Jean Anyon Social Class Analysis

What does social class mean? Social class means a division of a society based on social and economic status. Now, what does hidden curriculum mean? Hidden Curriculum means a side effect of education, such as norms, values and beliefs in the classroom. Accordingly, Jean Anyon’s, author of “Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work” claims that each and every social class has it’s own very different way of teaching in schools. Anyon states a plethora of strengths and weaknesses in this article. She believes that all children have been taught to learn, comprehend, and behavior in plenty of different ways due to the social class’s they have been thrown into. Anyon examined each social class which have been named The Working Class, The Middle Class, The Affluent Professional Class, and lastly The Executive Elite Class. An educational perspective came well from her work view point and based off it - I have thrown in my own opinion by agreeing with her during this essay.

Jean Anyon’s article, “Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work” (1980) has been powerful guide for me in thinking about differentiated instruction, especially when considering the instruction of variance learners in the classroom. Her important contribution notes that the way in which urbane students are typically instructed is through rote memorization by a strict and dominating teacher. While this style might work to get worksheets completed or to get students to behave properly, it does nothing to foster a natural growth of their selves into learning – thinking individually. This does little to foster high-level thinking or intrinsic motivation toward learning. As a current educator in South Los Angeles – Global Education Academy

In “Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work” Jean Anyon theorizes about the role education plays in society. Anyon’s central thesis is that public schools in complex societies like our own make available different types of education experience and curriculum knowledge to students in different social classes. Jean Anyon performs a study on different elementary schools’ where the children come from different backgrounds, the parents had different incomes, occupations, and other relevant social characteristics. The method’s Anyon used to prove her point was gathering data in classroom observations, interviewing students, teachers, principals, and district administrative staff; and assessment of curriculum and other materials in each classroom and school. After careful analysis of Anyon’s model and my personal experiences in Windham High School I can confirm that I attend a school Anyon would identify as the working class. Anyon’s model about the working class is valid. For example on the demographics, Windham High School classifys’ as working class society and most families make less than $12,000 and face financial struggles. Anyon characterizes the working class as 85% white however the majority of the working class in my community are composed of Puerto Rican, Asian or African American groups.

Children who grow up in a poor area go to school where there are 50 kids in one class and individual attention is never given, and children of high class families will go to schools that have smaller class sizes and individual attention. Even when a poor child goes to a better schoolteachers will question if the work done is their own and also only expect hard work from the rich kids. “if you are a child of low income parents, the chances are good that you will receive limited and often careless attention from adults in your high school.” Theodore Sizer “Horace’s Compromise,” “If you are the child of upper-middle income parents, the chances are good that you will receive substantial and careful attention.” (203) These quotes from another author showcase that school in America is often times based on the social standing of the parents.

The article “Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work” by Jean Anyon is about research conducted in five different schools of four different social classes; the Working Class, the Middle Class, the Professional Class, and the Executive Class. In the data collected, Anyon discovered the various ways that these five schools teach the children. First, the two Working Class Schools taught the children really poorly, often telling the children to follow steps to get the right answer, and always yelling at them when they’re out of line. The Middle Class School teaches the kids a little better, by making the children actually work to get the right answer. The Professional School sought to get the children to be more creative with their work. And finally, the Executive Class school will tell the children that they are fully responsible for their work, and they will not keep up with children if they miss assignments.

All this information goes more to proving that the real problem is that the lower classes are more often stuck with teachers that are not motivated enough to teach students the complete curriculum because they don’t believe the children will amount to anything more than their parents.The lack of motivation could be caused by their low pay, crowded schools or maybe the location affects the students and teachers to a point that eventually no one cares and this compounds over the years.

Social class is based on the relationship one has to the elements of society, and as children in the American education system grow and develop, it is a plausible query that these education systems might be the starting point to where social class based relationships such as people, ownership, and productive activity are fostered. In social activist and American professor Jean Anyon’s essay “Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work”, the relation to social class and the established cycle of education systems is the main topic that Anyon aims to dissect and argue. Through extensive observation research, Anyon studies the behavior and curriculum taught at working-class, middle-class, affluent professional, and executive elite schools

concept in mind, teachers and faculty members should not let social class control their action towards

This country’s education system was built on the back of meritocracy and was created to function as an objective measure of a child’s performance and their intelligence. It was the gateway to the American Dream, and provided everyone with an equal chance of success in America. It was a place of not only intellectual, but also personal growth. In her essay “From Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work,” Anyon argues that this is no longer the case. Anyon’s study concludes that from the fifth grade, students in poorer communities are groomed to succeed in low-class, blue collar jobs, while children in wealthy communities are prepared for more desirable careers. Anyon analyzes four different types of schools that all varied based on

If I were to look at the corresponding education level to the parents of the working class, the quality would be not as good as the rest of the schools. For examples, the learning style is more geared towards mechanical with little decision making and choice. The students don’t have a lot of chances to express themselves. Children would usually have to figure out the homework instructions by themselves after the assignment was given. In the working class schools, books weren’t accessible. Typically, teachers would write on the white or chalk board. Having access to books can make homework seem more understanding and easier to refer back to a concept or problem. Another great example given by Anyon describing the working class schools is how the classes are operated. In a math class, when two digit division was first shown, the teacher would give a one minute lecture on how to solve the expression. (Pp140-141) The best ways to learn is by going through step by step process out loud and explain to the teacher how you came up with the answer.

I think Montsios’ point that, “Class standing has a significant impact on the chance for educational achievement” (Monsios 193). I think this statement is very true, because it is very apparent that there is a huge education gap in the United States due to income. People of higher incomes can have the luxury of sending their kids to better schools, private or public, and have the ability to give them a college education without having to worry about the financial costs, while people of lower classes cannot have this luxury. This is absolutely ridiculous, because this country was founded on the idea of equality, and having an equal and free country to pursue opportunity. Just like the educational side of this, people also struggle with in the sense of survival and

     As a conservative, I still feel that the social class of the individual greatly affects the political ideology that they have chosen. I have analyzed, that the education of the individual has a great deal of affect on the political party of their choice. Most liberals are only against conservatives due to medias bad review of conservatives. The media can affect our lives tremendously if we believe what they have to say. Education is the key to determining the political party or political ideology of our choice; therefore education is one of the leading issues many Americans feel strongly about today. As I stated in my last paper, schooling is very important to the success of our country. Although there are people that will argue that school should not be mandatory if the family must send there children to work to provide

This essay will be discussing the extent to which social class and poverty affects health and illness. Firstly, what is social class? Each person’s perception of social class can be different; is social class defined by a person’s accent, the area they live in, or something as simple as their income? Project Britain describes social class as “The grouping of people by occupations and lifestyle”. (Cress, 2014). To find social class Sociologists group people according to common factors, they compare people and various criteria can be conveniently used to place people in social groups or classes. Next we ask the question what determines a person’s health, the NHS defines health as “Physical and mental, it is the absence of disease”. (NHS 2017).

When trying to establish ones self in society we are typically concerned with what kind of social class or rank we fall into. In society, people attempt to define themselves according to specific social class by what kind of things they own or how they may act. The theory of conspicuous consumption coined by the Norwegian-American economist and sociologist Thorstein Veblen can help realize a further understanding in social classes and how they influence people. In essence, the overall goal of conspicuous consumption is to demonstrate superiority over some other group of people or social class. Typically when someone is referred to as a redneck it is not exactly a good thing. When classifying someone under a certain class status we usually consider the things they buy/own, where they live, how they act,

There are two main types of class associated with education. These are working and middle class and both of these are very different and have very different views about education. Part of this may be down to the affluence of the area you come from. Taylor, M (2006) says, “In affluent areas in north London the study would expect 67% of 11 year old to achieve level 5 in nation English test. Children growing in more deprived areas such as Dudley, just 13% are likely to get top level 5 in English.” This puts the north/south divide theory into action, however it also shows that social class does take an effect on the children’s attitude to learning.