Page 102 - Šolsko polje, XXIX, 2018, no. 1-2: The Language of Neoliberal Education, ed. Mitja Sardoč
P. 102
šolsko polje, letnik xxix, številka 1–2
the governing structure, and education can be define itself as a right rath-
er than as a privilege.
Almost by definition, reforms and other initiatives aimed to im-
prove educational practice have been one of the pivotal mecha-
nisms to infiltrate the neoliberal agenda of effectiveness and effi-
ciency. What aspect of neoliberalism and its educational agenda
you find most problematic? Why?
Increasingly aligned with market forces, higher education is mostly primed
for teaching business principles and corporate values, while university ad-
ministrators are prized as CEOs or bureaucrats in a neoliberal-based au-
dit culture. Many colleges and universities have been McDonalds-ized as
knowledge is increasingly viewed as a commodity resulting in curricula
that resemble a fast-food menu. In addition, faculty are subjected increas-
ingly to a Wal-Mart model of labor relations designed as Noam Chomsky
points out “to reduce labor costs and to increase labor servility”. In the
age of precarity and flexibility, the majority of faculty have been reduced
to part-time positions, subjected to low wages, lost control over the con-
ditions of their labor, suffered reduced benefits, and frightened about ad-
dressing social issues critically in their classrooms for fear of losing their
jobs. The latter may be the central issue curbing free speech and academ-
ic freedom in the academy. Moreover, many of these faculty are barely
able to make ends meet because of their impoverished salaries, and some
are on food stamps. If faculty are treated like service workers, students
fare no better and are now relegated to the status of customers and cli-
ents. Moreover, they are not only inundated with the competitive, privat-
ized, and market-driven values of neoliberalism, they are also punished
by those values in the form of exorbitant tuition rates, astronomical debts
owed to banks and other financial institutions, and in too many cases a
lack of meaningful employment. As a project and movement, neoliber-
alism undermines the ability of educators and others to create the con-
ditions that give students the opportunity to acquire the knowledge and
the civic courage necessary to make desolation and cynicism unconvinc-
ing and hope practical. As an ideology, neoliberalism is at odds with any
viable notion of democracy which it sees as the enemy of the market. Yet,
Democracy cannot work if citizens are not autonomous, self-judging, cu-
rious, reflective, and independent – qualities that are indispensable for
students if they are going to make vital judgments and choices about par-
ticipating in and shaping decisions that affect everyday life, institutional
reform, and governmental policy.
100
the governing structure, and education can be define itself as a right rath-
er than as a privilege.
Almost by definition, reforms and other initiatives aimed to im-
prove educational practice have been one of the pivotal mecha-
nisms to infiltrate the neoliberal agenda of effectiveness and effi-
ciency. What aspect of neoliberalism and its educational agenda
you find most problematic? Why?
Increasingly aligned with market forces, higher education is mostly primed
for teaching business principles and corporate values, while university ad-
ministrators are prized as CEOs or bureaucrats in a neoliberal-based au-
dit culture. Many colleges and universities have been McDonalds-ized as
knowledge is increasingly viewed as a commodity resulting in curricula
that resemble a fast-food menu. In addition, faculty are subjected increas-
ingly to a Wal-Mart model of labor relations designed as Noam Chomsky
points out “to reduce labor costs and to increase labor servility”. In the
age of precarity and flexibility, the majority of faculty have been reduced
to part-time positions, subjected to low wages, lost control over the con-
ditions of their labor, suffered reduced benefits, and frightened about ad-
dressing social issues critically in their classrooms for fear of losing their
jobs. The latter may be the central issue curbing free speech and academ-
ic freedom in the academy. Moreover, many of these faculty are barely
able to make ends meet because of their impoverished salaries, and some
are on food stamps. If faculty are treated like service workers, students
fare no better and are now relegated to the status of customers and cli-
ents. Moreover, they are not only inundated with the competitive, privat-
ized, and market-driven values of neoliberalism, they are also punished
by those values in the form of exorbitant tuition rates, astronomical debts
owed to banks and other financial institutions, and in too many cases a
lack of meaningful employment. As a project and movement, neoliber-
alism undermines the ability of educators and others to create the con-
ditions that give students the opportunity to acquire the knowledge and
the civic courage necessary to make desolation and cynicism unconvinc-
ing and hope practical. As an ideology, neoliberalism is at odds with any
viable notion of democracy which it sees as the enemy of the market. Yet,
Democracy cannot work if citizens are not autonomous, self-judging, cu-
rious, reflective, and independent – qualities that are indispensable for
students if they are going to make vital judgments and choices about par-
ticipating in and shaping decisions that affect everyday life, institutional
reform, and governmental policy.
100
