I'm interested in examining the intrusion of neoliberalism and the market into the educational arena. More specifically, I have come to recognize 3 types of corporatization: national policy, overt marketing within schools, and hidden intrusions. It is this last category that really, really makes me pause.
I first became aware of the hidden intrusions during my student teaching last semester. The school I was assigned to had a crazy daily schedule. The kids were released for lunch 45 minutes after morning recess ended. It seemed very disjointed and, frankly, disruptive to the curriculum. We barely settled down before the class rushed off again. It turns out the schedule was not designed to meet the students' needs, but was requested by the food service company. The school had relinquished an area of autonomy in preference to a private organization's needs. The catering company was given the authority to determine the daily schedule of the school-WTF??
Initially I found this to be incredulous, even though I observed the crazy schedule every day. I began to wonder, what other types of invisible influences did corporate America have in our schools? How do they get that control? How much autonomy has been relinquished? Does it vary according to a school's socio-economic status, or is it fairly consistent? Do the people who authorized the relinquishing of autonomy even realize that's what they agreed to? My initial research has produced a variety of examples of relinquished autonomy in scheduling, curriculum, etc. To be fair, in some cases the corporations made decisions that were of no immediately discernible negative consequence the students. But that's not the point. The point is should corporations be making pedagogical decisions at all?
I want to examine a specific school and see what covert market presence I can find. I already recognize some obstacles. The clandestine nature of this type of intrusion makes my task difficult-invisible is hard to see. Once detected, school administrators may be reluctant to discuss it. Then there's the whole 'will I be employable if any administrator gets ahold of my thesis' concern-although I rarely back down from an uncomfortable truth...
I admire your courage in taking this on. I think there are ways to reframe your topic to make yourself more employable. :) This is definitely a topic that has been on my radar big time lately and I hope you pursue it (selfishly). Not sure you are on the look out for references, but Kevin Kumashiro comes to mind. Also, Rethinking Schools has been on this topic quite a bit and their resources will be helpful. Another person to follow is Diane Ravitch, who in recent years has made a dramatic 180 turn on this very issue and is diligently (and obsessively) following it on her blog. We'll worry about design later...
ReplyDeleteWTF....indeed! I was unclear when speaking with you today about what exactly you meant by "market inclusion" within school settings. Reading your post made it so clear and now I am outraged and inspired to see if such happenings are going on at my school site. I sure hope not or I will start something. As Jolynn out it...you are being brave to broach a subject so powerfully charged and in need of unraveling. You are like a cool detective super undercover secret agent reported all wrapped into one. I won't blow your cover...promise. I look forward to reading abut your findings and more important...if a change comes of it. Good work! David
ReplyDeleteYou know, if only I could figure this blog thing out, I could respond to replies in a timely fashion. I didn't ignore this-just suck at internet stuff. Thanks for the moral support. I've changed my thesis somewhat to focus on teacher responses to schoolhouse commercialism...now I'm more an activist than a super undercover detective. Not as cool, but I'm hoping to find some methodologies I can use when I've got my own classroom-before I say something from my soapbox and get myself fired like H. Giroux. Sometimes it's ok to learn vicariously!
DeleteYou should be careful, if you look interested, I'll talk politics unrelentingly for hours.