The hidden corridor curriculum.

Described in this paper is the “hidden” corridor curriculum which emerged in two urban high schools. This curriculum was rooted in a youth culture of hostility produced by teenagers in response to chronic joblessness, institutional breakdowns, and the demise of public safety nets in inner cities. It conveyed social lessons about illicit practices of acquisition; rituals of violence; corrosive images of coolness; codes of racism and racial separatism; and norms of gender antagonisms. Rather than offer possibilities for transformative social change, the hidden corridor curriculum spread the seeds of social destruction.

Background
Researchers since the late 1960s have focused attention on how the hidden curriculum in classrooms transmit implicit social lessons which perpetuate social inequalities. Virtually absent in this research are in-depth explorations of the destructive social lessons passed along by students in hallways, lunchrooms, and other corridor spaces. These lessons not only are left unexamined in the literature, but also are often hidden from view by school personnel who cannot or will not address their consequences.

Presented in this paper are lessons of the hidden corridor curriculum which emerged in two urban public high schools called Jefferson High and Central City High (pseudonyms). This curriculum was rooted in a youth culture of hostility constructed by teenagers in response to the harsh realities and corrosive media images of their lives in impoverished inner-city neighborhoods. As will be shown, this curriculum conveyed social lessons about socioeconomic advancement, and race and gender relations which had devastating consequences for students and their communities.

Citation: Hemmings A. 2000. The hidden corridor curriculum. The High School Journal, 83, 1-10