School Commercialism
The new issue of Educational Researcher (vol. 5, no. 7, October, 2006) has a review by Trevor Norris of two books: School Commercialism: From Democratic Ideal to Market Commodity (Alex Molnar, 2005, Routledge) and The Edison Schools: Corporate Schooling and the Assault on Public Education (Kenneth J. Saltman, 2005, Routledge). This four page review is both distressing and depressing. According to Norris, the two books describe the loss of the 'public' from taxpayer funded schools. Norris (33) cites Molner:
"Today, across the nation and around the world, the ideal of the public school as a pillar of democracy is being transformed by a wave of commercialism. Commercialism is an expression of advanced capitalist culture and a profound threat to democratic civic institutions. Its impact on schools is, at its most basic, to transform the guiding ideal of public schools as centers of learning serving the public good to centers of profit benefiting private interests. Once held to be a public good that could be measured by their contribution to the community's well-being, schools have come to be seen as markets for vendors, venues for advertising and marketing and commodities to be bought and sold. They are evaluated largely in terms of how effective they are perceived at preparing workers for corporate employers, and their mission has been transformed conceptually into a 'service' that can be delivered by private businesses responding to the profit motive" (p. 16).
One criticism Norris has of Molnar's work is that it does not offer solutions. According to Norris, Molner does report that teachers' response to commercialism ranges from "tacit acceptance to outright embrace." This may be because teachers are effectively silenced by school bureaucracies or "are simply overwhelmed by other demands" (Norris, 33). Reading this, I wondered how commercialism is reified in modern conceptions and language of schooling? And further, how might a postmodern critique of commercialism provide a voice to teachers working for control of their own profession?
Norris, T. (2006). School commercialims and the fate of public schooling: what's "good" for America? Educational Researcher, 35(7), 32-35.
Molnar, A. (2005). School commercialism: from democratic ideal to market commodity. New York: Routledge.
Saltman, K. J. (2005). The Edison Schools: corporate schooling and the assault on pubic education. New York: Routledge.
"Today, across the nation and around the world, the ideal of the public school as a pillar of democracy is being transformed by a wave of commercialism. Commercialism is an expression of advanced capitalist culture and a profound threat to democratic civic institutions. Its impact on schools is, at its most basic, to transform the guiding ideal of public schools as centers of learning serving the public good to centers of profit benefiting private interests. Once held to be a public good that could be measured by their contribution to the community's well-being, schools have come to be seen as markets for vendors, venues for advertising and marketing and commodities to be bought and sold. They are evaluated largely in terms of how effective they are perceived at preparing workers for corporate employers, and their mission has been transformed conceptually into a 'service' that can be delivered by private businesses responding to the profit motive" (p. 16).
One criticism Norris has of Molnar's work is that it does not offer solutions. According to Norris, Molner does report that teachers' response to commercialism ranges from "tacit acceptance to outright embrace." This may be because teachers are effectively silenced by school bureaucracies or "are simply overwhelmed by other demands" (Norris, 33). Reading this, I wondered how commercialism is reified in modern conceptions and language of schooling? And further, how might a postmodern critique of commercialism provide a voice to teachers working for control of their own profession?
Norris, T. (2006). School commercialims and the fate of public schooling: what's "good" for America? Educational Researcher, 35(7), 32-35.
Molnar, A. (2005). School commercialism: from democratic ideal to market commodity. New York: Routledge.
Saltman, K. J. (2005). The Edison Schools: corporate schooling and the assault on pubic education. New York: Routledge.
posted by Doug @ 10:11 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home