Article Review Example: Social Class and Hidden Curriculum of Work

In his journal Jean Anyon conducted a survey that targeted fifth grade students and teachers with a focus to obtain social class difference. On September 15th 1978 and June 20th 1979 Jean conducted a study containing teaching methods and social class. It entailed how students approached different subjects in school connected to their social background. However, social class is determined greatly by personal income. The way one relate to his/her surrounding economically in terms of goods, services and culture that terms the social class.

For instance, the possession of material and how one contribute to the market place in a certain class of life. In that manner one is involved in social control. Social relationship is another determiner of social class. The way one interact with people really matters. Decision making, communication and speed of performance are what will categorize your social class. The way one relate to work will state his/her social class. Most of Americans are routine workers. They work on a daily basis on different classes. We have the white collar workers and the blue collar workers. The white collars are learned and their work entails office work. The blue collar is casual laborers who are unskilled or semi-skilled.

Jean further breaks down to explain the different type of schools and how it affects the future wellbeing of students in his surveys in northern city of jersey and schools close to the jersey suburb. In his research he classified the first two schools as working class schools. In these schools he mentions the parents as per their job skill and ability. These parents are unskilled, semi-skilled and others are in the category of blue collar job. This class earns at least twelve thousand dollars per month making them fall below the poverty line standard in America. In many cases these children from working class often fall on blue collar category.

Jean elaborates about the second class of people which he terms as middle-class group. This group is well of and it comprises of mixture of types of people social class. They are further categorized in three different job classes. The first group entails parents who are at the top of social ladder; these mostly are managers, supervisors of firms and even employers. They are on the higher income level. The other class of people entails the middle class earners. These are clerks, secretaries, lawyers and engineers. Jean classifies them as affluent profession school. The blue collar job category that is called rich is another school of social class. These are well skilled and trained personnel. They include policemen, firemen, secretaries, job office and technicians.

Finally, we have the capital class. This is the executive class of people. The president, the vice-president members comprising of the cabinet. This group their income is stable and they interact on high level standard. Their children attend the high class level of school.

Jean goes further to classify the relationship between the type of school and its social class. The system of education in the United States has a lot of similarities across the country. In most cases students are questions participate in exercise both orally and written. In the survey conducted by Jean all the qualities were found in these basic five levels of school. A social class really is affected by material and supply or availability of learning material in schools.

In working class schools, decision making is very low and there is a tendency of rote behavior. The significance of work and assignment is not related to the students. The teacher happens to make most of the decision. The children are drilled and in most cases the learning materials are not made use of. Teachers in working class school, give students assignment and later describes to them in detail how it is done. They use a lot of examples read from books and charts as reaching aid. The children in these type of school dont have exposure and their knowledge is limited.

In middle class school, children find a way to figure out on how to work on their assignment. Students in these schools have to adhere to instruction in order to obtain solutions to their work. There is less guess work as guess work leads to inappropriate assignment results. In a case of mathematics, the teacher explains fully on how to handle quiz and makes sure the students understand before submitting homework. The students are later asked to explain how they got the answers. The languages used in these schools are simple and most work is derived from textbooks.

Creativity and independence is largely practiced in affluent professional school. Expression of thoughts concerning ideas and concepts in illustration of thoughts is largely exercised. Students are liberated mentally and their ideas are made open. The finished product of students is normally original and independent from each other. The students explain themselves through essay writing crafts and editorials. The final product elaborates your idea. In this school a lot of practical work is involved in class.

In conclusion, ones character and social class is interpreted from the social class and the type of school one attended. The researcher Jean Annoy has evaluated that social class in the society increases with the level of school in the community. The children of the working class are prepared for routine wage of life by the way the school has shaped them. They will mostly obtain routine mechanical skills. In middle class children develop work, authority and capital potential skills. They will later fit in the white collar job society. White collar deals with a lot of paper work and a lot of creativity and personal life skills. In affluent professional schools, children are given the ability to develop skills in language, art and science. These skills will make better work force in the American society and include artisan craft men and non-print media personnel. These classes are mostly self-employed and they are in a position to negotiate for prices making them independent.

Reference

Anyon, J. (1980). Social class and the hidden curriculum of work. Journal of education, 162(1), 67-92.