The Hidden Curriculum Undone: Teaching Institutional Knowledge to Transnational Families

Abstract

This article analyzes one aspect of the hidden curriculum perpetuated throughout public education—transnational families lacking institutional knowledge. This is an effort to combat unwanted ignorance by both the dominant culture and those who are attempting to assimilate. It is an effort to prevent injustices that are currently being addressed after the fact rather than as a preventative measure. In essence, we seek to provide a concrete solution to the hidden curriculum of institutional knowledge by proposing that it becomes a part of the community curriculum—a term we are introducing as a way to make explicit the overlooked, and the underutilized normative cultural knowledge. This article also discusses possible directions for future research and how scholars can make the hidden curriculum known by making it explicit in the community curriculum.