Welcome to Hidden Curriculum
Welcome to Hidden Curriculum – a blog that explores the unwritten, unofficial, and often unintended lessons college has to offer. I am a Dean and faculty member in the Division of Biology and Medicine at Brown University. I am personally, professionally, and scientifically interested in the lives of college students. The changes we experience between the ages of 18 and 23 are profound and the expectations can be daunting. I made my way through college as a first-generation student and have spent more than a decade working with all types of students at state and private universities. My experiences have shown me that students benefit tremendously when they are made aware of and embrace the hidden curriculum - the unwritten, unofficial, and often unintended lessons college offers*.
Students hone their academic skills through the formal curriculum, but they begin cultivating their life skills through the hidden curriculum. The world expects college graduates to have polished interpersonal skills, cultural & generational awareness, mastery of time management, the ability to take calculated risks, professional etiquette, breadth of communication skills, resiliency, authenticity, and more. Institutions of higher learning value these attributes, but their focus is a formal academic curriculum. After thousands of hours of working one-on-one with students in, on their way to, and on their way out of college there is one thing I know. The students who are aware of the hidden curriculum, recognize its value, and make time to learn its lessons, graduate as the whole-people future employers, professional schools, and potential life partners want.
My hope is this blog will orient students and their parents toward the hidden curriculum early in the college process. The posts here are informed by the literature, my colleagues, and based on lessons learned and delivered over a decade of teaching, advising, mentoring, and coaching college students and families.
You can learn more about my work at Brown here.
*The term ‘hidden curriculum’ is not mine. It was introduced in the 1960’s, by Philip Jackson, in his book Life in Classrooms. The Glossary of Education Reform offers a nice overview here.
