Page 21 - Šolsko polje, XXIX, 2018, no. 1-2: The Language of Neoliberal Education, ed. Mitja Sardoč
P. 21
v. d’agnese ■ concealment and advertising: unraveling ...
ultimately convert better jobs into better lives is a central preoccupation
of policy makers around the world. Results from the OECD’s recent
Survey of Adult Skills show that highly skilled adults are twice as likely
to be employed and almost three times more likely to earn an above-me-
dian salary than poorly skilled adults. In other words, poor skills severely
limit people’s access to better-paying and more rewarding jobs. Highly
skilled people are also more likely to volunteer, see themselves as actors
rather than as objects of political processes, and are more likely to trust
others. Fairness, integrity and inclusiveness in public policy thus all hinge
on the skills of citizens. (OECD, 2014: p. 3)
For the sake of clarity, it will be useful schematizing my point. At
least four elements are significant in OECD’s reasoning: a) the exchange
between OECD’s and policy makers’ “preoccupation”; b) the linear rela-
tionship OECD stages between “necessary skills”, “better jobs” and “bet-
ter lives”; c) the equivalence OECD makes between what one is expected
to learn, do and be as a citizen and what one is expected to learn, do and be
as a—particular kind—of worker; and, as a result of such an equivalence
d) the link being made between the propensity “to trust others”, the “[f]
airness, integrity and inclusiveness” we may find in public policy, and the
necessity to produce “[h]ighly skilled people”.
The first element, that is, the exchange between OECD’s and pol-
icy makers’ “preoccupation”, is evident in the first statement of the pas-
sage. Here we learn that “[e]quipping citizens with the skills necessary to
achieve their full potential, participate in an increasingly interconnect-
ed global economy, and ultimately convert better jobs into better lives is
a central preoccupation of policy makers around the world.” To be very
clear, I do not wish to deny that “[e]quipping citizens with the skills neces-
sary to [...] participate in an increasingly interconnected global economy”
is one of the preoccupations of some or many policy makers around the
world, nor I wish to deny that this is an aim worth to pursue—although
the question remains as to what such skills are and which the conception
of an “interconnected global economy” precisely is. The problem, again, is
that this is not the whole picture. To put it clearly, why does OECD speak
for all policy makers? And why does OECD speak just in terms of “glob-
al economy”? Again, such a preoccupation is the output of a peculiar, ne-
oliberal vision of education, not the whole picture.
Following OECD’s statement, we come to the second point, name-
ly, that of transforming “better jobs into better lives”. Here, one may ask
when and how the conversion of “better jobs into better lives” does occur.
To be very clear: At which point, and within which system of reduction,
19
ultimately convert better jobs into better lives is a central preoccupation
of policy makers around the world. Results from the OECD’s recent
Survey of Adult Skills show that highly skilled adults are twice as likely
to be employed and almost three times more likely to earn an above-me-
dian salary than poorly skilled adults. In other words, poor skills severely
limit people’s access to better-paying and more rewarding jobs. Highly
skilled people are also more likely to volunteer, see themselves as actors
rather than as objects of political processes, and are more likely to trust
others. Fairness, integrity and inclusiveness in public policy thus all hinge
on the skills of citizens. (OECD, 2014: p. 3)
For the sake of clarity, it will be useful schematizing my point. At
least four elements are significant in OECD’s reasoning: a) the exchange
between OECD’s and policy makers’ “preoccupation”; b) the linear rela-
tionship OECD stages between “necessary skills”, “better jobs” and “bet-
ter lives”; c) the equivalence OECD makes between what one is expected
to learn, do and be as a citizen and what one is expected to learn, do and be
as a—particular kind—of worker; and, as a result of such an equivalence
d) the link being made between the propensity “to trust others”, the “[f]
airness, integrity and inclusiveness” we may find in public policy, and the
necessity to produce “[h]ighly skilled people”.
The first element, that is, the exchange between OECD’s and pol-
icy makers’ “preoccupation”, is evident in the first statement of the pas-
sage. Here we learn that “[e]quipping citizens with the skills necessary to
achieve their full potential, participate in an increasingly interconnect-
ed global economy, and ultimately convert better jobs into better lives is
a central preoccupation of policy makers around the world.” To be very
clear, I do not wish to deny that “[e]quipping citizens with the skills neces-
sary to [...] participate in an increasingly interconnected global economy”
is one of the preoccupations of some or many policy makers around the
world, nor I wish to deny that this is an aim worth to pursue—although
the question remains as to what such skills are and which the conception
of an “interconnected global economy” precisely is. The problem, again, is
that this is not the whole picture. To put it clearly, why does OECD speak
for all policy makers? And why does OECD speak just in terms of “glob-
al economy”? Again, such a preoccupation is the output of a peculiar, ne-
oliberal vision of education, not the whole picture.
Following OECD’s statement, we come to the second point, name-
ly, that of transforming “better jobs into better lives”. Here, one may ask
when and how the conversion of “better jobs into better lives” does occur.
To be very clear: At which point, and within which system of reduction,
19
