ABSTRACT
Jules Henry, a sociologist and anthropologist, was absorbed with the human inability to focus on one thing at a time. He was struck in particular by our capacity to take in not only the stated message, but what he called the “noise” around that message, which is nothing less than its other aspects or layers of meaning. In his book of essays. Culture Against Man (1963), Henry had much to say about how many implicit lessons are taught in classrooms:
A child writing the word “August” on the board… is not only learning the word “August” but also how to hold the chalk without making it squeak, how to write clearly, how to keep going even though the class is tittering at his slowness, how to appraise the glances of the children in order to know whether he is doing it right or wrong, et cetera. If the spelling, arithmetic, or music lesson were only what it appeared to be, the education of the American child would be much simpler; but it is all the things the child learns along with his subject matter… that really constitute the education process, (p. 289; italics added)
