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Unit 10
THE HIDDEN CURRICULUM
SPEAKING
Task 1. Discuss these questions with a partner.
How would you most like to be remembered in higher school?
Is it popular today to be a brilliant student? Why?
How do you understand a term "student subculture"?
STUDY SKILLS
Task 2. There are a lot of rhetorical techniques, which can help you to be successful during your presentations in class. The main ones are listed below. Complete them using the words in the box.
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questions language words threes points sounds opposites |
The seven rules of rhetoric
1. Repeat _______________
I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
2. Repeat _______________
We are the people ... who persuaded others to buy British, not by begging them to do so, but because it was best.
3. Use contrasts and __________________
Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.
4. Group key points in _________________
We must therefore act together as a united people, for national reconciliation, for nation building, for the birth of a new world.
5. Ask rhetorical _____________________
What are our chances of success? It depends on what kind of people we are.
6. Accumulate supporting _________________
We are the people who, amongst other things, invented the computer, the refrigerator, the electric motor, the stethoscope, rayon, the steam turbine, stainless steel, the tank ...
7. Use metaphorical __________________
To lead our country out of the valley of darkness.
READING
Task 3. Read the text about the important consequences of American education. Write down three interesting things you remember. Compare your notes with other students.
THE STUDENT SUBCULTURE
The primary aim of education remains the transmission of culture. Most parents want the schools to teach their children the skills and knowledge they need to get ahead. But cultural transmission involves more than lessons in geography and long division; it also involves instruction in values and attitudes. Students learn these lessons from all aspects of the school situation, not just from their textbooks. In schools, as in other social organizations, people learn special ways of coping with the situation in which they find themselves. This hidden curriculum, unofficially taught and unconsciously absorbed, is one very important consequence of American education that its founders never intended.
As we have already seen, socialization is best accomplished in primary groups. In schools the most influential primary group for students is their fellow students, or peer group. Young people teach each other how the school system works and how to deal with the demands of the formal curriculum. They also pass on much information to each other directly: information about sex, about drugs, and about the latest fads in clothes and music. More important, students learn the attitudes and values of their peer group.
In any group some kinds of behaviour are considered admirable and will be rewarded with praise and social esteem. To find out what kinds of behaviour adolescents admire most, James Coleman investigated the status systems of ten high schools in the Midwest. All the boys were asked, "How would you most like to be remembered in school: as a brilliant student, as a leader in extra-curricular activities, or as most popular?" Although Coleman had expected to find that high schools in different neighborhoods would have different status systems, he discovered that the similarities were much more striking than the minor differences. Nearly every boy replied that he would rather be a star athlete than be considered popular or brilliant. In every school the "leading crowd," or highest status group, had twice as many athletes and many more popular boys than it had brilliant students.
Similarly, the girls, who were generally better students than the boys in every school, did not want to be considered "brilliant students." They had good reason not to want a reputation for brains: the girls named "best students" in each school had fewer friends and were even less likely than the best male students to be members of the leading crowd. In all the schools students admired academic achievement less than other attributes, especially being a star athlete for boys and being "good looking" for girls. To Coleman these results suggested that the values of the adolescent subculture were a deterrent to academic success. The lesson: Don't be too smart!
Another interesting finding was that students who are seen by their schoolmates as "intellectuals" – and who come to think of themselves in that way – were not necessarily the most intelligent. More important than their intellectual ability was their willingness to work hard at a relatively unrewarded activity. Coleman found a basic sociological reason for the students' low opinion of high grades. Unlike the outstanding athlete, whose victories bring glory to the school in interscholastic competitions, the outstanding students' successes are purely personal triumphs usually won at the expense of their classmates. From the sociological perspective it is not surprising that academic accomplishments are undervalued and that star students are often ridiculed as "grinds."