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The Hidden and Null Curriculums- An Experiment in

Collective Educational Biography
SUZETrE AHWEE, LINA CHIAPPONE, PEGGY CUEVAS,
FRANK GALLOWAY, JULIET HART, JENNIFER LONES,
ADRIANA L. MEDINA, RITA MENENDEZ, PAOLA PILONIETA,
EUGENE F. PROVENZO, JR., ALISON C. SHOOK,
PATRICIA J. STEPHENS, ANNA SYRQUIN, and BEVERLY TATE
University of Miaoi

In an experimental format, thirteenUniversity of Miami doctoral students and

their Curriculum and Computing professor explore questions about the hidden

and null curricula inschooling. The article not only examines theoretical contributions but also provides anecdotal case studies as examples.
This is an experimental article. It is the collective effort of thirteen students and

their Foundations professor to examine the meaning of the "hidden" and "null"
curriculum and was written as part of a doctoral level seminar, "Curriculum and
Computing" (Teaching and Learning 664), conducted at the University of Miami
during the spring of 2001.
The method employed to create this essay was straightforward. After completing a series of selected readings dealing with both the hidden and null curriculums,
and engaging in a class discussion on the subject, the students were asked to draft
brief essays, including a review of the literature and a definition of what they understood the hidden and null curriculum to mean. Having completed these essays,
students developed case studies describing their own experience with the hidden
and null curriculum as both students and professional educators.
These materials were edited by the instructor (Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr.) and
drafted into the first half of this article. Students were assigned the task of individually revising the entire article and completing the definition and analysis of the null

curriculum. In addition, they drafted a set of conclusions for the article. Revisions
were made as part of a group review on the sections drafted by the instructor. Students worked in small groups and finally on an individual basis. The instructor
then edited a complete version of the document. A final version of the article was
approved by the class as part of shared review of the document. Final editing of the
article was completed by the instructor and Adriana Medina.
In developing this article we engaged in a dialogue concerning the nature of the
hidden and null curriculum, and also employed what the French hypertext theorist
Pierre L6vy refers to as a "collective intelligence" (1997). Although L6vy's use of
this idea is primarily in a computational context, our use of it extends to the idea of
sharing our understanding of a concept through not only our definition of the prob-

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lem, but ourinterpretation of the literature and our reflection on our personal experience with the issue (i.e., our individual experience with the hidden and null curriculum).
We believe this approach is highly original and represents an intriguing model
at both the instructional level (i.e., the doctoral seminar for which the creation of
this article was an activity) but also in terms of its potential contribution as a type of
collective ethnography.
We refer to the idea of ethnography because we believe that the individual essays, which provide the material for the case studies included in this article, are
qualitative sources at their most basic and essential level. From a technical point of
view, they represent reflective case studies and at a general level are certainly related to, although not the same as, participant observation.
We begin by first defining the hidden curriculum and then the null curriculum.

Defining the Hidden Curriculum

According to Portelli (1993), four major meanings have been identified in the
literature with reference to the hidden curriculum. The concept is based initially on
arguments developed by Phillip Jackson in his book Life in Classrooms (1968).
There Jackson asserts that what in fact occurs in classrooms is not truly understood. The three factors embedded in the context of schools-crowds, praise, and
power-promote cultural mores and values that "collectively form a hidden curriculum which each student (and teacher) must master if he is to make his way satisfactorily through the school" (Jackson 1968, 33-34). Unofficial expectations, or
implicit, but hidden messages constitute the hidden curriculum.
The second meaning of the term is associated with Peter McLaren. According
to McLaren, through critical analysis of what takes place in classrooms beyond the
teaching of official subject matter, outside of the course materials and the scheduled lesson content, one may come to realize the presence of what he terms the
"unintended outcomes of the schooling process" (McLaren. 1998, 186). As Portelli
(1993) points out, these unintended outcomes "may never be recognized or identified, and even if they are they may never be formally acknowledged" (346).
The third meaning of the hidden curriculum has been characterized by the implicitmessages that are a function of the social structure of schools. Theorists associated with this viewpoint on the nature of the hidden curriculum include Illich
(1978) and Aronowitz and Giroux (1985).
Finally, Snyder (1971) defines the hidden curriculum in terms of students' reactions to the formal curriculum. Although teachers may dictate formal tasks, students' notion of what is required to complete those tasks likely differs from teachers' expectations. The results are covert acts that students come to associate with
the rewards of the school context. From this perspective, students are cognizant of

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the hidden curriculum and, in fact, participate in its construction as it grows out of
their exposure and reaction to the explicit curriculum (Portelli 1993).
To summarize, the hidden curriculum may take numerous and, by definition, subtle forms. It often reflects the dominant ideologies of the empowered cultural group
and may even be a function of both negative and positive underlying principles. Students may learn a great deal that is not overtly set forth as part of official school philosophy or instructional content. Such learning is comprised of the rules, ways of interacting, beliefs, and knowledge that are pervasive, though not explicitly stated, and
is attributable to implicit curricula presented in schools (Cormbleth, 1984; Gordon,
1983). Fostering both empowering and disempowering behavior (Hlebowitsh,
1994), "schools teach far more than they advertise" (Eisner, 1985, 92).
The following excerpts are case studies based on the actual experiences of doctoral students involved in writing this article as they reflected on their own schooling and teaching with reference to the hidden curriculum.
Architecture and the Hidden Curriculum
Juliet Hart recalls how as a beginning Special Education teacher of students
with severe emotional disturbance:
I
I was both excited and anxious about my first teaching assignment. I
learned I would be teaching a diverse group of elementary students in
gradesK-5. I was looking forward expectantly to working with the general education content area teachers of subjects such as music, physical
education, and art because of my firm conviction that atleastsome ofmy
students, given appropriate behavioral management supports, would be
able to be mainstreamed for these subjects areas, thus maximizing the
benefits they could experience due to contact with their nondisabled
peers. In addition, I was looking forward to coordinating my class
schedule for activities such as lunch, library visits, and recess with the
general education teachers so that my students could be included to the
greatest extentpossiblein the realm of activities of the school in general.
During the preplanning period for teachers, I arrived at the school
and was given information about where my classroom was located. To
my surprise and dismay, portable#58 was quite a trek from the school's
office and was an even greater distance from the cafeteria, library, recess
area, and mostimportant, the general education classroom wing whereI
hoped many of my students would be mainstreamed for instruction with
regular education students. Throughout the four years I taught in portable #58, my students lost valuable instructional time because of time
spent traveling to and from various locales around the school. In addition, the physical distance my students experienced from the central lo-

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cations of the school site sent a strong yet hidden message. The physical
structure of the school functioned as a hidden curriculum that sent a
message of exclusion of students with disabilities from the school's
most basic and critical activities.
Juliet's experience is a clear demonstration of how physical space operates as part
of the hidden curriculum. Where students are physically assigned in a building or
on a campus can be part of a hidden curriculum that says certain students are not a
priority or do not warrant special attention. A classroom without windows is sending a message about the value of looking outside, maybe even about the value of
nature or the environment. The separation into groups, the bells, the assigned seating, the rigid chairs, and the behavioral management techniques used by teachers
to control a group of children in a small space, can all be part of the hidden curriculum that is dictated by the physical environment. Nonclassroom physical settings,
such as hallways, bathrooms, and lunchrooms, also have hidden curricula. There,
adults are generally not present, and/or are more tolerant. In those areas the stuJ
dents' social curricula are seen. Dominance, power, who is to be accepted, and who
is rejected, are all part of the hidden curriculum of the school created by students in
the physical space found outside of the classroom.
Gender and the Hidden Curriculum
Gender often intrudes into the hidden curriculum of the schools in very subtle
ways. Peggy Cuevas recalls how one of her early educational experiences was as a
fourth grader deciding on which band instrument to try to learn how to play.
Even though I had no desire to play the tuba, bass drum, or trombone I
clearly would never have selected those because everyone knew they
were instruments for boys. A girl who opted for the trumpet was on
pretty shaky ground and was considered really masculine. Of course,
there was a hidden curriculum working against males in this area too.
The hidden curriculum said that no boy ever selected the flute and only
a few, like the girls who choose the trumpet, tried the clarinet.
Another area of which I believe I was aware but I thought, "That'sjust
the way things are," was the gender of teachers I had all through school.
In the small, rural town where I grew up all the elementary teachers were
female and in the high school, theEnglish and Social Studies teachers
were female but the Math, Science, and Shop teachers were male.
Growing up I just thought it was natural but I now realize those very
teachers were themselves being shaped by the hidden curriculum of expectations in the colleges, universities, and the societies in whieh they
lived.

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Expectations, according to Peggy, were different for boys versus girls as she was
growing up in the rural South.
In the fifties, in my area of the United States, it wasn't really necessary
for female students to try really hard to succeed academically. Of
course, no one expected you to fail, but, according to the hidden curriculum, the boys in the class were the ones for whom doing well in
school was important. You could tell that by the way teachers always
seemed to get upset and call in parents when a boy wasn't doing well.
Girls, at least those in my class, were not objects of worry and concern.
It wasn't that we weren't expected or allowed to go to college, but in
the end, we wouldn't be the ones on whom money for the mortgage
and food on the table depended.
Girls, according to Peggy, were expected to act in certain ways that conformed
with both behavioral and gender expectations. As she recalls,
Of course, the way to earn a teacher's approval was to do exactly what
she wanted. Being very quiet and respectful, always doing neat work,
smiling sweetly, never arguing or criticizing, walking quietly, saying
you loved to read, complimenting the teacher (but not too often), saying
please and thank you constantly, were all ways to make sure you succeeded in school and were thought of as a "good student." You could be
very bright but without these classroom skills you were in fora long day.
Although the minimal adherence to these types of behavior were certainly necessary for all students, the hidden curriculum demanded that
the greater degree of them you displayed, the greater your success.
As Peggy entered high school, gender as a type of hidden curriculuni continued to
play an important part in Peggy's education, even though it was the sixties and she
had moved from a rural setting into a major urban area.
As I moved into 'secondary school and the country moved into the sixties very little changed. I was no longer a student in a small, rural
school system as my family had moved to a large city. However, the
hidden curriculum still played an enormous part in my life. One example is the choice of courses females were offered. No one ever said you
couldn't or shouldn't take chemistry and higher math if you were female. Nevertheless, in the early sixties when I graduated from high
school, there was only one girl,in my entire graduating class of five
hundred students who took chemistry and only three who took math
classes above trigonometry. It wasn't forbidden; it just wasn't done.

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According to the hidden curriculum of our schools there were courses

that were appropriate for girls and others appropriate for boys. I remember looking in the door of a classroom where the boys were taking
Mechanical Drawing. It looked so interesting and really lots of fun.
Unfortunately, that was one of the forbidden classes for girls, just as
Home Economics was not allowed for boys.
Resisting gender-based expectations was something that Peggy realized that she
could do as she entered college. Yet doing so, often proved a challenge. As she remembers,
By the time I arrived at college I had begun to realize what was happening to females in our culture. Consequently, I decided I would not take
any courses, beyond the required core, that most females were supposed
to take. This included things like English, Social Studies, and certainly
not any courses in Education because the last thing in the world I wanted
was to be what most girls were encouraged to be-a teacher or a nurse! I
declared a major in Economics, which over the course of four years
turned into a Political Science major. However, the hidden curriculum
was not behind me, because now I was enrolled in courses where I was
often one of only a few females in classes with many, many males. The
professors were not rude but it was obvious we were invisible because
ourideas, views, and answers were almost neversolicited. I canrememberas if it were yesterday sitting in a small seminar class of about ten students. There were eight males, myself, and one other female. The professor was having a conversation with the male students and by his
manner was giving them lots of reinforcement for totally inane remarks.
I raised my hand to add to the discussion and when I finished my remark
the professor said something like, "Yes, everyone already knows that,"
and went right on accepting the same kind of remark from the men in the
class. I was furious but his point was made. If you were male your remarks were lively and interesting but if you were female please don't
waste your breath. It is clear that the hidden curriculum of our schools
had a profound effect on my life.
Gender obviously includes not only male and female dimensions but also heterosexuality, bisexuality, and homosexuality. For Adriana Medina the "privileged"
position of heterosexuality in the classes at the local community college represented a type of hidden curriculum. She describes, for example, how one day one
of her students approached her about completing a reading assignment that had to
do with selecting a trade book to read and report on from a local bookstore.

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As the students trickled in a couple of minutes before class was to begin, I sat at the computer station working on setting up my PowerPoint
presentation for the day's lesson. I was tinkering with the machine,
when Q came up to me.
"Mrs. Medina, I have my books for the trade book assignment."
"Fantastic!" I looked up from the computer screen.
"Can I show them to you?" He reached into his book bag.
"We're going to discuss that during class." I glanced up at the clock.
"I just need to get the projector to work before the class starts. Is that
okay?"
"Yeah, sure:'
G_ took his seat. It was our second class session. I took attendance, and the class was under way. When I got to the item on the
agenda of sharing What books we planned on reading for the trade
book assignment, I remembered that G__ had his. I went around the
class asking each student if he or she knew which book they intended
to read. When I got to G__, I said, "QG _, you said you had already
chosen your books. Why don't you share with us what they are?"
"No, no, no. I'll show them to you in private."
I found G 's reaction a bit strange because he had wanted to
share the books with me earlier.'I thought that maybe he didn't wish to
share the books now because I hadn't had the time to pay attention to
him before class. Or maybe he liked reading trashy romances and was
embarrassed to share that with the other students. I respected his
choice and moved on to the next student and eventually on to the lesson for the day. Scheduled for the last half of the class was a field trip
to the local bookstore.
This particular course I was teaching was remedial college reading.
Most students who enroll in this course test into it. They score below
average on the college's reading comprehension test so they need
reading strategies, practice, and remediation. The course is not a
graded one; it is pass, progress, or fail. The trade book activity is one
that I use to meet one of the objectives of the course. In addition to the
textbook, the students are to read a trade book of their choice. It can be
either fiction or nonfiction; the only limitations are that it cannot be a
textbook for another class or something they need to read for work.
The trade book has to be a book they want to read for pleasure.
I handed out directions and we met at the bookstore. Every semester I have at least a couple of students who have never set foot in a
bookstote. So I was with those who needed a tour of the store and directions as to what was where. I had finished and was headed toward
the caf6 when I ran into GQ. We were alone in the aisle and with one

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book in each palm, he presented them to me and said, "These are the
books I want to read."
I looked down at the covers. I didn't catch the title of one, but the
other read The Boyfriend Within. Well, I'm a teacher of reading, not a
rocket scientist, but I knew what G
was trying to tell me. Because I
taught eighth grade for many years, my face is trained not to flinch or
express surprise prematurely, so I simply nodded and looked up at
him. "They're fine by me. Remember, it has to be something you are
interested in reading."
"I am interested in reading this and finding out more about myself."
"That's very important:'
"This is why I didn't want to share the books in class. I don't think
that the others would understand."
"You could be right."
"But you seem like the kind of teacher who would be open-minded
about this. Not all are. And as a book to read for class...."
Another student approached us with a question for me, and G_
quickly put his books back in his bag.
I grabbed the book the other student was handing me, and I turned
to G__ and said, "The only requirement is that you chose a book that
you're interested in reading. If those books fulfill the requirement for
you, then I should have no problem."
The majority of the class had finished making their purchases when
GQ came up to me again. "You know how you plan on pairing us up for
the trade book reading reflection? Can I ask that you don't pair me up
with those guys in class?" He pointed with his chin in the direction
where two male students from the class were standing next to the Harry
Potter display. "I don't think they'll understand. They won't like it."
"Who do you suggest? You have someone in mind?"
G. proceeded to tell me whom he felt would be more sympathetic
to his choice of genre, and I took note of his request.
On her way home after class, Adriana replayed in her mnind the events of the
class and in particular her interaction with G _. The thought came to her that
what was at work was a "hidden curriculum." She thought,
G__ and I have mastered the objectives of the hidden curriculum.
Somewhere in our schooling experiences, we learned that homosexuality was not discussed in school. As a matter of fact, in our conversation we never uttered the word. Yes, we've learned very well.
Within the hidden curriculum, G_ learned that many of his past
teachers were not open to the topic of homosexuality, although I'm sure

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none of them verbally articulated their position. Also through the hidden curriculum, G__ learned that a classroom is not a nurturing environment, when in reality, if there is a place to learn and more important,
learn about acceptanceof otherindividuals, whatbetterplace than in the
safety of a classroom community. Unfortunately, thehidden curriculum
also taught G__ that when the teacher says you can pick any book you
want to read, you really can't. You can't read "that;" you need to read
something more pleasing to the teacher. Sadly, the hidden curriculum
taught G_ that in the classroorn he cannot share orbe himself because
others will not "like it." Instead, he has learned to hide.
For Paola Pilonieta, gender as a hidden curriculum manifested itself in the attitude of one of her teachers in preparing for her high school advanced placement
test in history. As she recalls,
My parents, as many parents are, were very concerned with the state of
public education when I went to middle and high school. As a result of
this they decided that the best option for me would be to attend a magnet
school. My particular magnet school focused on the International Baccalaureate (IB) Program and had a wide assortment of Advanced Placement (AP) and IB classes. In that sense, I was fortunate because I was
able to take classes that were not necessarily offered in other schools.
My favorite class at the time happened to be AP/IB American History. Ironically, my experience of the hidden curriculum revolves
around that teacher, who was also one of my favorite teachers. He had
very high expectations of all of his students and set a rigorous schedule.
He was determined to help us pass our AP and IB examinations. Because of his very high standards and the difficulty of his exams, there
were not a lot of people who had As in the class. My friend "John" and I
often bragged to each other about how well we were doing in our history
teacher's class. We were both good students but he was particularly
known forhis academic prowess and was expected to be valedictorian of
our class. I particularly enjoyed bragging about my history grades to
"John"because as it turned outl often did betterin the class than he did.
As the AP exam date loomed near it became obvious that we were not
going to be able to cover as much material as my teacher had hoped. One
day during class our teacher told "John" to see him after class because he
had something for him. During lunch I asked "John" what our teacher
had given him. "John" proceeded to show me seven history books about
topics that we would not be covering before the AP exam. I assumed that
I too would receive some extra reading material.

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Thinking back about her experience, Paola began to reflect about comments
and attitudes elicited by her teacher over the course of the year. It became clear to
her that in his treatment of "John" he was not only promoting-probably unconsciously-preferential treatment based on gender but that he was, in fact, actually
"participating in a hidden curriculum."
For Frank Galloway, gender as a hidden curriculum manifested itself as part of
his experience in high school. Toward the end of his junior year, he and one of his
friends began to talk about the teachers he could expect to study with in the fall. In
a hushed whisper his friend told him the following story:
The previous year my friend had taken French. Yet this year, the
French teacher, a woman, was no longer employed by the school district. Why? It seems that this teacher shared a house with another female teacher. Once this became known the district took it upon itself to
be the guardians of public values. They deemed it necessary to ask the
teacher to leave the school district.
The lesson learned was arguably not explicit. Yet the students
learned from the hidden curriculum. We learned that it is not acceptable
to be sexually oriented differently from the norm. Not only is it not acceptable, it is dangerous to let one's sexual orientation become common
knowledge. It is dangerous because it can ruin reputations, end successful careers, and force one to move to a different city or town. One is
forced, in effect, into anonymity among ones colleagues and students.
An entire aspect of one's life must not be addressed at work, thus removing important knowledge that leads to greater human understanding
from one's peers. This teacher made the mistake of sharing her situation
with an unsympatheticperson. Thatperson, the self-appointed guardian
of the public good, let the administration know of the situation and in so
doing, changed two lives drastically. The students' lives were influenced by this hidden curriculum that teachers who have same-sex attraction have no place in our public schools.
In this case, the hidden curriculum is unconsciously taught as a by-product of the
school's values, beliefs, and mores. These values are deeply embedded in the community but rarely brought to the surface and articulated.

Political Values and the Hidden Curriculum

Anna Syrquin was born and educated in Latvia while it was under Soviet domination. Besides going to school, she also was a member of the Pioneers (Young
Communist League). She remembered the story she learned in school about Pavlik
Morozov. As she recalls,

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Every Soviet girl or boy knew who Pavlik Morozov was. He was my
hero, too. Pavlik Morozov was a pioneer-a member of the Young
Communist League. (Every boy and girl joined the Young Communist
League at the age of nine or ten years and wore a red tie and a little red
pin.) During the Civil War in the early twenties, when there was hunger in the cities, special communist brigades were sent from the cities
to rural areas to search for grain. The kulaks (small landholders or
peasants), who were the enemies of the new regime, were hiding grain
from the brigades. Pavlik Morozov lived in a village. He overheard
that his father and other local kulaks were hiding grain from the Communists. As a true pioneer he reported on his father to the Communists
because he did not want the workers in the cities to die of hunger. The
grain was confiscated but the kulaks killed Pavlik.
I do not Temember anyone telling us explicitly to report on our parents or other members of the family, but the implicit message was absolutely clear. The communist cause of Lenin and Stalin (orlaterjustLenin) and the Communist Party was more important than one's father or
mother. That was the hidden curriculum in the Soviet school.
For Anna the choice presented for young children like herself by the hidden political curriculum of the Soviets was a terrible and sad one to contemplate. To be a
good citizen, one had to choose the State over one's parents and family.
Special Education and the Hidden Curriculum
The Hidden Curriculum can realize itself in the context of Special Education.
Suzette Ahwee recalls, for example, how in the fall of 1999 she was enrolled in the
last two courses for her master's degree in education. As she recalls,
These last two courses entailed my associate teaching in an elementary setting as well as a secondary setting. The secondary setting took
place at a high school located in the southeastern United States. Given
that my master's program was that of special education, I was placed
with an Exceptional Student Education (ESE) teacher, whom I will refer to as my clinical teacher.
When I telephoned my clinical teacher one week prior to starting at
this school, I asked about the subject she taught, to which she replied
Mathematics. As high school curriculums are typically structured, I
assumed that it was either Geometry, Algebra I, Algebra II, Trigonometry, or even Calculus. I realized that I was presumptuous in such an
assumption on my first day of associate teaching. The,name of the subject she taught was called FCAT Preparation-Mathematics.

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Not only was this subject available only to ESE students, it was a
core requirement for their graduation. In this particular school, students identified with special needs were required to take one semester
of FCAT Preparation-Mathematics as well as one semester of FCAT
Preparation-Language Arts. The underlying assumption with this requirement was that ESE students needed an extra year of preparation
in order to pass the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT),
which is an examination that students must pass to graduate. This test
replaced the High School Competency Test and was considered more
challenging than the previous measure.
This subject consisted of reviewing mathematics facts from previous subjects (e.g., Algebra I and Algebra II). Not only was reviewing
part of the curriculum, students were also familiarized with the test's
format. Students were basically given assignments to complete on a
form that was comparable to the FCAT's answer booklet.
This requirement was mandated one year before students' scores on
the FCAT would "count" for graduation. Therefore, this requirement
was not based on a history ofESE students' failing scores per se. Rather,
it was based on the prediction that they would not pass the test without
additional help. In other words, the presumption was that ESE students
could not succeed without intensive training. Requiring ESE students to
take an extra year of classes focused on FCAT preparation was, thus, a
hidden curriculum.
Suzette's experience clearly demonstrates how the hidden curriculum can be
built into the process of assessment. Assessment, as in the case of the FCAT, can
drive the curriculum and the educational outcomes of students. The assessment
process can determine what the student sees as of value, or worthy of effort. That
which is assessed or judged is of greater value than that which is not assessed.
Finally, grading can be seen as part of the assessment process. The hidden curriculum may value achievement over learning, given our emphasis on formal tests and
grades.
Defining the Null Curriculum
Closely related to the concept of the hidden curriculum is the null curriculum.
The null curriculum, as defined by curriculum theorist Elliot Eisner (1985), can be
characterized by the seeming paradox that we teach something by not teaching. It
is the curriculum of that which does not exist. Eisner categorizes the null curriculum along two major dimensions: the cognitive processes that are stressed and disregarded, and the subject matter included or excluded in curricula. He posits that
the null curriculum has serious implications in that it affects the types of options

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one is able to consider, the vantage points from which one can view a situation or
problem, and the alternatives one can entertain. Repercussions for schools ensue
not only "by virtue of what they do teach, but also by virtue of what they neglect to
teach" (Eisner 1985, 103).
In our exclusions, we make clear cultural and political statements about what is
of significance to us in our society. Traditional mores and values are thereby sustained and stabilized via the null curriculum. The following excerpts serve as case
study examples of the functioning of the null curriculum. As was the case in our
earlier examination of the hidden curriculum, the following excerpts are case studies based on the actual experiences of doctoral students involved in writing this article as they reflected on their own schooling and teaching with reference to the
null curriculum.

Marginalized Groups and the Null Curriculum

The null curriculum often takes the form of the purposeful and deliberate exclusion of the perspectives, issues, and histories of particular populations and cultures. Juliet Hart relates,
During my secondary school experience during the early 1990s,
groups that had been historically left out of American History including women, African Americans, gays and lesbians, and other
marginalized groups continued, in large part, to be excluded. In my
Advanced Placement American History class, I expected that during
our investigation of modem American history, we would study the
movements of women, of African Americans and others for civil
rights, and of gays and lesbians. For the most part (perhaps due to time
constraints of the impending end of the school year, or perhaps due to
more political and cultural reasons), our study of contemporary history was limited to the Korean War, Vietnam War, and the Cold War.
Although each of the aforementioned groups had (and continues to
have) a discernable and real history, their exclusion from contemporary school curricula has continued to the extent that their issues,
struggles, contributions, and triumphs have not been deemed worthy
of consideration. In terms of curriculum, past and present, these
groups did not and do not exist.

Race and the Null Curriculum

Pat Stevens describes her experience with the null curriculum as it relates to
race in our educational system as reflected by the curriculum that is not included.

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As part of an assignment for my daughter's science class, the teacher

instructed the class to write one- to two-paragraph reports on famous
scientists and inventors. On our trip to the library, I suggested that she
do her reports on Black scientists and inventors. Her response was,
"There aren't any Black scientists or inventors." I corrected her by
showing her books written about Black famous inventors and scientists. Her response was that she did not know that there were so many
famous Black inventors and scientists. I began to think, how could this
be? She is in a "good" school. How is it that she does not know about
famous Black inventors and scientists?
On further investigation, I discovered that while her school and
teacher were in fact "good," there was no mention of Blacks and their
contributions to the field of science. For my daughter, this null curriculum and its message translated into, "Well, sincemy school and teachers
don't mention or teach me about famous Black scientists and inventors,
they must not exist. Therefore, science is not a field thatBlacks have careers in. I therefore can't be a scientist." Now that my daughter knows
that Blacks can and have made significant contributions to the field of
science, she has a strong interest in exploring science as afield of study.
Culture and the Null Curriculum
Paola Pilonieta recalls an experience with the null curriculum as it related to the
exclusion of the study of her home culture in world history.
My experience with the null curriculum has had a more profound effect on me than my experience with the hidden curriculum. This story
also revolves around my middle and high school experience (both
schools were IB magnet schools). The IB program has its own curriculum because it is an international program. As a result of this, my parents believed that my education would be better rounded and that I
would learn about European and American literature and history, as
well as that of other cultures.
My parents were partially correct. I did learn a lot about Western
history, literature, and art. My ignorance about other cultures, particularly my own was not apparent until the summer before my senior
year. That summer my parents decided to spend the entire summer in
Colombia. We had not been there in over ten years, so my sister and I
were very excited to get to know the country where we were born.
After such a long absence, my sister and I were more like tourists
than we were natives. We visited many museums, churches, and other
historical monuments. It wasn't until that moment that I realized that I

EDUCATIONAL STUDIES

39

had never even contemplated Colombia's place in history. I knew the

basics that you learn in elementary school about the Spanish conquistadors, so I knew that Colombia was initially colonized by the Spaniards. However, I had never thought of everything that had happened
before the legendary year of 1492 or after. There was a huge'gap in the
information that I had based on what I learned in school.
This gap led me to believe that nothing important happened with reference to Colombia before or after its colonization. After all, if it were
important, it would have been in one of my world history or literature
textbooks. Of course, I soon learned how wrong I was. Throughout my
trip I learned about Simon Bolivar, Colombia's own fight for independence, their civil wars, and their loss of Panama. I learned about the Gold
Museum, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Fernando Botero, and the pride the
people of Colombia take in their language. You may think that these are
things that my parents should have taught me at home about my heritage, but if your family is like my family, history and literature are seldom topics of conversation around the dinner table. It is information that
my parents assumed we learned in our "world" history and literature
classes.
The idea of the null curriculum excluding cultural groups can be seen at the bureaucratic level of school systems in the following description by Lina Chiappone:
I've worked as a teacher in an at-risk, dropout prevention fifth-grade
class for the last five years. Most of my students come from nontraditional families, mostly single moms. I was struck by the dichotomy of
a school district that encourages family involvement in the schooling
process but that continues with administrative practices that do not address the needs of the nontraditional family. For example, sound ideas
for encouraging parent involvement are negated by scheduling practices built around the schedules of the ruling "referent ethni-class," or
middle-class Americans.
Inherent in the scheduling and bureaucratic procedures of the school is a null curriculum that ignores values and traditions that may be inherent in the local community. Essentially, the school system may often serve the local community, but only
using its own specific terms and criteria.
Literature and the Null Curriculum
Anna Syrquin reflects on her exposure to certain types of literature during her
schooling experience with regard to the null curriculum.

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In Latvia (or the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic), where I was born
and raised, the educational institutions were divided into those where
Latvian was the language of instruction and Russian was taught as the
second language, and those with Russian as the first and Latvian as the
second language. Foreign languages (mainly German, but also English,
and sometimes French) were taught, too. My parents sent me to a Russian kindergarten and then to a Russian school. While in the kindergarten we were often exposed to foreign literature, such as Finnish folklore,
tales by Andersen and the Grimm brothers, but we never studied foreign
literature at school. We studied the Russian literature (no Dostoyevsky,
though) and a small sample of the Latvian literature. Through the ten
years of school, we spent a considerable number of hours each week
studying Russian and Soviet Russian literature. I do not think we missed
a genre, we learned by heart and recited numerous pieces of poetry and
prose, role-played scenes from plays, discussed essays by Herzen and
Chernishevsky (Russian democrats and philosophers), and wrote compositions analyzing materials we studied. Then a miracle happened. In
1964, in the last grade, our literature teacher announced that we would
be studying Faust, H-Iamlet, and The Divine Comedy. To this day, I do not
know how it happened; it might have been some by-product of a temporary thaw in the ideological war of the Soviet Union with the West. It
would be interesting to know if they continued teaching foreign literature in high school in the following years.
This experience is a particularly good example of the null curriculum. Reading foreign literature was not forbidden. Books by foreign authors were in bookstores and
libraries (except, of course, those that were forbidden, such as the vast majority of
the Western contemporary authors who were not showing sympathy with the totalitarian regime of the Soviet Union). However, foreign literature was not included
in the state mandated centralized curriculum. There was an implicit message to the
students that only Russian literature is worth studying, diminishing the importance
of everything not Russian.
Writing and the Null Curriculum
Suzette Ahwee recounts her experience with a form of null curriculum related
to writing.
The teachers who taught early in my secondary schooling typically focused on expository writing. They provided direct instruction on how
to construct a paragraph. For example, each paragraph must contain an

EDUCATIONAL STUDIES

41

introductory sentence, several detailed sentences, and finally, a closing sentence.

The English teachers who taught toward the end of my secondary
schooling typically focused also on expository writing. Specifically,
many of our assignments focused on writing about famous people or
books as well as creating research reports. If memory serves me correctly, I was never encouraged to write creatively. In fact, writing cre-;
atively earned me a lower grade.
Such attention to one type of writing and inattention to another type
of writing is a null curriculum. Instead of being presented with both
types of writing from which to choose or engage, we were limited to one
type. Consequently, I only engaged in expository writing. You could say
that I did not "know" any better. I now know better because I was first introduced to creative writing during my undergraduate studies in college.
I now use whichever type is appropriate for the writing situation. As a
side note, I am happy to report that both types of writing are now being
encouraged in secondary schools. Students must engage in both expository and narrative writing on the statewide assessment in writing.

Interpretive Conclusions and Implications

Whether cognizant of their roles or not, teachers become the transmitters of unintended instruction. Lest they perpetuate unknowingly the covert values, expectations, and other messages of the larger culture of which they are a part,' educators
must become reflective and inquire into matters more critically, with the goal of
improving their own instructional practice (McCutcheon 1988). Teachers must
consider their own classroom context and the ways in which cultural attitudes
about race, power, and gender are sanctioned (albeit unconsciously) within the
school, arena.
The hidden and null curricula have as a primary function the communication
and reproduction of the values of a society. These curricula may be subtle, insidious, and prejudicial, or may be positive, productive, and just. However, as demonstrated by the "case studies" presented in this article, regardless of type, these curricula are operational and everpresent. It is incumbent upon educators to recognize
this reality, contemplate in whose culture it is we ultimately choose to invest, and
reflect on the consequences of those investments.
Such an analysis recognizes the deeply political nature of the hidden and null
curriculum. The hidden and null curriculum are particularly interesting in this context, because they operate culturally on a largely unconscious level, analogous to
the linguist Edward Sapir's notion of a fish moving through the water "oblivious of
the existence of an alien atmosphere" (Sapir 1921). The hidden and null curricula
are also interesting because they provide us with examples of instrumentalities of

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cultural hegemony. For example, as Kincheloe and Steinberg (1997) explain,

power "no longer exercised by physical force, but through social and psychological attempts to win men and women's consent to domination through cultural institutions such as the schools, the media, the family and the church" (89).
Understanding the nature of the hidden and null curriculum and how it manifests itself as part of the hegemonic forces at work in the culture is critical at many
different levels. If the educational system is truly interested in being just and equitable, if teachers at the classroom level are interested in being fair and truly understanding the implications of their work, then an understanding of the hidden and
null curriculum is essential.
As researchers, we believe that a collective case study based on shared experiences, such as the model employed in this experimental article, represents an important means by which to explore concepts such as the null and hidden curriculum. We believe that this model could be used in a number of other areas of interest
to researchers in the Social and Cultural Foundations of Education, including
questions involving the experience of race and gender. We hope to encourage others to pursue such collective research strategies as well as to engage in further discussion of the potential and limitations of this and similar models of research.

References
Aronowitz, Stanley, and Henry Giroux. 1985. Education UnderSiege: The Conservative,
Liberal, andRadicalDebate OverSchooling. South Hadley, Mass.: Bergin and Garvey.
Combleth, Catherine. 1984. "Beyond Hidden Curriculum?" Journalof Curriculullm Studies
1:29-36.
Eisner, Elliot W. 1985. The EducationalImagination: On the Design and Evaluation of
School Programs, 2nd ed. New York: Macmillan.
Giroux, Henry, and David Purpel, eds. 1983. The Hidden CurriculumandMoral Education:
Deception or Discovery. Berkeley: McCutchan Publishing Corporation,
Gordon, David. 1983. "Rules and the Effectiveness of the Hidden Curriculum' Journalof
the Philosophy of Education 17:207-218.
Hlebowitsh, Peter S. 1994. "The Forgotten Hidden Curriculum." Journalof Curricullumand
Supervision 9:339-349.
Illich, Ivan. 1978. Toward a History of Needs: Essays. New York: Bantam.
Jackson, Philip W. 1968. Life in Classrooms. New York: Holt, Reinhart & Winston.
Kincheloe, Joe, and Shirley Steinberg. 1997. Changing Multicutlturalism. Buckingham,
England: Open University Press.
L6vy, Pierre. 1997. Collective Intelligence: Mankind's Emerging World in Cyberspace.
Translated by Robert Bononno. New York: Plenum.
McCutcheon, Gail. 1988. "Curriculum and the Work of Teachers." In The Curriculluim:
Problems, Politics, and Possibilities.Edited by Landon E. Beyer and Michael W.Apple.
New York: State University of New York Press.
McLaren, Peter 1998. Life in Schools: An Introduction to CriticalPedagogyin the Foundations of Education, 3rd ed. New York: Longman.
Portelli, John P. 1993. "Exposing the Hidden Curriculum." Journal of Curriculutm Studies
25:343-358.
Sapir, Edward. 1921. Language: An Introduction to the Study of Speech. New York: Harcourt Brace.

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Snyder, Benson R. 1971. The Hidden C'urriculum. New York: Knopf.

Correspondence should be addressed to Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr., Department of

Teaching and Learning, School of Education, P.O. Box 248065, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL 33124. E-mail: provenzo@miami.edu

Nexus Homo: Connected Humans

KATHRYN ROSS WAYNE
Western Washington University

In this article I explore the projections of "Global Trends 2015, a government

document that hypothesizes various global scenarios fifteen years into the future. In terms ofthedocument's emphasis on environment, economicglobalization, technology, and war, the impact on education, which the document specifically indicates as high priority for U.S. success in these areas, can only create
curricula that continue thedividebetween humans and the natural environment.
I want to tell a sort of story, three small stories embedded in a three part larger
story. Let me begin with a brief discussion of my title. I chose the term Nexus homo
with intent: the specificity and potential for interaction of the definitions of nexus
and homno identify precisely the intersections I want to make. The definitions are as

follows:
Homo: The Latin word for man; a. From its use in Latin works on logic, frequently employed, in quasi-logical orscholastic language, in the sense 'human
being'; b. zooL The genus of whichMan is the single species, having many geographical races and varieties (Oxford English Dictionary 1987, 1323).
Nexus: To bind, connect. 1. A bond or link; a means of connexion between
things orparts; 2. A connected group orseries (OxfordEnglisl Dictionary1987,
1921).
The intersections to which I previously referred include three primary foci: (1) the
bond/connection between/among humans, which includes both culture and biology; (2) the bond/connection between humans and geography and, consequently,
(3) the bond/connection between humans and geographically specific biotic communities. Those three intersecting foci require that we do more than just teeter on

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TITLE: The Hidden and Null Curriculums: An Experiment in

Collective Educational Biography
SOURCE: Educ Stud (AESA) 35 no1 F 2004
WN: 0403303450002
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