Every day, the rules in standards for schools are being revised and changed. The people that make these decisions purposely choose what to include and exclude from the curriculum, but at what cost. This results in students lacking critical information about history and even potential misinformation.
During this week, I learned what explicit, null, and hidden curriculums are. Explicit is the obvious one, the content that is chosen to be taught, while null is the opposite; the information that is purposely left out of curriculum. The gap between the explicit and null leaves us with the hidden curriculum. These are the unintentional lessons students learn by reading inbetween the lines; why we aren’t taught “this” and why we are only taught “this”.
Not only is the curriculum being unfairly chosen, but there is also curriculum violence. “Curriculum violence occurs when educators and curriculum writers have constructed a set of lessons that damage or otherwise adversely affect students intellectually and emotionally” (1). Stephanie Jones, a Black female, said one of her teachers would teach lessons that had racist meanings to them. To me, between the explicit/null and the violence, it looks like teachers and school board officials handpick material that represent America as a powerful, rich, White nation. They leave out history or degrade anyone and anything that is in controversy with conservative American standards.
This dilemma among what is being taught and how it’s being taught is a huge problem in America today. As future or current educators, we must make sure to teach the truth (within academic guidelines) while also teaching it correctly.
(1). https://www.learningforjustice.org/magazine/spring-2020/ending-curriculum-violence
Link to venn diagram: www.classtools.net/Venn/202211-NullCurriculumHiddencurriculumExplicitcurriculumL9fgMA
Hi Mallory! Excellent job on your blog post this week, I entirely agree. More and more students are not only facing curriculum violence but biased teaching in their classes. Concepts and ideas are construed to suit the single minded rather than facing the harsh reality that is our past and present society. This ultimately results in unequal education for children by creating such an unjust society where not every child is provided fair and unbiased education. At the end of your blog you mention, “as teachers we must make sure to teach the truth… while also teaching it correctly.” This is a fine line that all educators face, so what do you think are the best courses of action to achieve a more unprejudiced and widespread education for children? Does it involve bringing attention to faculty members or parents? What if creating awareness like this will result in people getting offended by the messages you are trying to get across?
ReplyDeleteThere are ways to put out a common message without offending others, but I haven’t thought of how. In the future, I want my students parents and other educators to know where I stand on these topics, whether they agree or not. I stand by my opinions.
DeleteHey there Mallory! I really enjoyed your blog posting this week. Biased teaching is such a huge problem in today's world, making culturally sensitive environments and curricula more necessary than ever. How do you plan on creating such a truth-based curriculum while maintaining within school guidelines? That is always the biggest roadblock I am stopped by when assessing this situation. Every school is different and the boundaries on "appropriate" classroom discussion vary because of it. Do you have any plans for tackling this situation ahead of time? I appreciate your stance on this topic and believe you will pave the road for change wherever you are teaching!
ReplyDeleteI want to make sure all boundaries are clear in my classroom. Everyone needs to know what is okay to say and what is unacceptable. Although I plan on teaching young students and this may be harder for them to understand, I still want to put these morals in their heads so they know for the future.
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