LEARNING WHAT THEY LIVE: the hidden curriculum

Years ago John Dewey tellingly observed that children "learn what they live." Teachers can gabble on and on about democracy, for instance. But if they run a despotic classroom, the kids learn to adjust to despotism. Possibly they even learn to need big brother. Dewey was precisely right. Children learn what they live. 

 

It's hard to overemphasize the importance of this "hidden curriculum." It is powerful yet often overlooked. Lessons unintentionally taught in this way can last a lifetime. For instance, the person who taught me the most about tyranny and abuse of power was my fourth grade teacher, Miss Weast . (Behind her back kids called her: "Miss Weast, the big fat beast.") Feared by all, this angry woman extorted compliance by means of threats and violence. A ruler across the knuckles of an out-stretched hand, for example. 

Eventually, she went too far. As punishment she held a youngster against a hot steam radiator. His relatively minor burns did not get her fired, as you might expect. She was quickly transferred to another school. But not before she had unintentionally taught me about the abuse of power. I learned this lesson many years ago. But it remains vivid.

Here's another example. This one concerning some Catholic parish schools of the 1950's. In that era, a number of overworked and under appreciated nuns bullied, slapped and otherwise mistreated the children. The little girl next door to me, even though she was never touched herself, developed severe school phobia in consequence. I'm not sure what these nuns thought they were doing. Making 'better' Catholics, perhaps. But they certainly weren't making better Christians. The kids actually learned that the sermonizing about love, mercy and forgiveness, was all talk. Plus they learned that it's not what people say, but what they do that counts. Valuable lessons, to be sure. But NOT part of the official curriculum.

Here's a final instance involving an entirely different circumstance than that which prevailed in Miss Weast's, classroom. I occasionally visited inner city schools that were chaotic. The turmoil was so bad it made learning impossible and safety doubtful. Those in charge evidently lacked the power and/or will to impose meaningful consequences for even the grossest misbehavior. As a result the bullies ran wild.

What did youngsters learn while enduring this chaos? That bullies rule? That might makes right? That there is no point in even trying to learn? Take your pick. Certainly, not much else.  Do children learn what they live? Count on it.  

To examine these and similar issues further, see articles at www.newfoundations.com