"Mobility is the promise that lies at the heart of the American dream" is one of the quotes that stuck out to me. In America, we have the "opportunity" to jump from class to class based on our accomplishments. But what most people fail to take into account is the fact that this "opportunity" is not entirely equal.

Social class has an enormous effect on the education of young Americans. For example, students living in a wealthy area will have the opportunity to attend better schools than students living in a poorer area. Wealthier schools are able to provide students with up-to-date course materials as well as extra resources such as laptops, smartboards, quality teachers and staff, extra curricular programs etc. I believe that some sort of standardized curriculum should be implemented in the United States public school system. Actually providing ALL students with the SAME education would help to bridge the gap between levels of opportunity across socioeconomic groups.

In response to khermes09

I agree to an extent that a person's willingness to work will bring them success. I think this is true for a large group of our population, but there are some people with extraneous circumstances that would prevent them from achieving success. For example, if you compare a person like myself, (middle class family, good parents, good elementary-secondary education, college expenses paid for etc.) to a single mom of lower socioeconomic status who grew up in a poor, rural town and now works full time, has a family to support, has outrageous medical bills because her child has cystic fibrosis, and has no help from extended family for childcare, or financial burdens.. This person works 10 times as hard as me and all of her money goes to the bare necessities of life and her child's medical bills. How on earth would she afford, much less have the time, to attend college? What are her career options without a college degree? My point is, hard work definitely contributes to success, but sometimes, hard work is only enough for some individuals to achieve the bare minimum.

Hi all! If any of you are writing your PROBE paper on the implicit curriculum, here are a few resources I've used! See also: Eisner and Flinders/Thornton course readings.

Apple, M. (1971). The hidden curriculum and the nature of conflict. Interchange, 2(4), 27-40.doi: 10.1007/BF02287080

Apple, M., & King, N. (1977). What do schools teach? Curriculum Inquiry, 6(4), 341-358.doi: 128.227.134.181

Flinders, D., Noddings, N., & Thornton, S. (1986). The null curriculum: Its theoretical basis and practical implications. Curriculum Inquiry, 16(1), 33-42.doi: 0362-6784/86/010033-10$04.00

Jackson, P. (1968). Life in Classrooms. New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.

Wren, D. (1992). School culture: Exploring the hidden curriculum. Adolescence, 34(135), 594-596.

I have learned a lot from this book: things that do not surprise me and things that have shocked me. Every time I pick up this book I convince myself that nothing could be worse than whatever I read about the last time I picked it up. But every time I start a new chapter I read about more events in our country's history that shock me. Lies My Teacher Told Me shows readers what America, the universal "good guy," is capable of, and what the American government and school system hides from its students--things such as the torture and violation of human rights of innocents as described in the above nbc article.