Culture in the Curriculum

I hate the thoughts of “social control” in the school system, but I suppose it deserves a harder look. While reading through the web links regarding multicultural curriculum, all I could think about was a possible hidden curriculum, but not necessarily an intentional hidden curriculum.

Hirsch mention in his article, “Every classroom follows its own sequence of study.” I understand the point that he is attempting to make; however, I find it a bit unfair to assume that all classrooms operate under their own curriculum. I am a proponent of teacher autonomy when it comes to methods of instruction, but I support the idea of a set of diversity instructional goals, or as Tennessee would likely label them, standards, that would outline specific practices that teachers would follow.

As a child, I can remember learning about famous African-Americans during Black History Month and about Native-Americans around Thanksgiving. That is about it! I can not recall ever discussing any other cultural groups, experiences, holidays, etc.

Remembering my personal educational experience, I have made it a point to allow all of my students to share any portion of their heritage. They teach our class new vocabulary, share recipes, customs, etc. I strongly believe that if we truly want to see the culture gap closed, the process will have to start in schools.