Revealing Hidden Curriculum - Essay Example

Revealing Hidden Curriculum Introduction The world is full of so many attributes that define the term education based on what it envisions as the ideal means of serving the entire population. In most cases, people do not understand that the growing education attributes have made a huge contribution to the main roles that define and recreate the growing needs for a better society. Educators have intended to recreate scenarios where education takes place within a define atmosphere, but the aspect of the hidden curriculum still haunts them. This implies understanding the importance of the hidden curriculum and find out ways of making it explicit for the sake of developing all-rounded students. The issues surrounding the revelation of the hidden curricula mainly revolve around the impact this will have on the education and learning system present as the statuses within the society predetermine the way things will work out. Hidden Curriculum Notably, school curriculum has been generally accepted as an explicit, formally planned and conscious course that has specific aims and objectives attached to it. This didactic attribute keeps students in line with what should be learned as a way of maintaining a status quo amongst all the involved stakeholders (Frio 2012: 32). The main idea is to regenerate new methods that can underscore the value of the unwritten curriculum that takes place when the students learn something outside the normal classroom routine. The idea is to entrench new values that can meet these experiences while at the same time enhance the growing attributes that redefine the education curriculum taught across the globe (Hansen 2012: 109). The meaning of the hidden curriculum takes many forms, and Dickerson (2007: 12-3) refers to one of the most famous, which will be used in this report. The definition is taken as that apposite metaphor that is amorphous in nature and which implicitly embeds in contrast to what students have to learn based on the formal curriculum. It is common in all formal learning settings and provides the students with an understanding of what ought to be done to enhance the growing attributes of the learning interactions (Martin 2011: 133). The main idea is the inability to meet the main demands of the society while making different interpretations of the social aspects in the school curriculum. In general, any teaching and learning based on the main agendas of the hidden curriculum is the ability and will to bring to the fore the implicit attributes that the formal curriculum does not envision in its definition (Lattuca & Stark 2011: 96). The general understanding of a hidden curriculum is that which is not taught in school, and one that has to meet the main demands of the society despite being entirely informal. It plays a huge role in meeting these demands, something that allows the society to develop along the expected lines of growth (Izuegbu 2011). It emanates from both the school and its surroundings and has a huge effect on the students as they grow their skills within their environment. Ideally, the main aim of the society should be to get the expected interactions that denote greater retention of all that is helpful to the student as a whole. The informal curriculum that takes place in organisations frequented by the students such as churches, the ongoing activities in the neighbourhood, what they learn from their peers, as well as the social and mass media play a huge role in determining what should happen within the school vicinity (Jacobs & Johnson 2009: 39). The importance of this is to allow the individual to understand that a variety of activities has to take place by making good utilisation of the different types of curriculum for the sake of developing the society as a whole. Ideally, the growth of the education curriculum will depend on how well the influences from outside the school determine the growth attributes of the individuals that seek to benefit the most from it (Wiles 2008: 119). One important thing that educators need to understand is the fact that the society has a variety of methods that allow it to develop a child based on what is essential in life. It inculcates new morals and norms that were previously not available. To meet such demands, it allows the student to encounter certain norms that have a deep meaning to the life the individual will lead later on (Bilbao, Lucido, Iringan and Javier 2008: 225). These norms include achievement, independence, specificity and universalism. The importance of these norms has been widely studied, and many scholars agree with the notion that they are very important in supplementing what the student learns in school (Kim & Dopico 2014: 4). The main idea is to recreate new platforms that embody what the student wishes to learn as well as identify the attributes that the students require for a successful life (Hancock, Dyk & Jones 2012: 95). The curriculum learned in school has been harmonised to include all students across the country, but the issues going on within the society are a reflection of what is happening in reality. The classroom life and the life outside differ in many ways, implying a need to rethink the shaping and writing of the curriculum process (Kelly 2009: 84). One of those arguing for the usage of the hidden curriculum in meeting the needs of the society is Smith. In his book, Smith argues that schools can make good use of these hidden curricula for the sake of mentoring at-risk students (2013: 22). The implication is that the skills learned when using the hidden curriculum are very essential in determining how well the students will meet their requisite needs while at the same time reenergising their direct and indirect energy towards reshaping their objectives (Pacheco 2012: 21). The problem mainly arises when dealing with different perspectives within the society and this allows them to meet their main demands while at the same time enhance deal with the stereotypes that such at risk students have in the society (Smith 2013: 22). Smith opines that the formal curriculum used in schools has to follow rules and regulations that will have to meet the core demands of the society while neglecting the specific attributes of those within these schools. The problem mainly arises when educators do not understand that they have a huge role when it comes to meeting the needs of everyone in the society (Pacheco 2012: 24). Endow looks at this process from a different perspective. When an autistic person interacts with the world, he or she gets to learn different things from different people. Endow (2012: 24-5) notes that everything the society says to the individual will stick as what is ideal in normal interactions, and despite what has been learned, this can never be taken or considered as the main way of retaining the main attributes of the society. Ideally, the important attribute is to meet the demands of the society while entrenching the main categories of the information provided. The main ideal of the society is to provide unwritten cues that shape the way people relate to each other. The main ideal is meeting the core attributes of the society while detailing better relations with the people working towards the growth of the social status. The unwritten cues, according to Endow (2012: 28), are very important in shaping the way people think about the society. As such, they should be granted several chances of making their goals known to the society as a whole. Kentli (2009: 4) brings out the main attributes that define and dictate the growth of the society based on the main ideals of the society. In meeting these demands, it is critical that individuals work towards meeting the core attributes of the society while providing new methods of providing key principles to train children on what is relevant. Kentli looks at the structural correspondence principle that is common amongst most of the education systems that teach one thing in the curriculum but reinforce a different thing socially. The students will leave the school knowing one thing as a fact but having different values that determine their interactions (Kentli 2009: 4). The role of the school should be to provide the students with an opportunity that opens up their mind for future indulgences. The problem with the current social reproductions is the fact that what is taught in school is slowly losing meaning and students are paying critical attention to the cues they get from their surroundings. Freire notes that the only way of dealing with the contributions of the school is by working on various methods that seek to liberate the oppressed from the oppression. Such an ideology demands a struggle for redemption, and hidden curriculum shows the best understanding of this notion (Kincheloe 2008: 59). As noted, the value of the hidden curriculum is quite high and requires a good utility of the attributes in the society. The only way of meeting these demands is by making use of the dynamics that occur at the social and cultural level. Revealing the hidden curriculum will have so many advantages to the students and provide teachers with a chance to train the students on the implication of using what they learn theoretically to what they do in reality (Kelly 2009: 85). Many do not pay attention because they do not think that what they are learning is of any importance. With such a revelation of the hidden curriculum, it will be easy to define their status and position in the society. It will be a nice opportunity to acculturate the students to their learning atmosphere (Kelly 2009: 87). However, Bourdieu argues that the inequality present should be dealt with to reduce the negative connotation of hidden curriculum. He asserts that the best way of dealing with this is to utilize the education related capital as a way of promoting academic achievement (Gordon, Bridglall, & Meroe 2005: x-xi). Unequal distributions will disadvantage those in marginalized areas, hence the need to create effective schools. Another important gain from doing this is the ability to expand the social mobility of students from tender ages. In most cases, the students have to meet the main demands of the society by creating new means of dealing with the issues at hand. At the secondary level, the students have to make choices that may determine their future (Frio 2012: 196). The society has made it a prerequisite for students at tender ages to make such choices even before they fully understand what their careers mean to them. Parents have also forced their children to take certain paths rather than choose their own (Null 2011: 196). Having an explicit curriculum is important because it will provide the society with a new understanding of what is presented in the main stream as well as examine the underlying factors that have a huge impact on the way things happen within the society (Melissa, Myles & Schelvan 2013: 103). Ideally, the growing stability within the education system has to meet the main aspects of social control for it to meet the main needs and ideals of the society as a whole. In conclusion, the growth of the current education system will only be possible if the society uses what it has to meet the main ideals of the organisations. The important attribute is to recreate new platforms that will imply having new social equality stances and further provide the students with new opportunities to increase and improve on their socialisation aspects. This also entails providing them with more opportunities to understand what the norms learned outside the classroom have for each. Notably, even those at-risk students the society seems to neglect have a chance of dealing with their problems from different levels. References Bilbao, P.P., Lucido, P.I., Iringan, T.C., & Javier, R.B. (2008) Curriculum Development. Quezon City: Lorimar Publishing, Inc. Dickerson, L.W. (2007) "Postmodern View of the Hidden Curriculum", Electronic Theses & Dissertations. Paper 455. Endow, J. (2012) Learning the hidden curriculum: the odyssey of one autistic adult, Boston, MA: AAPC Publishing. Frio, D. (2012) Classroom voices on education and race: students speak from inside the belly of the beast, Washington, D.C.: Rowman & Littlefield. Gatto, J.T., & Moore, T. (2013) Dumbing us down: the hidden curriculum of compulsory schooling, New York: New Society Publishers. Gordon, EW, Bridglall, BL and Meroe, AS. (2005) Preface. Supplemental Education: The Hidden Curriculum of High Academic Achievement. By Gordon, Edmumd W., Beatrice L. Bridglall, and Aundra Saa Meroe. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. Hancock, D., Dyk, P.H., & Jones, K. (2012) Adolescent Involvement in Extracurricular Activities. Journal of Leadership Education, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 84-101. Hansen, D.T. (2012) John Dewey and our educational prospect: a critical engagement with deweys democracy and education, London: SUNY Press. Izuegbu, V.E. (2011) Students as designers of their own life curricula: the reconstruction of experience in education, New York: IAP. Jacobs, H.H. & Johnson, A. (2009) The curriculum mapping planner: templates, tools, and resources for effective professional development, New York: ASCD. Kelly, A.V. (2009) The curriculum: theory and practice, Newbury Park, CA: Sage. Kentli, F.D. (2009) COMPARISON OF HIDDEN CURRICULUM THEORIES, European Journal of Educational Studies, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 83-88. Kim, M., & Dopico, E. (2014) Science education through informal education. Cultural Studies of Science Education, pp. 1-7. Kincheloe, JL. (2008) Critical Pedagogy Primer, 2nd Ed. New York: Peter Lang Lattuca, L.R. & Stark, J.S. (2011) Shaping the college curriculum: academic plans in context, San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons. Martin, J.R (2011) Education reconfigured: culture, encounter, and change, Manchester: Taylor & Francis. Melissa, M.T., Myles, B.S. & Schelvan, R.L. (2013) The hidden curriculum for understanding unstated rules in social situations for adolescents and young adults, New York: AUTISM ASPERGER Publishing Company. Null, W. (2011) Curriculum: from theory to practice, Upper Saddle River: Rowman & Littlefield. Pacheco, J.A. (2012) "Curriculum studies: What is the field today?". Journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Curriculum Studies, vol. 8, pp. 18-29. Smith, B. (2013) Mentoring at-risk students through the hidden curriculum of higher education, London: Lexington Books. Trautman, M., & Wragge, A. (2010) 2011 hidden curriculum one-a-day curriculum calendar for kids, New York: Autism Asperger Publishing Company. Wiles, J. (2008) Leading Curriculum Development, Upper Saddle River: Corwin Press. Read More