(NOTE: Caution to any reader... Posts tend to be long, opinionated, and detail-driven. Sorry.)
When I first began to read Jean Anyon's study, "The Hidden Curriculum of Work," I was at first very much frustrated with his way of describing the different communities. Then I had to reconsider that this study is dated, being nearly 40 or so years in age. Part of that frustration was also fueled towards the areas where there were typos, as well as unwanted and/or wrongfully placed characters and symbols.
As I continued to read, I also made the mental note in my head that -- in today's society -- technology is wider spread throughout school systems, but not to all, unfortunately; which leaves some schools stuck in Anyon's descriptions of the late '70s. With more computers available, internet, and social media, technology has become a tool in the education system. Even in one of the smallest, poorest suburbs near my hometown, the students each receive a laptop in which to complete their homework on.
In his working-class descriptions in section, "The Sample of Schools," of the four schools studied, I -- once again -- found myself biting my bottom lip at the dated, masculinity-driven details. His first initial look at these two communities were lead with the detailed description of the men of the community, listing the working and non-working women last, as if their income and occupation were less important. Perhaps it is still a "man's world," but where I grew up, women were just as hard-working to bring home the bacon, so to speak. The women I know across the state-line-split suburbs of Louisville, KY, all work at least part-time, if not full-time, or even more than one job. Housewives are few and far between in 'Kentuckiana.' Having been raised almost solely by my mother, I have always had the belief a woman can work and achieve just as much as any man can and should be given the chance to do so. (I swear, I'm not a hardcore feminist.)
As I continued to read of the deprivation of resources and the descriptions of the working class schools, I still found similarities to my own experiences as a student. But these descriptions also made me think of the documentary, "Waiting On Superman," where the United States educational system is looked at from the poorest of schools -- where children participate in a lottery to see who makes it into the only school for miles -- to a few of the most pristine school systems. Having seen several chunks of this documentary, it became clear to me why the statistics say that American children don't even come close to topping the academic charts internationally. The only thing American school children blow away the international competition across the charts is in levels of confidence.
Click on "Waiting On Superman" to see the official trailer for this eye-opening documentary.
While I read further on, I made tick-marks where I found similarities to my school system. I went through the same schools as the preceding two generations of my family had attended. The campus included three buildings: Stout Elementary (now called Silver Creek Elementary), Silver Creek Junior High, and Silver Creek High School. In elementary school, the curriculums of Anyon's described second and third schools were closest to my own. It was a constant intake of rules and steps to follow over and over again when learning mathematics and language and grammar. Several teachers would lead each new topic with this drilling process until it was obvious the class had come close to full comprehending the lesson. After the drilling, the games began. We would have relay races to finish math problems in teams on the chalkboard, punctuate sentences correctly, or fill in missing letters of the words on the week's spelling list. The winning team usually received an extra gold star on the "achievement chart," or a small piece of candy. At the end of each week, teachers would give short tests in each of the subjects to see if we managed to continue comprehending the full week's worth of learning. I believe that the help of games reinforced our desire -- or, in some cases, gave a desire -- to learn.
As my classmates and I reached higher levels, such as fourth through sixth grade, we were given more chances to try out new ways of writing and to explore our creative sides with writing assignments or projects, i.e. we were to pick a card from a basket that had a specific animal, which we would then write a report on, draw pictures of the animal, and then had to construct a home-made model of the animal. I still have the floppy, stuffed horse made of felt and yarn my mother and I sewed together to go with my report in the fifth grade. In sixth grade, as we began to study the Greek civilization and its mythology, a similar project was assigned. Each student was given a god or goddess and had to write a report, then deliver an oral presentation while dressed up in home-made Grecian costumes to represent the god or goddess. Unfortunately, many students still hadn't quite developed a creative, unique way of writing or presenting themselves.
When middle school reached us, we had been drilled so many times and tested on the English language and grammar, many of my classmates were stuck in what I like to call "cookie-cutter" ways of writing, leaving only a few of us to find our unique "writer's voice" before the end of eighth grade. Having always been a writer -- from the age of six I had detailed journals, no joke -- I had developed a love for reading anything I could get my hands on, loved to practice my cursive, spelling, and writing my own stories that I would later make my younger cousins act out with me for our parents and grandparents. To this day, I write nearly every day on at least one of many unfinished writing projects (short stories, poems, a few novels, a journal/memoir). In middle school, I had already been deemed the go-to girl among my friends and others for peer-editing in English class. It was my passion, and I worked hard to be sure my paper was very different from everyone else's, while still sticking to the laid-down gauntlet of "Shirley Language" jingles and workbooks drilled into our heads from the ages of five and six.
One such jingle I still recall about prepositions:
"Preposition, preposition, starting with an A:
Aboard, about, above,
across, after, against,
among, around, at...
Preposition, preposition, starting with a B:
Before, behind, below,
Beneath, beside, between,
Beyond, but, by."
So on, and so forth. To this day, I still remember this jingle in its entirety and several others, along with songs naming the fifty states, and jingles about important American history events like the Revolutionary War. Ever heard "The Shot Heard 'Round The World" from School House Rock? Or "I'm Just a Bill," and "Conjunction-junction, What's Your Function?"
On page eight, Anyon writes, "There is little excitement in schoolwork for the children, and the assignments are perceived as having little to do with their interests and feelings." I immediately had a question pop into my head: Did they interview only one child? (That child saying school was to get a good job or go to college by storing facts in his/her head.) This bothered me, just as several other reported findings had. In my experience, some children enjoy school... At least, I did. Despite when other students may have groaned or complained about an assignment/paper/project, I was happy to take on the challenge, and was quite competitive to come up with things outside the box that would give me even more knowledge than what was supplied in a textbook. Yes, I knew doing well in school led to college and jobs, but I was raised with the value that school isn't just for those reasons, but for self-improvement and cognitive growth -- though my parents didn't exactly word it like that to me at the age four when I begged when I could start kindergarten.
As the article reports on the different teachers and their styles of treating students, I wanted to be sure I addressed this. There is no such thing as a perfect teacher, administrator, or educational system. That much is obvious. Teachers varied among each school I attended. Not all schools have drill-sergeants for instructors, and not all schools have caring, open teachers. Most are mixtures, and therefore children are exposed to different adults' personalities, curriculums, and activities for homework or project.
In conclusion, I found myself in each of the four schools as I read Anyon's article. Perhaps it is a good thing younger children are drilled with steps and rules, because their underdeveloped brains can only handle so much information at certain stages of age and maturity. As each student grows, creativity should be allowed for exploration. I believe this self-academic-exploration at a young age has been a huge role in what makes me into the student I am now, a junior in college. I still remember my first day of kindergarten and my wide range of projects and papers from then until now. That little justice I was given by my parents and some very amazing teachers over the past fifteen years has given me the option to continue down the road of my life, instead of hitting a dead end like so many unfortunate students will find when not given these opportunities.
- Meredith Haas
LIBS 201: Writing For Social Justice
Roosevelt University, Fall 2011
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