By Tran Thu Huyen Van
Our Education Is More Than Just Words on Papers
Have you ever wondered why you feel the need to go to class early, turn in your assignments on time, and participate in classroom activities for some extra credit? If the answer is yes, then you have definitely been experiencing the so-called social influence named “hidden curriculum”.
In addition to the formal courses composed of academic knowledge which students are expected to acquire, such as mathematics, economics, history and languages; the hidden curriculum involves a set of values, conventions, attitudes or principles that are implicitly imparted through educational institutions.
Sometimes students may feel that the hidden curriculum, either inadvertently or intentionally, reinforces social control, and maintains the status quo of cultural dominance.
A Formula For a Straight-A Student
Questions concerning why some students perform better than their classmates academically have posed a constant challenge for educational sociologists. Scholars have attempted to draw a relationship between a pupil’s social background and individual psychology to determine a pupil's attainment (the academic result of a student after enrolling in a course, usually recorded as scores, grades or levels) and have come up with the following findings:
With its latent function of manipulating pupils, the hidden curriculum is an integral part of the school's social system.
There are diverse subcultures that adhere to and differ from school values.
Segregation into hierarchic mechanisms by stereotyping and labelling of individuals through social interaction.
Asymmetric distribution of power from adults sometimes promotes pupil resistance and is influenced by the way pupils accept school values. (e.g. teachers set the bar too high regarding student evaluations or apply awards/punishments method to regulate students’ behaviours)
Pupil attainment, therefore, emerges as the result of not only the intelligence or innate ability of pupils but also complicated social procedure in the school. It is worth considering that not all students share an equal education before university admission since students endowed with financial and professional family backgrounds tend to surpass those with less affluent upbringings.
“Family background and personal psychology play an important factor in academic achievement. Family background is the nurture and social element in a human's course of development. Family is the first everyone’s educational hub. Whether a child has access to good education or is more apt on a certain subject, depends on how well the family is financially, how emotionally mature they are, as well as the preposition to a certain subject, e.g. art or sports. Personal characteristics somewhat affect the outcomes of certain students. For example, a stubborn person might be too conservative in their view to absorb new points of view.”
-Le Thi Van Anh, APS, 3rd-year student
Therefore, maintaining a status quo of high-intellect performance may evoke adverse psychological reactions in the less-able students such as low self-esteem, peer pressure, and social avoidance. This phenomenon is the idea that cultural production pays most attention to by describing the function of the educational system as to reproduce the culture of the dominant classes to reinforce their continuous supremacy.
Complying with the Requirements
Pedagogy is the art of teaching. Different educational philosophies have advanced various practices and assumptions about learning, teaching style, curricula, and the intellectual status of the child. In the study of symbolic interaction, scholars have highlighted self-society relationships as a process of communication among social actors. If the teachers insist that submitting assignments on time, attending lectures frequently, contributing to class discussion, listening attentively, and raising questions will guarantee good grades and extra credits, then the students are inclined to adhere to the regulations and adjust their behaviour. Achievement motivation is one of the classic examples to elaborate on one's compliance with a professor's requirements. This motivation largely determines one's effort and persistence in achieving a set standard of excellence or one in comparison with competitors, and the level of ambition associated with that standard or competition.
Our World Is Abound With Layers Of Rules
Formal regulations enacted in APU may inevitably convey a variety of intentional and unintentional messages to students. The policy stating that all Japanese-based students are required to obtain a certain number of credits from English classes will enable those domestic students to earn a double degree on the day of their graduation. In terms of English-based students, the principle holds valid in an optional manner so international students can either choose to take Japanese-based courses or not. Since most of the English-based students are not quite confident in their Japanese proficiency due to difficulties in language barriers, they have no choice but to accept the considered less prestigious degree compared to Japanese-based students.
“I doubt the meaning of the certificate that “the student is capable of taking classes in both languages”. Since there are a lot of Japanese students who just look for easy classes just to get a pass, does it really mean that she or he is capable of Japanese and English? Thus, the double-degree system seems to have loopholes.”
-Yejin Sophia Kim, APS, 3rd-year student
“As companies are expanding businesses globally, you need to be able to communicate in world common language just like people from other countries. English-based students already have the knowledge and can communicate with others which is why I think it’s optional for English based. However, Japanese students lack empirical language application, so I think it’s a good idea to teach them English for their own future good and to expand their opportunities such as studying abroad, continuing studies to graduate school outside of Japan, or even working globally.”
-Kohei Sato, APM, 1st-year student
The hidden curriculum also exists in the form of APU's course registration system. According to the rules, students’ GPAs can determine the allotted time for taking desirable subjects. Students with 1st priority often have no difficulty in making their course schedule while the 2nd and 3rd-priority students usually end up with little or no stimulating and easy courses- which were all occupied by the top students- to improve their academic grades. Students who seem content with the system defend their argument by saying that people are responsible for their performance in school, and the course registration system is a relatively fair reflection of an individual's competency.
However, it is important to carefully examine other external factors affecting the students' outcomes instead of focusing solely on one's internal capabilities. For example, some students are prone to mental breakdown due to the workload from school and extracurricular activities, or lack of cultural capital- a measurement that determines individual success based on the extent they have access to the dominant culture, or having a hard time adjusting themselves to the unfamiliar environment. Contemplating on the extraneous causes provides us with a different dimension to approach the inequality resulting from APU's hierarchic structure. If changing the system is beyond the students' ability, the only solution right now is to exert more effort in improving one's own academic performance through appropriate adjustment in time management, class engagement, or seeking assistance.
What Will be Your Response?
Students, despite them being aware or not, are indubitably under the influence of the hidden curriculum which manipulates their behaviour in the classroom. Classroom knowledge formulates stereotyped standards to evaluate a student’s competencies and those who fail to meet the requirements tend to follow a downward spiral of self-destruction. Pedagogical practices affect students by generating achievement motivation to reinforce the definition of a straight-A student, and those who do not follow the instructions are labelled as deviant and inferior. Institution rules promulgate the proliferation of dominant culture through a hierarchical system based on personal results and prestigious degree credentials. In face of such an inevitable phenomenon, some people may choose to accept their fates or modify their behaviours to fulfil the expected responsibility or join forces to change the oppressive structure. A utopia where human beings are liberated from conventional constraints may seem unfeasible.
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