The Hidden Curriculum and the Correspondence Principles - Education Essay Sample

According to the theorists, the key way of maintaining an elite class system through promotion of the hidden curriculum in the education system. The hidden curriculum is the standards of suitable behaviors for the culture or the society that are taught inside the school system. However its not part of the enunciated curricula for the schools, but it is taught imperceptibly through the reinforcement of altitude and the behavior deemed appropriate by the culture and the society. The teachers need to uphold discipline in the classrooms in order to get the articulated concepts contained in the curriculum across the students and at the same time, the educational systems are extremely bureaucratic in nature.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

There are increasing levels of education with the increased numbers of individuals in the U.S, earning diplomas college degrees and professional or advanced degrees. From a functionalist perspective, this should be a desirable situation that is of benefit to both the society and the individual yet the conflict theorists on the other hand have a cynical perspective on the same. The conflict theory explains the fact that education confers status on the individual thus helping in perpetuating the social stratification. Additionally, the conflict theorists also believe that the education system typically denies the disadvantaged students equal chances with their counterparts in terms of education and resultant job opportunities. The stratification of the society is well-preserved in succeeding generations when this happens.

From the conflict theoreticians point of view, social stratification is supported and reinforced by the learning systems through tracking. This is the educational exercise of placing the scholars in different prospectus groups on the basis of the prior performances, aptitude test scores, achievements or other criterions. The student may be placed in the remedial track, gifted track or with the main body of the learners for the same grade or class for example. Characteristically, tracking begins prompt in a kids educational career, regularly when they are placed in the reading groups. The pupils from the influential back ground starts learning earlier compared to their counterparts from the disadvantaged back ground as they can access advanced learning materials such as the computers and video games. Therefore the less advantaged scholars are placed in different learning groups and provided with less sophisticated learning materials while the advantages pupils are segregated on the other groups so that they can assist the group members. Consequently, according to the conflict logicians, tracking serves to perpetuate and reinforce the social class distinction rather than offer equal chances to all the students.

In conclusion, teaches in some cases tend to focus more on the students obedience to the rules rather than on the articulated curriculum. Conversely, these concepts help in the reinforcement of the authoritarian and hierarchal nature of the society. From a functionalist perspective, this should be a desirable situation that is of benefit to both the society and the individual yet the conflict theorists on the other hand have a cynical perspective on the same. Characteristically, tracking begins prompt in a kids educational career, regularly when they are placed in the reading groups. The pupils from the influential back ground starts learning earlier compared to their counterparts from the disadvantaged back ground as they can access advanced learning materials such as the computers and video games.