The Hidden Curriculum: The Socialization Of Whiteness In Schools

The Hidden Curriculum, its something not talked about but so ever present in our school systems and society. In the same way, we have whiteness, it is something that is not talked about, but is also all around us. The connection between the two is so great. Whiteness has a great affect of the hidden curriculum in all schools, meaning that Whiteness, in turn, has a great effect in all Black schooling and the only path for students of color’s success is to adopt this culture of whiteness. Why are Black students punished more than white students, why is this true even with Black teachers? Blackness is under attack in Black schools by Black authority. This essay will examine why and how socialization of whiteness is all Black schooling occurs. To better understand what adopting these cultures in schools looks like, we must first define socialization. Socialization is “the process through which people learn to become members of a group” (Judson). This is almost always socialization towards the white cultural hegemony, where whiteness is the cultural norm and is dominant in all aspects of society.

John Ogbe developed the oppositional culture theory. This is the idea that Black culture, and consequently Black students, equates school success with “acting white”. But this is not true, Black students are excited about their education and want to succeed in school. This ideology was only found to be somewhat true in schools with racialized tracking. For predominantly Black schools without racialized tracking, high achieving Black students do not equate their success with acting white. This in turn means that the ideology that school is equivalent to “acting white” is ultimately structuralized, and reinforced through the