Social Class And The Hidden Curriculum Of Work

Educational Opportunity Educational opportunity does not come for everyone as my teachers in high school once said. Our education may get affected by different factors since the moment we are born. The type of education that you might receive may be poor or may be the highest level of education. Working class students get a poor education already being taught to obey and listen to orders while the elite class works in developing intellectual power. It all depends on your parent’s jobs, and economic standings. Depending on your social standing you can get a good or a poor education. Many people think that we all have the same opportunity as upper class does. Authors Jean Anyon, Mitchell Landsberg, and Gregory Mantsios have wrote in their
According to your social status, it determines what education you will receive. The author Jean Anyon states in her article “Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work” that “In the two working-class schools, work is following the steps of a procedure. The procedure is usually mechanical, involving rote behavior and very little decision making or choice”(7). She establishes is that the education in the working-class schools are about being obedient and following orders without any decisions involved. With little decision-making skills, people will most likely end up working jobs at “platforms, storerooms, and stockroom” (7). At this rate, the lower classes will have less of a chance in improving their lifestyle and joining the upper class status. The author Anyon talks about education within the middle class schools. She states in her article “In the middle-class schools, work is getting the right answer...One must follow the directions in order to get the right answer, but the directions often call for some figuring, some choices, some decision making”(10). Anyon explains that among the middle class they are mentally prepared to work as “printers, carpenters, plumbers, and construction” that involve with little decision
The author Anyon says, “In the affluent professional school, work is creative activity carried out independently”(12). These affluent professional schools expect from their students to express and apply ideas and concept as well”(7). Thanks to what they are being taught, they are able to have multiple opportunities to work as a cardiologist, interior designer, corporate lawyer or engineer (7). As well, the upper classes also receive education from executive elite schools which presents them with a better education compared to those of the lower social classes. Anyon states that “In the executive elite school, work is developing one’s analytical intellectual powers” (14). Upper class students are already being taught to think intellectually and reason with problem, these skills allow and help them to have a better opportunity to achieve job titles such as “presidents and vice-presidents in major United States- based multinational corporations for example At&T, RCA, Citibank, American Express, U.S. Steel”(7). Therefore, according to your social status, you are eligible in receiving a poor or decent education. Depending on you’re the education you’ve received, you’ll either work by following orders or become president of a major