Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work

"The project is chosen and assigned by the teacher from a box of 3-by-5-inch cards. On the card the teacher has written the question to he answered, the books to use, and how much to write. Explaining the cards to the observer, the teacher said, "It tells them exactly what to do, or they couldn't do it."

Oh, this makes me rage. I am an advocate of self-directed learning. When I hear someone is telling a kid exactly what sources to use, that gets me very angry. I mean, granted providing a general question and some base guidelines isn't too bad...bad telling someone exactly what sources to use? Well, you pretty much know what you're going to grade then...

Right now I'm writing a paper on moral panic over Satanism in the 1980s and I am using a TON of unorthodox primary sources. For example, I am using 1st edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons books, Christian Bible Tracts, an episode of Unsolved Mysteries and old records of 1980s bulletin board posts. To me, that is what shows someones capacity to discover information.

When I teach, I plan on having a research paper assignment specifically meant to teach my kids how to discover information. Like, I want them to pick any historical topic...doesn't matter what, and do an in depth research paper and discover how to find sources. I think this would be super beneficial to those kids who choose to continue onto the college level.


"The following questions are typical of those that guide the children's independent research. "What mistakes did Pericles make after the war?" "What mistakes did the citizens of Athens make?" "What are the elements of a civilization?" "How did Greece build an economic empire?" "Compare the way Athens chose its leaders with the way we choose ours." Occasionally the children are asked to make up sample questions for their social studies tests."

I remember doing stuff like this in late elementary school. I would not, however, consider the North Smithfield school system to be an example of an executive elite school. I think since 1980 when this article was written, there has been a trickle down (Trickle down and the 80s. Get it? ) of the type of education students receive as I would rank North Smithfield somewhere between a middle class school and an affluent professional school.