At the end of this section, you should be able to describe how and why there are expectations placed on you as a graduate student that may not be clearly articulated within the scholarly community.
In the previous pages, you saw some of the explicit expectations placed on graduate students. On this page, you will see expectations that are implicit or hidden.
Please read one of the following articles and consider
Now that you have read the article, ask yourself
The hidden curriculum refers to the implicit, non-verbalized expectations placed on students by the institution. For example, the hidden curriculum in a Canadian elementary school may reflect unofficial social and academic expectations that schools have of students. So children may learn, unfortunately, that learning is geared toward exam performance. They may learn that different genders have different expectations placed on them. Or they may learn how to get into a teacher's favor. Such unofficial lessons reflect cultural norms and practices, so children not taught in a Canadian school would not share the same implicit knowledge as children taught in another country. This is the case at all levels of schooling.
The university is designed with a certain student in mind. However, many, if not most, students today do not fit this concept of the general student. Students who were educated outside of Canada, are the first person in their family to go to university, either at the undergraduate or graduate level, and students from different economic or social backgrounds, or with different needs and/or abilities, may not have the same unstated foundational knowledge, or access to these unspoken expectations, as students who more closely fit the concept.
The University of Saskatchewan's main campus is situated on Treaty 6 Territory and the Homeland of the Métis.
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