Eisner Three Curriculum Response:

Surprised by the total hours and weeks in school. This also interests me that during that time, what and how much skill and knowledge our students could master. In a third-grade classroom within a rich US suburb, the school uses the list to encourage students to read more books and also uses the “leave 5 mins earlier for lunch” as a prize to promote them to study. This system rule is pretty familiar to the Eastern education system, and I have never imagined that the reward system also happens in the US. However, I agree with the point in the book, this kind of reward system may activate them at that moment, but what if the rewards are no longer provided, which will make them lose the inquiry and expectation to achieve further goals after. In this book, it is indicated that “the compliant behaviour” was fostered by the school, but I do not think so. Students can still choose their favourite subjects to learn and could choose whether to do the homework or not, with a valid reason.

On the other hand, I think the students at school have their own choices for participating in different subjects. But for finding out the reason why the “Ivy League” is so attractive to “middle-class” students, I do agree that faculty and library resources are some of these reasons. Additionally, the networking among alumni is also one of the significant reasons here. But here comes to my mind one question, why does it specify with “middle-class” students? Aren’t these “Ivy League” universities attracting other students as well? I have thought about there being a kind of curriculum called null, but never thought what it looks like. It said there are intellectual processes and subject matter, but it is quite different from what I imagined before. It seems that the null curriculum is about the brain working and the connection between different subjects, which I thought should belong to the implicit curriculum.