The Implicit Curriculum

In the first Chapter, Gatto delves deep into an often mind-numbing retelling of the history of compulsory schooling in America. An original goal, he states, is to control human behavior. The titans of the industrial age needed passive workers. Reading this brought to mind a text I read while studying for my master's degree. This author, Eliot Eisner (Stanford University) uses a more positive connotation: Compliant behavior. He then asks if this is necessarily a bad thing.

The implicit, or "hidden," curriculum is the stuff we teach indirectly. We don't necessarily mean to, but we do. School is "preparation for work," in that students will learn to be punctual, delay gratification by having to "wait your turn," and to organize and manage tasks and time. We also teach what we value, and the state mandates that we value certain subjects more than others. It may be necessary to place math and reading at the top of our priority list, but this usually results in social studies, science, health, and P.E. being relegated to a second tier - somehow not as worthy. The "important" subject get the best time slots - in the morning when everybody is fresh and energetic. But what happens to the arts and music? Well... the are offered last, sporadically, or not at all. This implicit lesson teaches that some subjects have more 'value' than others. The proportion of time allocated is relative to its importance.

The "real" work of schooling takes precedence over "play." REAL work demands attention and thinking. The arts are a 'reward,' a 'break' from thinking. It is a mixed-bag blessing... isn't it?

Learning to be respectful and courteous are good things, in my opinion. The issue that Gatto seems to have with the "compliance" part is that too much of this leads to a separation from oneself - passivity that gradually turns over the power to think and control one's own destiny to someone else. Why should I think if other people will do it for me?

I dislike rigid authority because it is dehumanizing. There is a fine line between the compliance that encourages respect for the space and needs of others and the giving over of one's "self" to authority that may or may not rule in righteousness or stem from good purposes. There are times to make decisions and times to listen to the decisions (and reasoning) of others.

I write this while exhausted and must pause for more consideration and perusal.

:-)K