Agree or Disagree

Jazzlyn LaNier

English 1100_35

September 22nd, 2015

Professor Young 

  Do I Agree or Disagree?

            In “Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work” by Jean Anyon where she observes five elementary schools over the course of a full school year and concluded that fifth-graders of different economic backgrounds are already being prepared to occupy particular rungs on the social ladder. The schools were broken up into different groups according to income, occupation, and other social characteristics.                                                                                                                                    According to Anyon’s logic I would be apart of the middle class school. I live in a single family home, my mother fits the description of the working-class and middle-class white-collar jobs because she is a school teacher. But other than those two characteristics I believe Jean Anyon’s essay “ Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum is outdated to this day and age when she described the different teaching styles. She describes it as ‘work is following the steps of a procedure”. Basically saying that the teachers teach the materials while the students just absorbed and do not ask any questions.  I disagree with the statement when she says that in middle class school the teachers rarely explain why the work is being assigned and what the idea is that lies behind the procedure. I went to a public school my entire life. In my classrooms the teachers taught and the students was encouraged to ask questions and to challenge what we were asked to absorb. We had textbooks and how the lesson was explained to us really depended on the teacher. Most teachers stuck to the curriculum and did it play by play but most teachers more than half  explained the lesson many times and in different ways to help the students grasp the concepts.  I believe no matter how much money you earned each year doesn’t matter , all that matters is if whether or not the teachers care. If they care to explain, care to go that extra mile and if they see their students as actual students than just a paycheck.