Overview

School teaches you Math and History (Formal Curriculum). But it also teaches you to sit still, raise your hand, obey authority, and wait for the bell (Hidden Curriculum). These unwritten rules are often more important for your future life as a worker/citizen than the actual subjects.

Core Idea

The core idea is Socialization. School is a machine for turning wild children into civilized adults who fit into society.

Formal Definition

The unwritten, unofficial, and often unintended lessons, values, and perspectives that students learn in school.

Intuition

  • The Factory: Why do schools have bells? Because factories have bells. The hidden curriculum was designed in the 1800s to train factory workers (Punctuality, Obedience, Repetitive Tasks).
  • The Game: Figuring out “what the teacher wants” is the hidden curriculum of getting an A. It’s not about learning; it’s about compliance.

Examples

  • Gender Roles: If the teacher always asks boys to move desks and girls to clean up, that teaches a hidden lesson about gender.
  • Class:
    • Working Class Schools: Emphasize following rules and rote memorization.
    • Elite Schools: Emphasize creativity, leadership, and questioning authority.
    • This prepares kids for their future roles in the hierarchy. (Jean Anyon’s study).

Common Misconceptions

  • It’s a conspiracy: It’s usually not intentional. Teachers aren’t trying to brainwash kids; they are just enforcing the norms of the culture.
  • Institutional Racism: Part of the hidden curriculum. Whose history is taught? Whose holidays are celebrated?
  • Soft Skills: The positive side. Learning to share, take turns, and work in a team.

Applications

  • Reform: You can’t change school just by changing the textbooks. You have to change the culture (the hidden curriculum).

Criticism / Limitations

  • Conformity: It kills creativity. Picasso said, “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.” The hidden curriculum beats the artist out of you.

Further Reading

  • Gatto, John Taylor. Dumbing Us Down.
  • Jackson, Philip. Life in Classrooms.