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Dr. Rieman

English 1101

Caroline C. Cater

February 02, 2010

The Jean Anyon Response

    In nineteen seventy-eight and nineteen seventy-nine Jean Anyon did a study and wrote an essay 

Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work on how children in the fifth graders, in different parts of

New Jersey, were being taught differently in public schools according to the wealth of their families.  The

argument between the scholars in political economy and the sociology of knowledge was that “public

schools in complex industrial societies like our own make available different types of educational

experience and curriculum knowledge to students in different social classes”.  What struck me the most

about this was that it really didn’t even try to go into detail of how this happened or why or what could

be done and if the wealth of the children’s families could be the only factor.  It doesn‘t seem likely to me

that is that there could be only one relation between the schools and social classes that were factors.

Could it have plausibly  been the teachers and where they were being selected from (where they went

to school, national boards, what are reasons why a teacher would not want to be there- environment,

teacher who grew up there went back to teach there, size of city, commute, student behavior, pay).

    In this study all of the schools had the same basic resources such as their math books Mathmatics

Around Us, Scott Foresman, 1978 and reading sets.  If they all had the same math books but were

leaning entirely different skills then who is the cause for it?  If the teachers could be the only reason

then why is it them?  How can it be possible in every case for the teachers methods in teaching to be so

alike in comparison to the social group of the community?  This pattern seems to be to repetitive in

sequence to just be a coincidence.  In my hometown Elkin, where I went to school many of the teachers
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that work there now and whom have worked there in the past grew up in or around Elkin, went away to

college became teachers and then decided to settle back down in their roots, raise a family and work

there.  I‘m not entirely positive how you would go about classing my school, we are a small school but

full of diverse social classes.  I‘m not sure of the surrounding graduating classes around me but much

was always expected from my graduating class since elementary school.  Though there are always some

who advance more then others and some who can‘t seem to catch up with the majority I suppose that is

a norm for most all cases.  There could be a number of different reasons why a teacher in a working

class school would practice her teachings as she does.  For example she may have lived her whole life in

the working class family and felt more comfortable teaching in the same environment still and

continued teaching how she had been taught starting in the same place.  If only working class teachers

taught in the working class schools then that could mean that the feel of the entire community is

working class as well. Which brings to mind the question of which came first, the chicken or the egg?

    Why would this ever be an issue for public schools?  In stating this I mean that this should never have

been an issue of unjust care.  This is a major government issue.  If children are forced to go to school or

to do home schooling shouldn’t they all have a fair chance for the same type of future.  America for a

long time was seen as the land of  equal opportunity.  If the government is letting some of their own

children be cheated out of  a future they very well deserve just as much as the next kid, then where will

they stop?  It has seemed to be that if you have money life is substantially better and you wont get into

nearly as much trouble as someone who doesn’t and is not as fortunate as you.  Having more then

freedom when you’ve money has not been anything close to a secret, it is all over the news and even in

a few pop songs.  If you have enough money you can get away with many misdemeanors and even

felonies this is just one other reflection on how social class can affect fairness of treatment in America. 

What is worse is that the overall judgments many people do have is about how you appear and not by

the actions or character we sustain.  For instance a man may walk into a gas station to pick up some
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coffee and he is covered in grease and soot and he is automatically seen by someone as a blue collar

working man, which should in no way be seen as a bad thing because what he does for a living in no way

reflects who he is as a person.  That may not even be what he does for a living, maybe he knows how to

repair cars or tractors and decides to save his money and do it himself.  It is not right that we as a

society, not just every citizen but in general, we are putting such negative and harsh prejudgments on

people that add to more stress.  This stress to me reflects how much someone is more likely to order

someone to do something just to get it done then to be more creative and open about other ideas of

how this same someone may have gone about doing it.  It is possible that maybe we are all as a whole

the reason for the way things are in this land of ours.

    How can we get out of this cycle of unequal education to the future generations if nothing has been

done so far?  It is difficult to think of ways that would make this unjust system more alike and on the

same level when there is not just one thing alone that stands uncorrected.  You can’t just change the

pay of the teachers  because the price of living is different literally everywhere and some teachers have

higher education and national boards certifications, which make them more valuable to the school

system.  Teachers already don’t get paid nearly enough for the stress that they are put under and over

time hours that they willingly proceed with and on top of that many take home their work and continue

to work at home and they are not paid nearly enough.   The lower the salary generally means the lower

the cost of living is in the area the job is being held, which to me can also mean, though not always, that

the community is of the lower wage as well.  This could relate to just being a safe everyone knows

everyone small town or it could relate to living in a deprived part of a city.  If it is the second case then it

could be understandable that a teacher may not want to work there but has no choice and so is not as

happy with their job which could then reflect in their teachings.  For instance they may be stressed by

the living environment and more into orders and less questions to get through the day instead of being

more laid back and feeling safe and having more care and understanding to how each student is taking
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in the materials and learning.

    In all I have realized that there are many, many questions that have been posed in my mind and now

some on paper that in turn makes me so much more concerned about this topic then I could have ever

been before.  Reading this essay by Dr. Jean Anyon has broadened my views on education in a very new

since, even though her article is over twenty-five years old.  Though I don’t know many of the answers

for nearly half of the multiple questions I have, I have thought of many explanations that I do plan to

look into a lot more in the future.  This I suppose could have possibly been a large purpose of her writing

this as she had, to open the publics eyes of an injustice in the children’s future in the United States of

America.