Here There Be Dragons: Exploring the Uncharted Waters of Hidden Curricula in Legal Adult Education

Abstract

Legal education in Ontario is intended to transform the student from a naive individual to one equipped to embark on a career as a lawyer or paralegal. This agenda disclosed by the educational institution and supported by the Law Society of Upper Canada, matches at least the initial aim of most students; this is the immediate transformation students seek. Other aims are not so openly disclosed: law societies may impose a duty on educators to inculcate "civility and professionalism" (the attitudes and manners of upper middle-class Victorian gentlemen), without acknowledging that such attitudes exclude racialized or immigrant students, working class students, and women. For law-school students, encounters with the hidden agenda may leave them depressed, furious, alienated from their community, and lacking recourse. Paralegal education has a similar, but not as deeply entrenched, hidden agenda.