By: Rebekah Miller E-mail: rebekahniles@yahoo.com In the book School Girls by Peggy Orenstein, the focus is on young adolescent girls in middle school, and the effects that the “Hidden Curriculum” and other elements have on their self esteem. “Hidden Curriculum teaches girls to value silence and compliance.” (pg.35) The hidden curriculum is a theory that boys often get more attention than girls in the classroom, and that even if it is negative attention, the girls learn that they are not as important, and they eventually give up hope, and stop speaking out in class. “Educators reward assertiveness and aggression over docility, th