The concept of the hidden curriculum was coined by Philip W. Jackson in 1968 “who argued we need to understand “education” as a socialization process” (Wiki- hidden curriculum). More recently, other educational theorists have discussed the hidden curriculum. Ivan Illich in After Deschooling, What? Claims that “the hidden curriculum teaches all children that economically valuable knowledge is the result of professional teaching and that social entitlements depend on the rank achieved in a bureaucratic process. The hidden curriculum transforms the explicit curriculum into a commodity and makes its acquisition the securest form of wealth.”
From Wikipedia - The concept that
the hidden curriculum expresses is the idea that schools do more than simply transmit knowledge, as laid down in the official
curricula. Behind it lies criticism of the social implications, political underpinnings, and cultural outcomes of modern educative activities. While early examinations were concerned with identifying the anti-democratic nature of schooling, later studies have taken various tones, including those concerned with
socialism,
capitalism, and
anarchism in education.
More recent definitions were given by
Meighan ("A Sociology of Educating", 1981):
The hidden curriculum is taught by the school, not by any teacher...something is coming across to the pupils which may never be spoken in the English lesson or prayed about in assembly. They are picking-up an approach to living and an attitude to learning.
The hidden curriculum consists of those things pupils learn through the experience of attending school rather than the stated educational objectives of such institutions.
The "HIDDEN CURRICULUM" is a term to used to describe the unwritten social rules and expectations of behavior that we all seem to know, but were never taught (Bieber, 1994). For example, children just seem to know that if you smack your gum in class, you will get in trouble. Most students also know that it’s not a great idea to tell an off-color joke in front of a teacher, even if the joke was funny in the locker room. Or; that it’s not a smart idea to argue with a policeman – even if he is wrong (Myles & Southwick, 1999). Similarly, students quickly learn which teachers are more insistent than others about conforming to classroom rules, who are more adept at catching them cheating on tests, and who are more gullible about accepting homework excuses. No one ever explains these things to them, yet students readily adjust their behavior according to those expectations, knowing what the consequences are likely to be, and are prepared to make those choices seemingly without effort.
a link to the wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hidden_curriculum
a link to the full text of Ivan Illich's book Deschooling Society (in which he talks about the hidden curriculum): http://reactor-core.org/deschooling
a link to the Wiki page on Ivan Illich: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Illich
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