The Not-So-Hidden Curriculum: How a Public School System in the United States Minoritizes Migrant Students

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article casts light on how one public school system in the United States minoritizes migrant students by perpetuating systemic class and racial biases. Migrant students are the children of migrant workers who migrate across the United States seasonally to work in agriculture or fisheries. Based on in-depth interviews with 20 educators, we identified three main areas of class and racial biases that we call the not-so-hidden curriculum: First, the school system presumes (and rewards) English competency from migrant families, an expectation we call expectation of English language competency. Second, the system expects entitled and intensive learning from students. This type of learning assumes that students can advocate for themselves in their interactions with teachers and peers. The schools in the school system expect students to spend most of their time and energy on academic activities. Third, the system expects entitled and intensive educational parenting. In this parenting approach, parents are supposed to act as co-educators and co-decision makers with teachers and focus their energy and time on their children’s education. The interviews illustrate several incompatibilities among these ideologies and migrant students’ realities, especially their economic, social, and linguistic challenges. We discuss the implications of our findings on migrant students’ social mobility, future research, and migrant education policy.