Schooling vs. Education, Hidden vs. Overt Curricula

In advanced capitalist countries education prepares children to live in a complex world. Schooling teaches them subordination and the skills they will need for menial jobs. Education is for the children of the rich, schooling for the children of the poor. Malaysian schooling has other “covert curricula,” e.g., Islamicization. Semai children, despite their love of education, have difficulty with schooling because their home experience involves freedom and mutual respect, qualities not salient in schooling. This paper attempts to document these processes and their results, with some suggestions for alternative forms of education.