The Fragmented Curriculum

I can still hear my fourth grade teacher telling us to set aside the language-arts notebook because we were about to start with history, one thing had nothing to do with the other, so we had better not mix language and history because, as with castes or social classes, subjects should not be mixed.

Thus, from a very young age, not only did I notice the disconnection between disciplines, but, also, the supposed "superiority" of certain subjects over others.

As students we all knew, even though no one told us (hidden curriculum), that there were core subjects (language, math and science) and others (arts and physical education) that, well, you had to teach them or, even worse, pretend as if you taught them because they were required by the state.

The inferiority of some subjects juxtaposed against the superiority of others was reflected in everything. For the “lesser” subjects there were no exams, no homework, no assignments, no nothing.  It seemed that we didn’t have to learn them, the grades were no problem, either, as everyone got an A⁺.

The teachers who taught these subjects were also the "victims" of these differences, that is to say, a warning from the math teacher was not the same as a warning from the physical education teacher and we all knew it, the principal, the teachers, pupils and parents.

Although, when I studied pedagogy at a university, I was taught that education should be comprehensive (oh, how well it sounded) and that all subjects were equally important, the truth was that, once again, the words did not match the deeds. 

The reality is that education has been replaced by job training and, in this sense, only the subjects that are associated with the generation of money become important, like math and science, while the others are viewed with reluctance, to say the least.

But those of us who are linked to education cannot forget that education should be a training system to build a free, fair and egalitarian society; we cannot forget that true education must bring up wise, kind and fraternal human beings.