Peter McLaren's "Critical Pedagogy: A Look at the Major Concepts"

I find myself struggling with what to write about Peter McLaren’s article “Critical Pedagogy: A Look at the Major Concepts” on a Sunday evening before our Monday night class discussion.  I have to admit I found this article a little more difficult to get into than the others preceding it because I found it rather dull and technical towards the beginning.  I found the section on the different kinds of knowledge to be interesting but other than that I’m not sure what else to say about that.  I’m hoping that our class discussion will help me better to describe my feelings and understanding about the different types of knowledge discussed about the different forms of knowledge.

So, knowing that I needed to find something that I needed to write on and contribute to our discussion on Monday, I revisited the section on page 75 about the “Hidden Curriculum.”  I just love the way that sounds!  It makes me think that all schools and teachers have some hidden away secret that the students aren’t allow to know, in yet every student in every school knows what the hidden curriculum is.  McLaren gives us a very clear definition of what a typical hidden curriculum is; the non- subject rules and expectations of each individual school that is put in place by the administration.

I’m not sure how I feel about McLaren’s discussion on the report from Psychology Today.  I find it quite absurd that teachers would give more attention and praise to male students compared to that of female students.  It goes on to explain how boys are more than likely able to call out answers without raising their hands and are not reprimanded but when girls exhibit the same behavior they are punished.  I think that a teacher with a good management system would treat their students who misbehave would and do reprimand them equally.  Then there was the comment about how boys are more academically aggressive in the classroom but girls are expected to be quite and submissive, which as a female myself I find this to be just stupid.

I would like to address the sexism section and its function within the hidden curriculum, but I need to remember that I will be post this on my blog for the entire world to see.  I think it would drive me insane if I were a student in which the bulleted lists talk about.  I like how towards the end of this section there is a disclaimer stating, “Of course, most teachers try hard not to be sexist.”  All I can say is that I certainly hope this is true.