 thumbnail|the hidden curriculum (1973 edition) the hidden curriculum (1970) is a book by benson r. snyder, the then-dean of institute relations at the massachusetts institute of technology. snyder advocates the thesis that much of campus conflict and students' personal anxiety is caused by a mass of unstated academic and social norms, which thwart the students' ability to develop independently or think creatively. these obligations, unwritten yet inflexible, form what snyder calls the hidden curriculum. he illustrates his thesis with psychological studies and other research conducted at both mit and wellesley college. ==summary== the hidden curriculum is a book in seven chapters. the title is a phrase coined by philip jackson in a 1968 essay entitled "life in classrooms". jackson argues that we must understand education as a socialization process; snyder elaborates upon this thesis with studies of particular institutions. in the first chapter, "the two curricula", snyder advances the proposition that :the assignments given in the classroom and the rewards for superior work are not limited to the formal curriculum. while many tasks are cast in explicit terms &mdash; "do problems 1 through 8 on page 67," "read chapter 3 and be prepared to discuss the period 1792-94 in french politics" &mdash; there is another set of less obvious tasks which bears a most interesting and important relationship to the formal curriculum. the question for the student is not only what he will learn but how he will learn, and when he will learn. these covert, inferred tasks, and the means to their mastery, are linked together in a hidden curriculum. they are rooted in the professors' assumptions and values, the students' expectations, and the social context in which both teacher and taught find themselves. snyder then continues to address the question of why students &mdash; even or especially the most gifted &mdash; turn away from education. even honest efforts to enrich curricula frequently fail, says snyder, thanks to the importance of the tacit and unwritten understanding. he observes that while some students do not realize there is a disjunction between the two curricula, almost all students must resort to ploys and stratagems to cope with the requirements they face. for example, within the first month of classes, many (or perhaps most) students discover they cannot conceivably complete all the work assigned them; consequently, they must selectively neglect portions of the formal schoolwork. attempts to beat the "competitive game", such as compiling "bibles" of solutions to be passed from one generation to the next, often only worsen the situation. professors become locked into the competition, and only a determined effort can change the behavior pattern on either side. no part of
1970_books Books_about_social_psychology Curricula Education_books Massachusetts_Institute_of_Technology Philosophy_of_education Student_culture