Hidden Rules

Hidden rules are the unspoken rules of a class.  Much like racial and ethnic groups have their own recognized appropriate behaviors and knowledge base; economic groups have rules of acceptance that are expected to be understood as well.  If a person from poverty is surrounded by people from the middle class, it is likely she will feel very uncomfortable and be unaccepted by the people around her.  An educator, by sharing these hidden rules in her classroom, can provide a knowledge base for children to utilize at school and at appropriate times in their lives.  She may be providing her children from poverty with an opportunity they would not otherwise have.  An educator may be the child's only link to the middle class hidden rules and the opportunities available fro them there.  For example, if a teacher promotes manners and appropriate language skills, a child from poverty may learn communication necessary to interview for a job or college entrance.  A child from poverty may not use these skills at home or in the 'street", but if they are practiced at school, he may be able to transfer them to appropriate situations.  Also, if a teacher emphasizes the value of education and discusses the opportunities it can provide, then a student from poverty may learn to value education in a way that he never would have otherwise.  The teacher may be his key to an easier adult life, further education, or opportunities that may never have been acknowledged.  Educators need to try to remember that children from poverty do not know these hidden rules and they are not purposely defying them when they do not do things that are normally expected from children in the middle class.  If educators can see this as an extra opportunity to teach "life skills", then they will reach many more students in their classroom and possibly save the lives of some children from poverty by teaching them skills they couldn't learn elsewhere.