COL 150 - My research on the Hidden Curriculum

     What is the hidden curriculum? The hidden curriculum is made up of the lessons and knowledge that students learn that are not the typical norms taught in schools. As the hidden curriculum is informal and sometimes unintentional, what is taught from school to school or from teacher to teacher can vary a great deal. In schools and institutions, students are taught the “formal” curriculum which is taught intentionally for these students to obtain through lessons in a classroom and other learning experiences such as tests, and assignments. In this essay, I will explain what the hidden curriculum in education is. 

     In my first topic, I will discuss how the hidden curriculum of education affects gender roles. While school generally advocates for equality whether that's in gender or race, I believe that school enforces inequality in gender behavior that is unintentional. According to author Peggy Orenstein, "the hidden curriculum has allowed girls to take on the role of being compliant and silent in society while it has allowed boys to be dominant and disruptive. This reinforced idea about gender-based expectations creeps into later years of life where the female is expected to take on a submissive role in a relationship, and aspire to marriage while the male takes on a dominant role in a relationship, and is expected to be the breadwinner of the house. If the hidden curriculum continues to promote gender-based inequality, the cycle of segregation may never end." (pg. 15) I think this is important because I have seen the act of gender inequality in classrooms for example, usually when a teacher needs help lifting something or moving stuff around in the classroom they, usually ask a guy to do it rather than a female. 

     For my second topic, I will discuss how dress code plays a part in the hidden curriculum of education. I would say that fashion has evolved throughout the years, especially in today's society, a lot of students express who they are through clothing. And in these years, I think school dress code has definitely improved whereas in a traditional school, uniforms aren't needed. However, if a student such as a girl, shows off what's considered "too much skin" than it's considered a dress code violation. According to author Peggy Orenstein, "the rationale institutions provide for girl dress codes is defective and unfair to girls. The rationale given by these institutions has been that certain clothes worn by girls are deemed to be responsive to the male students and thus, were prohibited in school as means of limiting the “enticement” of the male students. This is problematic as clothing is an essential part of an individual’s perception of themselves, especially at a young age. Harsh dress coding with biased justification has forced girls to limit their individuality through clothing in schools." (pg. 14) This proves how dress codes enforced by schools are another way of reinforced gender stereotypes within the institution. 

     For my last topic, I will discuss the hidden curriculum in sports education. School sports are also a maintenance of gender stereotyping and inequality.Typically, schools would offer more funding to boy's sporting teams whereas girl's sporting teams would receive less funding. According to the national collegiate athletic association (NCAA) gender equity report, "This trend continues in higher education institutions and semi-professional athletics...for the years 2004 to 2010 has shown that even though there was an equal male to female participation ratio in college sports, the funding to men teams was 60.4% while the funding for women teams was only 39.6%..."(pg 13) This goes to show how sporting teams are viewed unequal between the two genders. I believe this is true, take basketball for example, many people watch more men's basketball than they do with women's basketball and this plays a big role in their salary. Another example would be football. Now we all know, how football is considered an aggressive sport, but I never hear people talk about professional women's football or track and field and the uniforms they wear that is very revealing to the human eye. This topic would also fall under dress code and the reason to this is because typically in professional sports settings, woman would have to wear revealing clothing to get more views in the sport itself. 

     In conclusion, there are many ways the hidden curriculum is found in education. And in these ways they are introduced to students and were designed to serve many purposes towards youths today. The concept of the hidden curriculum helps us to see what ideas we are putting across to our learners, and reflect on whether these are appropriate. Whether this is in school or out of school, these lessons define who we are, who we want to become and our values in life. 

Article link : https://inkspire.org/post/gender-based-discrimination-in-the-hidden-curriculum/-MHTBXq83oNmLLfIkBkR 

https://www.arcjournals.org/pdfs/ijhsse/v2-i7/7.pdf