An Open, Love Letter to Schools: Please Reveal the Hidden Curriculum
If schools would only teach their unspoken lessons for achievement, all kids would have a shot at success. Believe me, I know from experience.
As a sociologist of education (fancy words for someone who thinks about schools for a living), I have to remind myself why I'm in this work. I live, raise kids, and train teachers and school leaders in Florida. Here, advocating for public schools can feel like an uphill battle.
To keep myself going, I often reflect back to my experiences in public schools.
I grew up in Portland, Oregon and attended one of the largest high schools in the state. Somehow, in a class of around 650 students, I was voted in as senior class president. But more interesting is that during my freshman year, during lunch, sometimes I'd wander the halls by myself because I had no friends to sit and eat with.
But within the same building I once felt lost and alone I slowly came to feel found.
This is the power of public education.
I've researched successful schools and students across the country and it’s only confirmed my lifelong hunch: None of the formal curriculum in schools - the lesson plans fixated on names, figures, dates and rote memorization - matters. When it comes to fostering real student achievement, it's all of the unspoken and implicit teachings that schools offer that promote achievement.
As we education researchers put it, it's the hidden curriculum that sorts students into so called “achievers” and “under-achievers”. We’re unable to create fairer systems of opportunity because we keep these facts hidden.
I believe the hidden curriculum also applies to and determines success in life. Some know and exploit the lessons for success, keeping rewards to themselves. Some learn them, but don’t realize it, complying with the status-quo. And the vast majority get left behind, never being taught these strategies for getting ahead.
Somehow, in a class of around 650 students, I was voted in as senior class president. But more interesting than that is that my freshman year, during lunch, sometimes I'd wander the halls by myself because I had no friends to sit and eat with.
This secrecy is also why the hidden curriculum is hard to define and recognize. In elementary school, the hidden curriculum is learning, "Don't interrupt two people who are speaking"; in middle school, it's, "If you're too busy staring at your crush, you better have a better excuse for why you weren't paying attention."
Have you ever asked a high school teacher or college professor to write you a letter of recommendation? When you decided who would be your best advocate, you used what you learned through the hidden curriculum.
None of the formal curriculum in schools - the lesson plans fixated on names, figures, dates and rote memorization - matters. When it comes to fostering real student achievement, it's all of the unspoken and implicit teachings that schools offer that promote achievement.
While I could use countless examples of exceptional people from my research to illustrate examples of the hidden curriculum at work, for once, I'll use my story. This is my open/love letter to schools, after all. Actually, I'll use only one example.
In eighth grade, I once decided to give a "how-to" speech on the topic of procrastinating and getting away with it. A consummately shy kid, I took a crazy risk for me at the time, pretending to procrastinate and write my speech on the fly as I gave it1.
Towards the end I declared, "If you're going to procrastinate, it's great to have props," throwing the flashcards into the audience. "Don't worry, those were blank," I said with a grin.
The class roared. My teacher loved it. That week, she made me perform the talk in front of my other classes, like for my math and science teachers' classrooms, too.
Everyone thought, "Wow, who knew he had that in him?!" Myself included.
The rubric my teacher used for grading our speeches did not include any points for cracking jokes, but I took a chance and read between the lines. The encouragement she gave me was not part of her job description, but rather part of what she knew to do as an expert of her craft -- just as so many teachers could be if we simply let them.
After eighth grade, practically none of the few friends I had in middle school went to my high school. Ninth grade was tough. But, slowly I built upon the unspoken lessons I had learned the year before. My teacher had taught me the value of going out of my comfort zone - something we should teach all kids in schools, explicitly.
I joined the Speech and Debate team. It was as nerdy as it sounds. But slowly, I honed my ability to not only speak to an audience, but also my ability to simply connect with others. I learned how to crack jokes outside of speeches, make real friends, and connect with others.
I was known as the quiet guy who could give a great speech. As I met more and more students in my graduating class, I realized that many shared the same feelings of inadequacy I had. We all wanted to fit in.
Over the last twenty years, I’ve gone from being deathly afraid of public speaking to having delivered TED Talks seen by millions. Sometimes, I still eat lunch by myself, but it feels more like a choice. All the while, I remain committed to unhiding the real ways that we can help all kids get ahead.
Unfortunately in our current system, schools make inequality worse. And inequity is polarizing: the gap between wealthy families and middle and lower-income families grows every year (Pew Research), and children born into the lowest quintile of income rarely climb up. Our country grows apart, citizens no longer able to relate to each other.
The encouragement she gave me was not part of her job description, but rather part of what she knew to do as an expert of her craft -- just as so many teachers could be if we simply let them.
Today, while we are incessantly debate what to teach, how to teach, and when to teach children certain content, we lose sight of the why.
The why is empowerment. Schools can empower every child, if we let them teach the hidden curriculum. We must reveal these lessons and fold them into the formal curriculum.
Teachers agree. They don’t want to be teaching to tests as districts breathe down their necks. They know our current processes don’t work.
Students must learn that getting the right answer isn't always as important as the effort behind it. When they get stuck, they should know how to find resources they need. And when they take chances, even if their jokes don't land, we should reward them. Students need opportunities to demonstrate creativity, critical thinking, and compassion.
The why, is empowerment.
While the pandemic posed an opportunity for reimagining and improving education, this opportunity was never seized. But it’s not too late. We can still reveal the hidden curriculum and make achievement accessible for all.
Only then will our education system prepare young people for the ever-changing world of work and society. Only then will our schools and students live up to their potential. They already have many of the means they need. We only have to get our priorities straight by supporting them and then getting out of their way.
My name is Anindya Kundu and I am a sociologist and writer. I am the author of The Power of Student Agency and I have 2 TED Talks with over 6 million views.
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The actual class clown, Hayden, was my friend. He pushed me to give the speech after I told him about in confidence. I’m still grateful I did and that he pressured me, unknowingly changing my life.
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I am also interested in the hidden curriculum. My view is from psychology. From my perspective the aspects of the hidden curriculum that can be revealed are a minuscule portion of what matters the most to educating children.
I define the hidden curriculum as the ways that brains interact with policies to create limitations on what can happen in a given situation. Since most of the brain’s activities are non-conscious and the influences that policies have on brains are often impossible to bring into consciousness there is little of the hidden curriculum that is available to be revealed.
There are things that can be done to make positive changes to the hidden curriculum, but they are not going to be accomplished through instructional means.