Cultural Hegemony is the “unequal power relationships between two or more cultures, ideologies, socioeconomic groups and so on” that allow people to understand the legitimization of the miseducating tendency in order to preserve non democratic power relations (Tozer, Senese & Violas, 2009, p. 270). The hidden curriculum refers to those values and knowledge that are not indented in the prescribed curriculum, but are passed on and many times acquired by students in the school environment.
The school system being a factory of policies and regulations, which many times are value laden, are interpreted differently at the many levels of the chain of command including teachers, students and parents. It is through the individual beliefs that policies about curriculum, rules and regulations are implemented through the eyes of each individual. Schools pass on values of “democratic” content yet students are faced with inequality of power every day. By holding students responsible to follow guidelines and regulations established by persons not necessarily directly connected with them, the school plays a major role in perpetuating cultural hegemony.
In the classroom, the teacher in charge may choose to strictly adhere to the curriculum, however, even then and maybe unintentionally, lessons are being presented with her own values in mind. When teachers acknowledge the disagreement with a certain procedure such as standardized testing, they are transmitting a hidden curriculum that stays with the student regardless of our intentions. We are teaching students to be submissive as we state things such as “…but we have to do it” or “I know this rule is ridiculous.” Students are being taught that even though we don’t agree with something, we must comply.
Pluralism favors the equal participation of all members of society embracing their differences. Schools are certainly not a pluralist arena because there students do not have equal participation or political rights in their own education. When students assimilate the values of an organization such as the school, these groups looses their democratic rights as they are “brain washed” to believe it is in their best interest to assimilate. Minorities and students in general are marginalized as their potential power is diminished by what person in power think is best for all. We want all students to succeed after they graduate and yet, they spend 12 years as a suppressed group, who only must obey fulfilling prerequisites to obtaining a “balanced education.”
Are we educating students to become productive citizens in what we think a successful life should be? Or are we perpetuating a cycle of marginalization of the masses that will not respond adequately to the current demands and crisis and submerge even deeper in desperation and impoverishment? Having access to free and appropriate education is still not fulfilling the role of education as students are not being considered an integral part in the development of curriculum and policies.
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