficult problem with today’s students. Many of the students in public schools today would prefer not to be there, many drop out, many join gangs, and some simply rebel and ignore assignments, work or teachings. They do these things for various reasons, but often the reason they develop these types of motivations are because they are not exposed to environments that would allow them to understand what living in a different type of situation (other than the ones they are in) would look like. Many of today’s students do not have parents, who went to college; many live in situations where they are always told what to do and many don’t have access to important technologies. These limitations prevent students from moving up on the ladder of social-class and can often be reasons these students do not continue their educations. The Hidden Curriculum can be used to alter classroom cultures, teachers’ attitudes and the overall curriculum in ways that encourage students to proceed into higher education, and prevents them from failing or dropping out.
Students need these understandings because currently many school districts throughout the country have students who are predominately from one type of cultural, economical and/or educational background. Likewise most professional educators in the public school systems are statistically white and women. Many educators have found that by accounting for these lack of differing backgrounds; facets of the atmospheres lessons are taught in, aspects of the lessons being taught and the general attitudes of the professionals teaching these lessons can all be manipulated to teach about features of society other than the ones students live in. This knowledge is a great benefit to students because it can help them "fit in" (by encouraging exploration of how others react in these differing roles) to fields of employment or geographical areas they may not have otherwise been suited for.
Tied closely to the hidden curriculum is the classroom and schoolhouse culture. While it is difficult to determine what students are actually learning from the hidden curriculum (its definition implies the teacher would not know what students learned from it because their learning from the hidden curriculum is unintended and of consequence) it is possible to derive what students are learning from the classroom culture. A classroom culture can dramatically affect a students learning, but it is tied into and is a part of the hidden curriculum because it too to has unintended consequences. One problem many educators face with the classroom culture is that " Teachers’ decisions are usually based on external rules and regulations."(Onatra and Pena 2004) Because of this oversight many problems arise in the actual classroom. Take the example of one teacher (Jason) who wanted to help his underachieving eighth grade students learn by using the computers in the classroom for research. " However, as he began to plan to use some of the new literacy strategies he had learned in college, he was suddenly told (unofficially) that the students should not use these computers for research. The district only wanted the computers to be used for running several software programs designed for remedial reading." (Kist 2007) Had Jason listened to the policies of the school these students would have been unnecessarily restricted from accessing relevant information.
This may have sent the students a few unintended messages. One message might be that the district doesn't trust them, and another could be that the district doesn't trust their teacher enough to allow him to monitor the students or possibly that the district doesn't care to spend the money to install a web proxy to prevent access to websites which might violate the policies of the school. Furthermore, since students are being restricted in the ways they can access information, the bulk of what they are expected to learn is to come solely from the teacher. In other words they are expected to simply agree with what is presented to them. While this may be an effective way of having students learn what to put on fill in the blank questions, the critical thinking that students are also expected to be doing is being overlooked. Additionally, these students are being restricted from technology instead of embracing it, whether or not they have access to technology at home, if Jason agreed with the school policies the unintended consequences of his class culture could be that students do not learn to use technology properly.
Jason was aware of the benefits of the technology so, at the risk of his job, he did not restrict the students' access to the computers in the classroom more than was necessary to prevent improper, illicit or illegal uses. In a large part due to this decision Jason's classroom seemed to flourish with creativity and understanding and the computers helped them connect their knowledge and research to the real world. Beyond this at the beginning of this essay, a quotation from Amparo and Pena mentioned that the hidden curriculum is often used to train students for a specific level of employment; if the students were restricted from using the computers and did not know how to use them properly this may also inadvertently restrict them from achieving a level of employment that required the efficient and effective use of a computer.
The teacher's attitude also has dramatic implications regarding what students learn, and at times what the students desire to learn. Amparo and Pena feel the hidden curriculum could be summarized through compartmentalizing the aspects of a teacher’s attitude. " We could summarize the hidden curriculum into three main aspects: the teacher’s attitude as possessor of knowledge, the teacher’s attitude as possessor of authority and the teacher’s attitude as possessor of acceptance and denial by means of evaluation."(2004) This breakdown is important because they are all in relationship to the power a teacher has over his or her students in the classroom. As an example, if a teacher chooses to run class through a lecture based format, where they only occasionally call on the students to answer specific questions and if the students break a rule, even a minor one they are immediately called out for it and punished accordingly without regard for the students position, then the teacher is in almost complete control of power in the classroom. Unfortunately, if the teacher is in complete control of the power in the classroom, that does not mean they are in complete control of the classroom. One thing the teachers cannot help in this type of situation is the students' motivations to learn. While they may be learning to follow the classroom rules and that if they agree with the teacher they will do well on the exams, they are not learning very much about; each other, the teacher or relevant real world connections they may have been able to make if the class structure wasn't so rigid and restrictive.
If teachers present attitudes about education, which promote self-directed and community learning, students tend to develop strong and positive critical thinking skills they can use to encounter real world problems. Schools designed for elite children who are expected to continue onto higher education and eventually become white-collar professions consciously use techniques to encourage implicit understandings of community learning and critical thinking. Amparo and Pena highlight the style of these elite types of schools in the following example " A primary goal for them [students] is to conceptualize rules and to prepare for life. This is the only [type of] school where the bells do not demarcate periods of time but everybody changes classes because they had made specific plans for each session. Children are not rigidly controlled by teachers but brought in line by reminding them to control themselves as part of their own responsibilities." (2004) Clearly, the educators attitudes in this example would play a large role in what the students learn. Interestingly, these schools tend to use fewer rules to restrict students and instead they help students understand the logical realities of their decisions. This process creates an implicit desire to understand the rules or subjects being taught because students know they are in control of what happens to them. Furthermore, it allows students the freedom to learn how to access information, which is something they will need to do for their entire lives.
A classroom or school curriculum is also a critical aspect of education, which can cause students to implicitly create understandings and conclusions. Unfortunately, one unintended consequence of schooling seems to be that students often decide they don't like it. This is seen in the dramatic rate of high school dropouts occurring throughout the country. This trend needs to be corrected, as it is essential to hold a high school if not a college diploma in order to attain employment in most fields available in America. The classroom and overall school curriculum can be used to prevent this dropout occurrence and encourage further education. At University Park school in Worchester Massachusetts, which Craig Jerald highlights, the culture and curriculums of the classroom and actually the whole school district is structured in ways that encourage students to go to college. Students are asked in fifth grade to identify themselves as the class of the year in which they would graduate from college (2018 in this article), rather than high school. One professional from the school mentions “But the most important thing is they get to understand the culture of the school. They get to understand that we are serious about education and that we are serious about them going to college. They need to start thinking about it now to get where they need to be.” (Jerald 2006)
At this school the classroom curriculums are also occasionally modified to encourage this type of planning in fact "Teachers talk frequently about what college they attended and their diplomas hang on the walls of the school. Identification cards outside teachers’ classrooms list their alma maters along with their names...Teachers at University Park’s August Academy accomplish that goal [of getting students to college] through a combination of overt messages and subtle lessons that emphasize not only academics but also the values and behaviors the school expects of students." (Jerald 2006) While this school strongly employs the use of teacher attitudes and school culture to encourage these students, because the teachers are also encouraged to talk about their college experiences as well as their value and behavior expectations for the students; the administration is making it part of the curriculum to teach (but not test) how to achieve a college diploma and why that is important. This sort of requirement is exceptional, but in practice it works well as all of the students from University Park “get accepted to college, with most going on to four-year institutions.” (Jerald 2006) This process can be implemented in any classroom even if the whole district is not on board. Talking to the students about their goals and how they plan to achieve them are important aspects of learning and these aspects need to be included in the curriculum of the classroom as well as the culture and attitudes of the instructor.
Most students and professionals do live in similar types of atmospheres where it is hard to find vast differences in the cultures, attitudes and/or professional backgrounds of their peers. While this is often beneficial for those who are more affluent, those who come from homes, which that do not believe in college or cannot afford technology will often be unable to extend their knowledge about these subjects if the schools they attend don’t teach about them. Students need to know how to use technology, if they are to achieve jobs that require the use of technology. Students who don’t know anyone who has gone to college need to be exposed to these experiences at their schools in order to develop a motivation to go to college. And students also need to feel they are in control of their own decisions and choices in order to be able to make better decisions and choices and much of what affects these choices is in how the teacher manages the power he or she has in the classroom through their attitude. If teachers manipulate The Hidden Curriculum by providing examples (often personal ones) of college experiences, creating a classroom atmosphere that reflects these examples (such as by hanging college memorabilia, or providing college/scholarship applications) and encouraging students to make their own decisions by holding them accountable for their work and actions (this includes promoting classroom participation in things such as continuous classroom discussions) students will be more likely to continue in school or have access to better jobs and careers than they otherwise would have.
References
Jerald, Craig D. (2006). "School Culture; 'The Hidden Curriculum'". Issue Brief, Number 6. The Center For Comprehensive School Reform and Improvement. Retrieved online from www.centerforcsri.org . October 12,2011.
Kist, Willliam. (Sep., 2007). “Basement New Literacies: Dialogue with a First-Year Teacher”. The English Journal, Vol. 97, No. 1 pp. 43-48 . Retrieved online through JSTOR on September 5, 2011.
Onatra, Amparo and Pena, Mireya. (2004). "The Hidden Curriculum". PROFILE Issues in Teachers' Professional Development, vol. 5 number 1. Retrieved online from http://www.revistas.unal.edu.co/index.php/profile/article/download/11222/11885 on October 12, 2011.
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Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)Good one!
Bravo, Michael, very well put together. An A in my opinion.
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