When you were growing up, did you see the “hidden curriculum” at work in your schools? How did a person’s race, ethnicity, gender, social class, sexuality, and religion influence his or her education? What was communicated to members of different groups as being important and attainable for them?

Admission to elite colleges has long been a competitive process. What factors might push a family to engage in deceptive practices, or even illegal activity, to gain access to these schools for their children? How might this practice influence the status of these elite schools? How does this practice of people with access to resources using them to gain access to elite schools disadvantage other applicants?

In what ways have students become consumers of education? How have schools catered to this notion? Has this helped or hindered the education process? How?