Eisner's Theory for Religious Education in a Church School

Eisner's Theory for Religious Education in a Church School

Three curricula that all schools teach

According to Eisner, schools can only teach what they intend to teach. They can neither teach more than that nor less than that. Schools teach majorly two types of content. This includes content which is public and content which is not so public. The former is known as explicit while the latter is called implicit. All schools provide three curricula to students through their five curriculum orientations.

Eisner suggests that school life is one of the most beautiful periods of one's life. This is so because a major proportion of one's innocent and most cherished childhood is spent at school. The explicit goal of a school if to teach children how to read and write how to interpret given information, history, culture as well as religions (Cully, 1984). It also tells students of science, language and art. All this comprises the explicit goal of school education because this is public knowledge and this is what anyone would expect from a school. Other explicit goals relate to the expected conduct of teachers, how they should prepare their lecture and how they should assist students.

In addition, all schools also have some implicit objectives to be achieved as part of their education. This includes the values that are embedded in the minds of children. Children learn a lot from the environment and culture at school (Ryan & Brennan, 1996). They leant to socialize, they make value and practice norms. The content of what children learn at school in part is related to the expected conduct of children in class and what children expect of their tutors in return. For instance, in terms of the stories that are related to children in class, the children learn a lot. They learn important relationships and they learn their expected conduct in relationships.

In addition, the teacher student relationship introduces the children to the concept of initiative. They learn that if they raise their hand first to answer a question, they will be able to get the attention of their instructor. However, this attention would have to be shared with other people (Marsh & Willis, 1995). However, over time, the same behavior which of taking initiatives which must be encouraged in children is then replaced with compliance through a proper mechanism in school. This mechanism is the mechanism of reward. When a student complies with what is asked of him without reasoning, he is rewarded so that the behavior of submissiveness and control is reinforced in the child. Children who are naïve and innocent and all eager to learn then transform into beings that fail to question anything that is proposed to them. They just listen to everything and their natural inquisitive sense is lost somewhere in the process.

The third curriculum that is taught in all the schools is the null curriculum. This is the curriculum that does not ...