Anyon Critical Interpretation Essay Draft #3

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Oliver Robinson Dr. Reiman English 1101x September 23rd 2009 Interpretation of Anyon

Jean Anyon’s essay “Hidden curriculum of work” is an in depth look into five elementary schools that are in different social classes. Anyon believes that by observing the students and teachers at each of these schools she will be able to see a difference in the curriculum and teaching styles. Anyon is searching for an answer as to why our society has different classes and how people are placed in them. As the essay progresses Anyon’s observations seem to be only scratching the surface of the social class debate. I believe Anyon is not fully investigating these schools and does not follow the children long enough. Anyon’s essay is lacking follow through and has become almost an irrelevant essay due to the time period in which it was written. As Anyon comments on each school, starting with the working class, she uses quotes from the teachers to show how each class of school is different to one another. From reading the quotes I realized that Anyon wanted the reader to agree with the idea that the teachers got better as the schools went higher up the social class ladder. In reference to one of the lower class schools Anyon comments “Their questions are tolerated and

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usually answered perfunctorily.” (237). I believe in this sentence Anyon is being too harsh on the teacher’s response she is referring to the middle class school teacher’s ability to interact with her students. This is merely an opinion of a teacher’s response. Anyon is creating these statements so that, from a reader point of view, it seems the higher the social class the better the teachers. There is no evidence to prove this, and even before the essay Anyon describes each teacher as one of the best and having taught for no less than four years. Another example of this is an aside quote to one of the observers regarding the lesson she was teaching “Simple punctuation is all they’ll ever use” (233). This is just one teachers opinion on the students, but Anyon quotes it as though it is an unchangeable truth. There is no way of determining what fifth graders will only ever use. After thinking about the essay and the time it was written I came to the conclusion that although many of the topics Anyon discussed could still be relevant, the essay itself is quite out of date. Today, schools across the United States strive to be equal and have students enrolled from almost every social bracket. Because of this there is no longer the idea of schools being just for one social class. From my own experiences of being in Public schools both in America and England, Social class never gets mentioned. This may be due to the date in which this study was conducted; the 70’s may have been a time where social class was more of an open issue. In England uniforms create an environment that eliminates the competition of class based on clothes. In the states class is not a factor in teaching. All teachers

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must be certified up to a certain point and must give each student and equal opportunity to the curriculum. Anyon’s findings, that the schools observed taught only what the students needed to know to stay in their social bracket is a good point but Anyon never followed through and backed up this point. Anyon could have compared the schooling of the students with that of their parents to see if there were any similarities. These similarities could include what job they have, where they live and how their children are doing in school and how class is affecting them. Anyon could have also returned to the students to do a follow up observation. There was a lack of closure of this essay. The Hidden curriculum was certainly found and shown, but whether or not this curriculum stood for anything is yet to be seen. Finally Jean Anyon’s essay merely scratched the surface of social class affecting students. The whole essay felt as if it was an overview of just the schools and practices. I would have like to see more in depth studies into the schools around the country instead of just one state. A quote from Anyon confirms that even she thought the study should have been larger “However, the examples of school work which follow will suggest characteristics of education in each social setting that appear to have theoretical and social significance and to be worth investigation in a larger number of schools.”(231). Also, Anyon could have used other studies done on schools and related them to her observation. In conclusion Anyon’s essay was an interesting look into how our society creates social class and aims to keep people in those classes.

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Works Cited Jean Anyon