Critical Race Theory, Multicultural Education, and the Hidden Curriculum of Hegemony

Abstract

Embracing a critical race theory perspective, the researcher argues for a revisiting of the role of the hidden curriculum in education, particularly as it pertains to multicultural education. Using the concept of hegemony as a tool for analysis, the author explicates the ways in which the hidden curriculum enables educational institutions to argue in support of multicultural initiatives while simultaneously suppressing multicultural education's transformative possibilities. Through its failure to appreciate the challenges posed by the hidden curriculum, multicultural education gets appropriated as a "hegemonic device" that secures a continued position of power and leadership for the dominant groups in society. The author calls on those who conduct research on multicultural education to turn their attention to the ways in which the hidden curriculum keeps multicultural education stagnant.