Karen Ho Biographies Of Hegemony Analysis

There are so many different types of institutions, ranging from religious institutions to work institutions. But in Karen Ho’s article “Biographies of Hegemony” she talks about educational institutions and how “smartness” is not just knowledge based, but also appearance based as well. Karen Ho dives into the study of the new educational system and how manipulative Wall Street is, starting with Ivy League schools. The discussion of Wall Street shows exactly how much power it has over the student’s minds and their decisions. The concept of standardization, student inequalities, and the conformity in a school environment are all explored in the pieces “Project Classroom Makeover” by Cathy Davidson and “Biographies of Hegemony.” Karen Ho’s articles …show more content…
Like Karen Ho, she does not believe that having a set of standards for students is going to help them succeed in life. “As long as we define their success by a unified set of standards, we will continue to miss their gifts…” (Davidson 61). Karen Ho’s ideology of “smartness” defends Cathy Davidson’s wants to change the traditional methods taught in class. Smartness is not only knowledge or how much someone can memorize notes, it is not just book smarts, it is street smarts as well. Smartness also refers to being able to get out a situation in the real world without having to look up what to do online or reading books about it, because not everything you can learn is in books. When we see each child the same and group them all up as just one person, we miss out on what each child’s talent is which transitions into Cathy Davidson’s concept of authority which is also explored in Karen Ho’s article. Society has given the power of success to the jobs on Wall Street which holds tremendous authority over the students in college, which ends up controlling each child’s mind and actions. Students have the power to change the work force. Wall Street is not the only place that you can go to become successful, but since that idea is ingrained into this generations brain with the lack of conformity, the youth of today has become so diffident. Wall Street feeds off of the insecurity that college students have of their future and pushes these types of jobs as their only option. Which is also the reason as to how Wall Street has become so powerful in the work force. Kids are so afraid that majoring in a subject they love will not help them in the future, that they look to what everyone else is doing, and just end up following that rhythm. When you hate your