The Hidden Curriculum

What school really teaches us

When I was younger I remember asking my Humanities teacher Ms Catlin for advice on how to become a teacher. I knew I'd always wanted to work with young people, and at around 14-15 years old that seemed to be the only option available to me. I can't thank her enough for the advice she gave me: "I wouldn't go into it straight away. Maybe try something else first." It really stuck with me as that was the first time I'd even been presented with an option of not getting a job straight out of the educational conveyor belt. 

And that's what I did.. at 18 years old I took off on an interrailing trip around Europe with my best friends, visiting Paris, Madrid, Budapest, Prague, and Berlin on a trip that ignited a fire within me that would continue to burn for the next decade of my life. Since then I've called Thailand, Spain, Central America and now Australia home and have worked with young people across a variety of sectors from education, employment, and emotional intelligence. I've probably held workshops for tens of thousands of young people throughout this time, across hundreds of schools, and along the way, I have learned a thing or two about the education system.

At first, I used to believe it was a system, that like many others, was outdated and simply needed upheaval. That reform would soon come and modernise learning with the changing of the cultural tide. And maybe I could play my part in that. But as time went on I became further and further disillusioned.

The world I grew up in is almost unrecognisable from the one we live in today. But still, teachers are teaching the same old tragic lessons, with each day that passes drifting further and further away from the needs of young people and into obscurity. Why would a kid that has more technological power at the touch of a button than the president did just 50 years ago be interested in the same lessons he studied at school!? 

The more I've sat with these thoughts and plenty of others, the more I've come to believe that this system is far from outdated and fit for purpose. In fact, it is working exactly as intended. To ready young people for the capitalist machine they will be perfectly conditioned to play their part in. Below I’ve outlined the lessons school actually teaches you…

1. If you're not engaged, it’s your fault.

There is no significant understanding and integration of neurodivergence or respect for unique tendencies on the factory floor of the school classroom. If you fall outside the remit of what is considered “normal”, then you are abnormal. You must learn and behave in the same way as everyone else (standardised testing being the ugly reflection of this). If you struggle in this setting, it's not the system that needs adjusting, it's you and that means you're probably suffering from a blunted cognitive capacity. We’d better get you to a specialist and medicate this problem.

Individuality is the scourge of the schooling system, and there is absolutely no room for anyones unique expression or anything that cannot be quantified and scaled.

2. The world is black and white.

Your week will be filled with a series of random events and lessons that fill your school calendar and are in no way interrelated. History plays no impact on English; Maths and Science are in two different universal orbits, and if you can't sing or paint then you probably aren't creative so you should try something else. Things kind of just happen and there's no real complexity or natural order in the world.

This is one of the school's most cardinal sins as it teaches you that you are separate from your environment, those that came before you, and those that are yet to come. This disconnect is further exacerbated by teachers that are separated from each other, who are trained only to give instructions in a series of incoherent sequences. What this means is memorising a series of random facts is better than building a cohesive understanding of the context of the world you inhabit.

3. Know your place and stay there. 

Deft signals cue when it is your time to speak. The bell rings and you are herded and shuffled along like cattle to your next intellectual feeding. Any tiny transgression is punished. By normalising these class structures and signals you will be conditioned into observing the natural world as a pyramid where there are haves and have-nots. A Queen and a legion pawns. Fixed systems of class that are simply an irreparable part of life. There is no need for the dream of upward social mobility as that’s just how things are and always will be.

This will ready you wonderfully when it comes to being a good little worker. Of course, you will have a little more freedom when this day finally comes such as what you choose to have for lunch. And by this point will be granted ever-increasing concessions in the way of financial tokens should you continue to play your role in the game well.

4. You must NEVER figure out The Great Secret.

The Great Secret has the ability to transform all lives at an individual and collective level. This Great Secret has the potential to collapse all societal structures overnight. The Great Secret is - you are far more powerful than you can comprehend, and you are worthy of love just as you are.

I can spot a kid who has been told by his parents they will love them unconditionally from a country mile away. For the most part, this young person is a rare find, and rightly so. It is impossible to make this kid conform in a way they do not wish to do so, especially if it goes against their own values. 

Our world would not survive a flood of confident people for very long so you will need to have any self-esteem suppressed and preferably admonished through rigorous analysis and evaluation. Whether this judgment comes from your teachers or other students is not important, what is important is that you must never, ever, under any circumstance figure out The Great Secret. 

5. Outsource your decision-making to the expert.

At the top of the pyramid of course is a figure of unquestionable power and one that provides you with concessions to the holy grail of school experiences - the toilet break during lesson time. Good boys can go to the toilet whenever they like. I, not quite the good boy, but definitely not a bad boy, was rewarded with a visit on occasion. Good luck to you if the teacher doesn’t like you at all, as there is no chance for you to relieve yourself in congruence with your natural flow. 

By removing all autonomy, from the biological to the creative, you will learn to outsource your own inner authority to those in charge. The Experts.

Ahh, The Experts.

The infallible, bulletproof institutions and individuals who will create meaning for you in your life, far better than you ever will.

When you grow up to be a very good person you will wait for an expert to tell you exactly what to do. By the time you’ve reached adulthood, you will have become so used to putting up your hand to go to the bathroom that you’ll never really think to question those in charge.

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I’m fully aware that the multitude of dysfunctions we face in the modern world cannot be pinned squarely on the shoulders of the schooling system. But it does bring about the worst in the developing psyche. The formative mind of a young person is constantly in survival mode and stretched to the brink of self-destruction due to a hectic schedule of nutritionally deficient meals, lessons and relationships. 

The fact of the matter is, our education system fails in what should be its most basic premise for functioning: How to live.

And it's not just the kids of today who are disengaged these days, the teachers are too. "Leaving en masse due to shoddy working conditions, exhaustion, and lack of respectable pay. Who on earth can blame them? The current system is somewhat of an Elizabethan caricature that fails the litmus test of every basic human need.

Stay tuned for part 2 of this piece in which I outline the 5 things we can do to update our education system in order to create healthier inner, inter, and outer cultures.

Stay lit,
Moe.

P.s - Please get involved with the conversations through the comments below! Studies show time and time again when we directly engage with social media our happiness levels increase dramatically. Plus it helps me hear your thoughts and helps me improve. Win-win for all!