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Daniel Belton

English 1101x

MW 9:30 10:45

Critical Interpretation paper Jean Anyon

I believe the Jean Anyons Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum is one of the better

essays I have read. It shows how kids who attend different income schools are given different

educational experiences. She also believes that the students who attend that school are taught

in a way which will lead them to stay in the same income bracket as their parents. Anyon

obtained this theory by interviewing teachers, principals and children from different schools;

she also sits in on different classrooms in different schools to see if she can get a better

understanding of the educational experience for each student.

There are four different types of school the first is working class were blue collar families

make up the majority of the school. The second school is middle class school which has “a

mixture of several social classes.”(230). The third school is Affluent Professional School this

school is made up of capitalist children with which make up the majority of that school. The last

school is Executive elite which most of the children’s parents make in sex figures.
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I believe that her theory is true because I went to Executive elite school in elementary

school and a lot was asked of me. In that school it seemed as though they were preparing me to

make something of myself. I did not realize that until I was in that kind of a school till I left and

went to a school classified by and I left and went to a school classified by Anyon as working

class school. Were kids controlled the classroom teachers felt more like babysitters than

educators. Eventually the kids would break the teachers will and they would give up on the

class. The teachers would start teaching us just pass, and would lose their temper very easily.

This made for a very hostile environment and the classroom was turn into a battlefield. This

continued all the way through high school. Anyon says this “The control that the teachers have

is less than they would like. It is result of constant struggle with the children. The children

continually resist the teachers’ orders and the work itself.” (235). As showed by Anyon it is not

uncommon that children challenge teachers authority in class.

I think one major factor in Jane Anyon’s theory is does no child left behind act affected

her theory in the present. I would say yes it has made it worse kids are cheated out of a good

education because teachers are forced to pass kids who are not qualified to pass in the first

place. In turn it makes the school hurt as whole because it puts a premium on schools to pass

kids so they will not fall behind making it harder for that kid to further their education. This

hurts the kid compete against other kids who were not assisted in their education and once

that kid gets to college they are farther behind. To the point that the student cannot keep up

with the pace of college curriculum. No child left behind does not only hurt the student who is
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kept a head but it hurts the school as a whole because schools have to set up class for them to

catch up with the pace of school. I have had firsthand experience of this because at my high

school they had to have math classes set up for students who were not able to keep up with

algebra or pre algebra. This class was used to catch the students up but they were already so

far behind that they could not catch up by the time they graduate high school

At this rate our education will be useless kids will stuck in the same social class for the

rest of their life What I have learned by reading Anyons essay is that social class effect schools

even the education that is provide to each student. If we do not do something very quickly this

problem will never be solved and the consequences will be that social class will be passed on

through our education system.

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Works Cited Page

Anyon,Jean. “Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work.” Writing Conventions.Eds.Lu and

Horner. Pearson: New York,2008.225-251.