Mandhir Singh Sambhi

Pre-Class Writing Assignment 3

In addition to writing a concise summary of the Tonso reading, please address the following
question:

Tonso highlights shortfalls of curriculum planning and curriculum planners in academic

institutions that hinder women from progressing as engineers in male-dominant environments.
Women aren’t explicit prohibited from such programs, but the entire culture of the program
bends towards trends that favour men. From dress codes to student authority, male trends are
generally favoured. To add to the problem, a majority of the stakeholders do not recognize the
unequal treatment of women and the lack of equity. Women may be excellent engineers, but if
they are driven out of the workforce, along with others who are sensitive to the lack of equity,
the industry loses out on quality workers and quality work.

* What is a “hidden curriculum”? In other words, Tonso describes a particular hidden (gender)
curriculum. What is a “hidden” curriculum more broadly—beyond the one that Tonso describes
in this chapter?

The term “hidden curriculum” resonated with “implicit curriculum” from Elliot Eisner’s conception
of curriculum from Pamela Joseph’s book Cultures of Curriculum. Tonso’s interpretation of
“culture” also seemed to describe a similar picture to that from Joseph. Interactions, tendencies,
and trends prevalent among academic groups reflect upon what they begin to expect as the
norm. Tonso tries to expose biases of an academic group, engineering students, as an insider of
the group. From within, she records her observations on how women aren’t openly excluded
from excelling as engineers, but their identity is either not recognized as academic and
professional equals. If they are “recognized”, then they are only accepted as subordinates or
companions to men. Instead of realizing this unequal treatment, male students often further
propagate the issue by forcing women to conform to trends that by default fit well with men.
Women are offered little room to practice their academic skills and grow professionally, and if
they are able to, the process isn’t easy. A lack of equity in the curriculum adds to the lack of
comprehensive learning opportunities and authentic evaluation of student work. Then, if
excellent students drop out of the field, the industry suffers from a high quantity of low-quality
professionals who graduate from academic programs that weren’t built to generate critical
thinkers in the first place.