Great Educator

Social influences are in fact the great educators of our current generation of students who imitate everything they see on television; from their style of dress to the way they behave one must realize that that school is indeed only a secondary agency that is desperately fighting to keep the children of America abreast with the rest of the world.  The educational problems and possibilities that are presented to teachers by cultural contexts such as media, family, and neighborhoods is basically influence. With more and more parents working longer hours, some taking a back seat to their children’s education in favor of settling their financial situations, most children are not reinforced about the importance of education. It is also generational, some of the parents today are young parents who may have not finished their education and may have valid reasons to not trust the educational system in America, so what happens is that these parents instruct their children on how to not trust the system as well and the cycle of not wanting to learn is then established. With a child’s neighborhood, it can be difficult; depending on the area to get some children out of a life of negativity if that is all they have seen growing up. It is easy for a person in a better standing to give advice and tell children in a  not so good situation that it is ok to want to learn and move up, but if they hear from people in their own environment that it is not then they will tend to listen to the people they can best relate to  rather than someone considered and outsider. With the media, the real war is getting them to help with the problems of education rather than trying to make money off of the young masses, it has become so economically driven that the media will show more advertisements and ridiculous shows telling you had to think and act, that the children of America do not stand a chance of making proper choices if all they have to go on is the media. Media could have so much more purpose in getting out more educational shows and showing children that it is ok to want to learn and be smart. We see on the kids shows that try to say they are kid friendly how they make fun of the smart kid while showing the student who is considered not as smart getting all of the perks of having a lacking education.

A difference that teachers can and should make for their learners if schools are deemed secondary to the wider society in regards to influence is to become a better voice, teachers too have somewhat throw in the towel when trying to deal with a more challenging individual in their class due to lack of support and funding to get the services that child may need.  I do not want to sound like I am against teachers, they do a fine job of helping the majority of children succeed as best they can in the world they currently live and function in, but there needs to be a bigger voice from this group of people and the voice should not go through a type of retaliation from their district if they say something that may not align with that districts steps in helping children. And we cannot blame just poor neighborhoods for the problem, most affluent and middle class neighborhoods are to blame for the fact that they want to exclude the poor students from receiving a good education as well, we need to find solutions together because this is an all-around problem not isolation to some parts of the country.

Blog 4: Hidden curriculum and the role of schools in cultural hegemony

Before one delves into the relationship between the meaning of hidden curriculum and the role of schools in cultural hegemony, one must understand what they mean first. For defining cultural hegemony, it simply states that a certain class of people believing the theory that a society that is considered diverse can be ruled by a dominating social class who is not above using tricks and maneuvers the achieve the level of rule they want for their type of inner circle.  When defining hidden curriculum, it basically is the teaching of lessons that are not out in the open but more implied and learned from perceptions and actions not forwardly outlined. Now in understanding what each of these statements mean the relationship between the two can be seen by anyone. Basically a certain group may feel superior or above others and without trying to come out and saying it, they instead imply and make hidden or secret steps in the direction of advancing their own class of people. Cultural hegemony does cause surprising effects on the inter-workings and what happens in public school classrooms. Some teachers are even performing this act without even knowing it sometimes. From having advanced courses to remedial courses, teachers are putting out the perception that smarter kids get better course  and chances to achieve while the kids label challenged get the minimal when it comes to education. This may not have been the intention, but on some level this is the case. You even get the sense from the teachers who only want to have advance classes over remedial that teaching a certain class of student can place you in a certain social class as well.

Understanding the concepts like cultural pluralism and assimilation can help to impact how we think about education and marginalized groups within it in contemporary society, by simply allowing these types of groups need to exist in order to help build acceptance of unique cultural identities that can in fact assimilate into our already large blended culture without being an elitist culture. In regards to applying this reasoning to education, you want to have a diverse background in your education, keeping instruction on the thinking of just having an unsaid way of handling choosing what students learn or which people learn what is not the true definition of a unified nation.  I can see from debates about education for its own sake versus education for a particular role in society being played out on the political trail and in other sectors. While some will agree the need to somehow govern the who and the way education is being carried out in today’s educational environment, others will debate that it should be for all and made equitable. We can see how some political figures do not want illegal immigrants to have basic education, while some are fighting to have this as a reality. In all honesty there should not even be a concern with having everyone receive education and get the most benefits , it should not be a selective group of individuals who have hidden agendas with education and learning, that is so ridiculous on so many levels, but yet in still we are having discussions on why such occurrences are happening and why the general population seems to either want to ignore the matter or simply leave the system the way it is for fear of making too many waves and cause some type of  upheaval.