ABSTRACT
In Gordon's paper the just community approach is criticized because it is based on a narrow and unidimensional interpretation of the hidden curriculum. Gordon argues that in order to account for the pervasive and consistent nature of the latent curriculum and its effect on students one must go beyond a mere focus on planned social relations and include a much wider range of school phenomena such as cognitive elements and the spontaneous interactions occurring between faculty and students. While I can agree with Gordon's perspective that the concept of the hidden curriculum and its impact on students requires a multidimensional perspective, and also accept Gordon's characterization of Kohlberg's just community approach as placing the focus on social relations, I feel that in a number of instances he has misinterpreted and oversimplified Kohlberg's position. I also feel he is too rigid in his own interpretation of the hidden curriculum. Let me explain.
