Power, Politics, and Schooling

  1: The hidden curriculum is a set of openly secret behaviors performed by certain demographics or subcultures. While these are not hard rules that are actually enforced, they are deeply ingrained behaviors that are expected from people that regularly attend those spaces or are a part of those groups. The hidden ciriculum can be expressed in what is taught, the structure of a school day, appropriate behaviors within a classroom and almost anything that is not expressed directly through the system. 2: In writing classes for certain colleges there may be an expectation to speak in a certain way that is considered “proper English”.  Certain history classes may teach American history through a white colonial lens, while not incorporating different perspectives in a significant way. Students with disabilities are segregated from the rest of the school.  3: Students that are aware or already adept at navigating the hidden curriculum are much more likely to succeed in their stu...

Ever since I was a young child my parents always supported my fervent obsession with learning. I was deeply curious about the world around me. In middle school, my parents got me this series of books called ‘Horrible Histories’. They were children’s books that had a focus on violent and strange lives of peoples from civilizations of the past. The books were strewn with some pretty graphic cartoon violence and a toy be in cheek writing style. I was obsessed with them. All throughout middle school my appetite for reading increased rapidly. With all the extracurricular reading, I felt like I could express my thoughts more clearly.  At school anything that was English or social studies related was for me, while anything regarding math was extremely difficult. Most of the time school was a slog to push through. Barring the periods where I got to goof around with my friends everything teetered from being tedious boredom to frustration. My inspiration at this time was my social studies te...