Curriculum. Definitions, elements, levels. Curriculum design.

Currently, it is not possible to teach well without pedagogy. Although when it comes down to it,
Anyone can teach. For example, friends, parents, and even children teach their parents.
But teaching well is a more difficult art, because it requires having a clear understanding of where you are going, how to get there.

the student learns and develops, experiences are more relevant and effective for
the formation and learning of the student and with which techniques and procedures are more
effective to teach certain things.

True teaching is intentional, follows a plan, has clear goals, and is governed by
certain principles and concepts that teachers study under the name of pedagogy and
didactics. She is dedicated to the study of the theories and concepts that allow understanding and solving
the problems of teaching. Each pedagogical theory is represented by a model
pedagogical and didactic. Other disciplines and sciences contribute to the knowledge of teaching,
how are computer science, communication sciences, sociology, politics, ethics,
linguistics, etc., but it is the didactics, whose conceptual framework revolves around education,
best-equipped discipline to articulate the contributions of other disciplines with a view to a
comprehensive understanding of teaching and the curriculum.

The intentions of education, in terms of the outcomes that are intended to be achieved in
Regarding the formation of the citizen and the development of society, they are materialized through the curriculum.
what acts and as an operational process, in which a set of elements (actors
social, objectives, resources), interact to achieve educational intentions.

This implies that the curriculum aims to embody a specific educational conception in
terms of the individual, the social and the cultural. Thus, through the planning and execution of the
curriculum strengthens the achievement of both the individual and society that the group demands
educational system. There are many conceptions of education, but what is important is that there is
congruence between the approach proposed for education and that of the curriculum. According to the
exposed, education should be viewed in its triple process which involves: the development of the
person, the interrelation with the social group and incorporation of culture (disciplinary content,
socially significant.

The educator focuses their actions on the implementation of the curriculum when they exercise daily the
task of guiding the teaching and learning processes, as it should be framed in the
general approaches of the educational policy that regulate the national educational process.
These proposals reach him through the official documents and the current legislation.
what the expectations regarding the educational process of the country include.

This implies that when planning the curriculum: selecting content and methodologies, developing
materials, incorporate the contributions of the community, evaluate the learnings, must have as
north the fulfillment of the purposes and objectives of education, which allows it to contribute to the
formation of the man and society that the State aspires to and that is evidenced in this
educational policy. Education, as a task oriented towards an end, must be planned for
to guide it better and endow it with rationality, to save time, resources, and efforts; and
finally to facilitate the achievement of the planned objectives.
When starting the study of a curriculum, it is important to answer: why get involved in
{"title":"The study of the curriculum?","questions":["What advantages does it bring?","What is a curriculum?","What should it include?"]}

currículum? ¿Qué es planeamiento educatvo? ¿Cuál es su importancia? ¿Qué es un Proyecto

Educative? What is its importance within a curricular design?

What is Curriculum?
It is a well-known term in Latin America only since the late 1970s, in the
Glasgow University in Scotland in 1633, according to Stephen Kemmis, although it had already been seen
used for more than half a century in Anglo-Saxon countries. It comes from Greek
CURRERE, which means to walk lightly, march, run.

It is nothing more than the specific realization of a pedagogical and didactic theory to make it
effectively and ensure the learning and development of a particular group of students for the
culture, era, and community of which they are part. It is the practical way to apply a theory
pedagogical to the classroom, to teaching, is the specific action plan that the teacher develops with
their students in the classroom.

As a first approach, it can be said that CURRICULUM is a device, a document,

a tool a method of organizing educational activities and learning in
function of the contents, methods, and teaching techniques.

The concept of Curriculum presented is dynamic; a series of elements are incorporated.

which are not viewed in isolation but in their mutual relationships. Other Definitions
• Curriculum is that series of things that children and young people must do and
to experiment, in order to develop their skills that enable them to make decisions about
adult life (Franklin B, 1918)
• Curriculum includes all experiences, activities, materials, teaching methods.
and other means used by the teacher or taken into account by him in the sense of achieving
the aims of education (UNESCO, 1918)
• CURRICULUM must be a written document and is the main aspect of the plan.
scheme of the subjects that must be taught; the subject is the substantive core of
curriculum (Beachamp G, 1968)
• CURRICULUM is an educational project that defines: the purposes, the goals, and the objectives.
of an educational action, as well as the forms, means, and instruments for evaluation
to what extent has the action produced effect (Hainaut L, 1980).
The curriculum is considered at the same time as a contract between what society expects.
of the educational institution and what the authorities admit that it offers, in terms of
teaching contents, of pedagogical framework and as a working tool in the
educational institutions and in the classrooms. It is a contract and a tool in
permanent evolution (Ferreira Horacio, 2001). The curriculum is made up of the
learning experiences that the student lives, inside and outside of the school environment, under the
teacher's orientation or motivation.

These experiences aim to achieve the goals and objectives of education and can be
scheduled or emerge during the daily development of the educational process, due to the
constant interrelation between school and community.
 Evolution of the term curriculum

The term curriculum has been conceived in different ways over time. With the objective
To visualize how the definition of the term curriculum has varied, some are presented.
representatives of different moments and various conceptions. In that evolution, they can
to stand out in two different moments.
1. Conception of the curriculum from the perspective of its development in concrete reality,
That is, the curriculum in action. It shows two lines: a. Subject-centered.
b. Centered on experiences.
2. Conception of the curriculum as a science. This stage in which theorization is carried out
of the curriculum. Two conceptions stand out: a. Curriculum as a system.
b. Curriculum as an applied discipline.

In each of those moments, various conceptions are handled. In some periods, it

it used only one; while in others several are handled simultaneously.
1. a) Subject-centered curriculum: From the Middle Ages to the mid-19th century,
The curriculum was synonymous with study plans and programs, emphasizes content, is seen
as a fixed structure composed of a series of subjects that had to be fulfilled by the
students. As an academic curriculum, it is aimed at the upper classes, with the purpose of
to form intellectual elites that meet the demands of the church and the government. The variants that
the curriculum suffered at certain moments consisted basically, in changing some
subjects, remove or add others. It is specified in a document in which the learnings,
essentially knowledge would be arranged following a systematic sequence and
they complement with the incorporation of the objectives as guiding elements of those
plans and programs and some suggestions on materials and texts for their development. The
subject-centered curriculum is a static view that focuses on a document:
plan the curriculum and not on the action process.

1. b) Experience-centered curriculum: It focuses on the experiences that the student lives.

and therefore gives primacy to this over the content. At the end of the 19th century, Dewey lays his foundations,
saying that there are experiences that every student must go through to develop their process of
learning. The concept of LEARNING BY DOING arises, leading to a process centered on
the student's activity. It prioritizes what the student must do and experience to
develop their skills that will prepare them for their future life. The concept of curriculum as
experience is more dynamic, as it emphasizes the constant living of experiences of the
student and tries to get closer to the inside of their context.

2. a) Curriculum as a system: It characterizes the curriculum as a system in which inputs enter

a series of elements are at play that enable the development of learning experiences.
He interacts with a series of input elements: media, resources, sources, that
they allow the development of the process that is realized in the achievement of experiences, to reach
a product, which in this case are goals and objectives. It focuses on experiences of
learning, but frames them within a structure or system that involves the inputs or
inputs, the process and the product and the way they interact.
2. b) Curriculum as an applied discipline: It emerged in the 1970s and proposes the curriculum.
as a discipline or area of knowledge. AS A DISCIPLINE: because it has an object of study, a
body of scientific methods and procedures to address the subject of study and proposes a
theoretical body. The object of study is the teaching-learning processes and content of
those processes. AS AN APPLIED DISCIPLINE: It has an organized set of propositions
about a subject of study, and it is considered applied because it aims to achieve
transformations or modifications in the object and field of study. Its applicability character
is realized in that scientific principles are applied to the design, planning, and evaluation of
the teaching and learning processes.

Curriculum and Education

Educational policy as a realization of the general state policy incorporates aspirations of

a nation in terms of the development of man and society that is desired to be achieved. Education
as an individual and social process, lifelong education, the socio-political and cultural foundation
of education and the conceptualization of the curriculum provide the necessary framework to address and
understand the relationship between education and curriculum. The intentions of EDUCATION,
in terms of the results to be achieved regarding citizen education
and the type of society is materialized through the CURRICULUM THAT ACTS, as evidenced
as an operational process, in which a set of elements and factors come into play
social, objectives, resources, etc. that interact to achieve those intentions
educatvas. Esto implica que el currículumtene como fin plasmar una determinada concepción
educational in terms of the individual, the social and the cultural. Thus, through planning and
The implementation of the curriculum strengthens the achievement of the role of man and society that the group
demand of the educational system.

It is fundamental when facing the issue of the curriculum to have a clear educational conception.
that this will reflect. The important thing is that there is congruence between the conception of education and the
of the curriculum that is managed. For this, it is necessary that education is viewed as a
triple process that involves: the development of the person, the interrelationship with the social group and
incorporation of culture. The educator focuses their daily actions on the execution of
curriculum when regularly performing the task of guiding the teaching processes
learning, as it must be framed within the general approaches of educational policy that
They regulate the national educational process. It is fundamental for the educator to understand the close
relationship that exists between education and curriculum. Therefore, A. Yerodia (UNESCO 1980) emphasizes that
socio-cultural belonging implies:
a. The purposes of education -explicit or implicit- and the social and cultural characteristics
of the context in which the student lives.
b. the aims of education and its programs, contents, goals, and profiles.
c. The programs, the goals or the profiles and the actual objectives expressed or not - that are
are evidenced in the pedagogical acts.
For proper performance in teaching, it is necessary for the educator to be familiar with
clarity the relationship between education and curriculum and, particularly to analyze those relationships within
of the current concepts of education and curriculum that should guide their work at the level of
classroom.
 Formal curriculum and the hidden

The curriculum is the means to implement educational policy within the education system.
It is a way to operationalize an educational policy, consistently in a
cultural selection, that is to say a selection of content that is considered significant, relevant and
important for the training of students. It implies:
• {"basic_definitions":"basic definitions","education_and_school":"education and school","profile_of_the_student":"profile of the student","educator_profile":"educator profile"}

institutional
• A certain didactic model: How the game of objectives, contents is understood,
methods and evaluations. Which disciplinary organization is chosen and how do they originate and
the contents are sequenced.
This applies to any formal resume, which makes explicit and tries to establish them, as well as for the
Translation and institutional interpretation that constitutes the hidden curriculum, where all these
the points are implicit, but that doesn't make them any less present.

A conflict may arise from the translation and interpretation that the institution makes of the curriculum.
formal or also because not all resumes leave the same space for planning
institutional. They are not only related to an ideal proposal, which is the formal curriculum, with a
real proposal, what is the hidden curriculum other than two or more models of conceiving the
educational policy and pedagogical practice.

The institutional practice and the curriculum

The problem, ultimately, is a matter of relationships between theory and practice.
The institution may not notice the presence of a hidden curriculum, not recognize it, and not
to worry about how educational practice unfolds and is strained, both in praxis
global institutional, as prescribed by the formal curriculum.
The formal curriculum is a regulation for practice, well-founded theoretically, that
explicit its assumptions, offering them to a reflective reception for their execution.
An institution is a social practice that formalizes specific social objectives.
a certain communicational framework within it and becomes a true system,
what is open and autonomous. It is a reflexive social practice, which has as its task
specify to mediate social practices with the reflective contents of culture.
In this question of relationships, the critical point lies in the capacity one has
institution to generate a permanent reflection on its practices, trying to
to always visualize them as pedagogical practices, direct or indirect. On the other hand it is
sabido, que la capacitación más eficaz de los docentes, es la reflexión sobre su propia
practice, precisely in institutional contexts that promote what is commonly referred to as the
socialization of the role.

Integrated institution and integrated curriculum

The curriculum is not merely a document with an interdisciplinary approach. It is a

requirement that the educational institution, which translates and interprets it, is also an institution
integrated. It translates into three tasks:
• integrar la insttución internamente.
• Integrate the school institution with the environment.
• Integrate as much as possible and explicitly what the formal curriculum proposes with the
institutional practice, as hidden curriculum executes in fact.
The curricular implementation requires common planning, demands continuous exchange of
pedagogical approaches require having clearly shared integration objectives
common criteria for evaluation.

The problem of institutional evaluation and the curriculum

The pedagogical project, called curriculum, when translated and interpreted by the institution, is
also evaluated. Today it is recognized that evaluation has its own theoretical framework. It must be
explicitar si se van a evaluar los resultados, los procesos, los propuestos o lo incidental; explicitar
the pedagogical approaches or just the specific achievements of the students. An evaluation
The institutional curriculum is an assessment of the degree to which the institution understands a
educational policy, translates it, interprets it, executes it. That is why it is always a social evaluation.

Fundamentals of the Curriculum

Education in its dual individual and social aspect responds to a series of approaches.
sociopolitical and cultural, that allow him to acquire belonging in relation to the expectations
individual and group. Education always responds to a state policy in terms of
type of man and society that wishes to achieve. Education is the means that a people use
to safeguard, improve and transmit their systematic and everyday culture. Some disciplines
how philosophy, psychology, sociology, and anthropology have contributed to the
systematization of the contributions from the curricular sources as they are known with
foundations of the curriculum.
• PHILOSOPHY: It systematizes aspirations regarding the type of man and society that is
wait to achieve. Their contribution materializes in educational policy and supports the approach
of objectives and purposes of the system.
• PSYCHOLOGY: Provides elements to support the knowledge of the student in their
particular characteristics, in the way of facing the learning process and in the
the way they interact in various groups and situations. They allow for the analysis of the individual
as a bio-psychic unit in its cognitive, affective, and psychomotor aspects, in its
different stages of development. They support the selection of objectives and content,
establish learning sequences, etc.
• SOCIOLOGY: Systematizes principles that allow understanding the contributions of the context
socio-cultural and the relationships established between social demands and the process
curricular.
It studies the structures of human groups, the principles that regulate them, the differences.
that exist between them. These contributions are essential to underpin the curriculum, as
it is in a specific group.
• ANTHROPOLOGY: It grounds the curriculum in terms of providing principles for
understand the role of culture within the curriculum planning process. It allows
 analyze the role played by the incorporation of elements in the curricular process
originating from the systematized and daily culture. Some contributions of this science are:
All individual behaviors must be understood and valued according to the
group to which it belongs. Every pedagogical action must be adapted to the characteristics
cultural aspects of the groups in which they develop. In the curriculum process, two processes occur:
the endoculturation and the acculturation.

Sources of the Curriculum

The sources of the curriculum are the suppliers of curricular material: elements of culture
systematized and everyday, social needs and expectations, individual interests, etc. This
Curricular material feeds the processes of planning and execution of the curriculum in the
different levels: national, local and institutional. The sources of the curriculum are:
• The socio-cultural context: Provides essential cultural elements that must be
incorporate into the curriculum to ensure that the educational process responds to the
needs, demands, and social expectations. This source provides curricular material for
the national and institutional level. At the national level, it contributes what is related to expectations and
social demands regarding the type of man and society to aspire to; likewise
offers the national cultural heritage that is intended to be made known and enriched through the
educational process (customs, traditions, etc.). This level is used to raise the
curricular policy, the purposes and objectives of education and those that guide the plans and
national study programs. At the level of institutional planning, the
contributions in relation to a specific social group, basically the elements of the
everyday culture. Contributions at this level are used to set the objectives,
learning experiences, resources, etc., that will be implemented in the classroom work.
• The student (Psychological) Estafuente provides information related to the expectations that are
they have in mind the height of the man they want to form (in terms of values,
skills, abilities, etc.); it also provides elements about the idiosyncrasy and
particular characteristics of a certain country. The citizen profile is proposed that
promotes through the educational process.
• The areas of knowledge (Pedagogical, Epistemological): Estafuente includes the sciences, the
arts and the techniques that provide the curricular content: information, theories, data,
values, skills, etc. This source provides the content of systematized culture.
At the institutional level, this source is consulted when developing programs.
study, where the learnings of systematic culture are indicated for each level. In the
At an institutional level, the teacher must draw on areas of knowledge, adapting the contributions.
included in the study programs, according to the characteristics of the community,
institution and the students. Likewise, bibliographic materials can be used, as well as contributions
from specialists to experimentation.

Curriculum Levels

The Education Laws are born with two very clear objectives, on one hand to guarantee that all
students, regardless of the particular characteristics or conditions of the
membership groups receive a common culture and knowledge in line with reality
surrounds them, on the other hand to guarantee an adequate education with the characteristics
individuales de cada uno, atendiendo a la diversidad de apttudes, intereses y motvaciones que
it characterizes the whole population. An open and flexible conception of the curriculum is necessary,
promoting greater decentralization in educational decision-making that translates
in the successive levels of curricular concretization and in the pedagogical autonomy of the schools.
The coherence existing between the levels of curricular concreteness will guarantee teaching.
comprehensive and open to diversity where skills are redistributed
responsibilities of the Educational Administration, schools, and teachers in the
establishment of the school curriculum. This curriculum may serve as an instrument
valuable educational innovation if the group of teachers in a school perceives it as a
own project, a project to be built as a team, in a collaborative way. The Schools and the
Educational teams are the spaces for teacher professionalization, based on experience.
It is possible to build the Curriculum Project based on the analysis of these.
administrative norms and the reflections of teachers on their actions in the classroom with
the objective of improving your educational theory and practice.
• MACRO LEVEL: Base Curriculum Design at this level of the education system is made explicit
set of decisions resulting from the adopted educational reform model or law
General education. In this case, the curriculum is the basic matrix of the project.
educational that establishes the coordinates for the organization and functioning of the system
educational, the compulsory curricular components and the basic contents
or minimum common teachings for the entire country. Its main characteristics are:
a. It is an open and flexible document as it leaves a large part of the curricular decisions
in the hands of the teachers by including only general objectives (in terms of
capabilities), large blocks of content and guidelines on the methodology and the
evaluation.
b. It is guiding since it is not considered a finished product but rather will be the
teachers who are responsible for making it a reality in the educational context in which
they work.
c. It is prescriptive, intended not only to guide teachers and centers but also
to prescribe specific objectives, content, or educational experiences that must be
to ensure all students during their schooling.

• MESSO LEVEL: INSTITUTIONAL CURRICULAR PROJECT. It is important to differentiate between

Institutional Educational Project (P.E.C) and Institutional Educational Curriculum Project.
first, define the identity of the school, it is a tool for medium-term planning
a deadline whose objective is to provide coherence and a unique identity to schools, it is more
broad and includes both the P.C.I. and the Educational Purposes and the Regulations of
Organization and Functioning. Its preparation is coordinated by the Management Team and
All sectors of the educational community must participate according to the guidelines.
prepared by the School Council and the proposals made by the Faculty meeting,
Parent and Student Associations. The P.C.E.I. constitutes the instrument
pedagogical-didactic that articulates the set of actions in the medium and long term
teaching team of an educational center aims to achieve the capabilities
foreseen in the objectives of each of the stages, in coherence with the Purposes
Educational ones of the same. It is a set of articulated decisions that allow for the realization of the
D.C.B. in educational intervention projects suitable for a specific context. With its
the aim is to ensure the proper progression and coherence in teaching
the educational content throughout schooling. Its design and development is
 competence of the teaching teams being coordinated by the Technical Team of
Pedagogical Coordination must be approved by the Teachers. The Curricular Project
The Center must include, in a coordinated manner, the curricular projects of the different
educational stages that are taught in it.

• MICRO LEVEL: corresponds to the curriculum as an instrument that plans activities.

The educational establishment is equivalent to the institutional curricular project.

• CLASSROOM CURRICULAR PROGRAMMINGS: We understand curricular programming as

from the classroom the set of teaching-learning strategies and activities that each teacher
do with your group of students. These aspects must be collected in the form of units
didactic activities organized and sequenced for the areas of each cycle and/or educational level (it
Didactic Unit is understood as a school work unit related to a process of
teaching and learning articulated and complete). The programs must be
agreement with the DCJ of Level and in accordance with what is included in the Curricular Project
Institutional. For this, it is necessary to plan and distribute the learning content.
length of each cycle and schedule the learning and evaluation activities
corresponding. The teaching activity of each teacher and their classroom planning
must comply with the guidelines set by the didactic programs
the Departments or disciplinary Areas.

• CURRICULAR ADAPTATIONS: Adaptations are increasingly being considered

Curricular and, in general, to all measures of attention to diversity, like the last
level of concretion. A.C. is the accommodation or adjustment of the common educational offer to the
possibilities and needs of each one the proposal of an open and flexible curriculum offers
one of the most valuable tools to respond to diversity. From this point of
view, the levels of curricular concretion are levels of curricular adaptation. It is required
the teacher has the responsibility and the freedom to decide on the changes, adjustments,
etc. that will allow adapting the curriculum to real needs. They are the ones who best
they know the students who must make the necessary adjustments in the exercise of
its autonomy and thus contributing to its professional development.

Types of Curriculum
• THE EXPRESS, FORMAL OR OFFICIAL CURRICULUM: is documented in tables of
scope and sequences, syllables, curricular guides, tables of contents, and list of objectives. Its
The purpose is to provide teachers with a foundation for lesson planning and evaluation.
the students and the administrators a basis to supervise the teachers and make them
responsible for their practices and results. It prescribes pedagogical actions that the
institution has to execute.
• THE HIDDEN CURRICULUM: it is not recognized by the school officials although
it can have a greater depth and impact than another official curriculum. The messages
the hidden curriculum relates to issues of sex, class and race, authority and
school knowledge. It has operational normative mechanisms, legitimized in
certain sources: experience, realism, what the students can, account for, the
that allows the place where the school is located.
• THE FORMAL CURRICULUM makes these points explicit and tries to found them, like the translation.
the institutional interpretation that constitutes the HIDDEN CURRICULUM.
• OPERATIONAL CURRICULUM: includes what is actually taught by the teacher and
how its importance is communicated to the student, that is, how students do to
to know that what is taught matters. That is, it has two aspects: either the included content and
taught by the teacher, that is, what the teacher teaches.
The learning outcomes that they must actually respond to, that is, what
must be achieved.
• NULL CURRICULUM: it is made up of study topics not taught, and about the
What any consideration should focus on are the reasons why they are ignored. E.g.:
Psychology, dance, laws, parenting, are generally not taught and could not compete
with mathematics, social studies, and sciences.

Formal curriculum and real curriculum: a pragmatic transposition

As Perrenoud points out, teachers convert the "formal curriculum" into a work plan.
concrete: lessons, activities, evaluations... that is, practical learning situations. In
effect, teachers are trained so that their work of interpretation and explicitness of
formal curriculum can ensure some normalization of the real curriculum. The teachers
they possess certain knowledge but also frameworks that generate new content,
examples, problems that shape professional habits that, henceforth, have been anchored
in the teacher's personality. However, regarding the actual curriculum, it should be emphasized that the
the school system anticipates certain deviations from the formal curriculum, however, if these deviations
were notably large, they would not be tolerated. This means that although each teacher
it has a particular style, it clearly takes inspiration from the formal curriculum functioning as
unifying mechanism.
It is well known that the most recent learning theories insist that it depends
mainly from the student's activity, which redefines the teacher's work. Knowledge, already
it is not transmitted through a masterful speech but constructed through work,
a clearly disciplined activity.

The formal curriculum specifies the cultural knowledge to be transmitted with the formulation, coding, and
corresponding elaboration to such didactic intention, while the actual curriculum is between
other things a set of tasks and activities that are supposed to generate learning.
In this way, the actual curriculum is a pragmatic transposition of the formal curriculum.

The real curriculum also implies a negotiation between teachers and students. Because in fact,
never is this the result of the strict intention of the teacher. The implementation of the curriculum
formal implies an adaptation to the nature of the class and to the eventualities that may arise
to introduce oneself during its course.

How hidden is the hidden curriculum?

The sociology of education refers to 'hidden curriculum' as those non-explicit aspects of
curriculum. Perrenoud considers that these types of practices are no secret in
reality: it is known that in school one learns to live in society, to be a good citizen, to
to work seriously... in other words, a kind of 'moral curriculum'. In this sense, this
the aspect of the curriculum would not be so 'hidden'.
In other words, there is a continuous gradient between the actual curriculum and the formal curriculum.
from practices that would range from the obvious to the, effectively, 'hidden'. The actual curriculum
contribuye a interiorizar representaciones, creencias, gustos, ideologías, esto es, el saber
cultural. Secondly, it induces a transformation of habits as a system of
perception, thought, evaluation, and action. This would indeed constitute a 'hidden' learning in
so 'unknown' since it really is not known to what extent it affects this type of
learning for school-aged subjects and, on the other hand, operates only in the field of
practice and unconsciously.
It is worth noting that the attention often given to the formal curriculum prevents seeing
(as it happens in other organizations) that the school keeps its internal culture a secret.
And this happens, probably because at least for the students, there is no clear difference.
between school culture and organizational culture. Ultimately, the real curriculum implies the
formation of the common sense and is part of the learning of the "trade of being a student."