Discuss the conflict perspective on education and distinguish how the hidden curriculum is influenced by social class and results in gender bias
What will be an ideal response?
According to conflict theorists, the hidden curriculum is the transmission of cultural values and attitudes, such as conformity and obedience to authority, through implied demands found in the rules, routines, and regulations of schools. Although students from all social classes are subjected to the hidden curriculum, working-class and poverty-level students may be affected the most adversely. For example, one study of five elementary schools in different communities found significant differences in how knowledge was transmitted to students even though the general curriculum of the school was organized similarly.
Through the hidden curriculum, schools make working-class and poverty-level students aware that they will be expected to take orders from others, arrive at work punctually, follow bureaucratic rules, and experience high levels of boredom without complaining. Educational credentials are extremely important in societies that emphasize credentialism—a process of social selection in which class advantage and social status are linked to the possession of academic qualifications. Credentialism is closely related to meritocracy, a social system in which status is assumed to be acquired through individual ability and effort. According to conflict theorists, gender bias is embedded in both the formal and hidden curricula of schools. Though most girls and young women in the United States have a greater opportunity for education than those living in developing nations, their educational opportunities are not equal to those of boys and young men in their social class. Over time, this kind of differential treatment has undermined females' self-esteem and discouraged them from taking certain courses in school, such as math and science, which were usually dominated by male teachers and students.
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