Neoliberalism - Week 3 Readings

The readings this week really struck a chord with me for a lot of reasons.  Prior to these readings, I had no idea what neoliberalism was and probably could not come up with a close definition.  Now I realize what it is and its impact on our education system.  Our government feels that our schools are a dumping ground for excess money and there is nothing coming out of it.  This saddens me as the little money that schools do get are being used to save jobs and keep our schools running altogether.  Neoliberalists only look at numbers and money and since schools are not making money for our government they look at schools as worthless. 

      Michael Apple discusses the use of the “blame game” in his reading.  The dominant groups are blaming those below them while we feel it is our government’s fault that our economic status is so poor right now.  After reading this I realized that most of this blame can be placed on big businesses and corporations.  These businesses are outsourcing their products to save money and because of this, people are losing jobs and their families are suffering.   Because of this, I also feel there is no sense of patriotism or pride in our country and ourselves.

      Something else I found interesting in Apple’s reading was the part that discusses the state of our labor market.  There seems to be a push for people to become proficient in technology and go to school to learn technical skills, there is hardly a demand for these types of jobs right now.  We tell our students that they need to work hard and go to college so that they can get jobs but the fact is the majority of jobs available are those of cashiers, retail workers, waitresses/waiters, truck drivers, etc.  Most of these jobs do not even require a high school diploma never mind a college degree.  I used to always feel that an education is never wasted but with times being this bad, it is hard to hold strong to this idea.  People are going into thousands of dollars worth of debt to try and build up their education and skills in hopes of getting a good job but then they come to realize there are no jobs and now they have to start paying their college loans.  It is an unfortunate thing. 

      The chapters in Adolescent Literacy showed that both teachers and students want to get out of this funk of just getting through and feeling that the content material is not relatable to students.  It is possible for students to be excited and willing to learn but there is almost no room for this with such a strict curriculum.  I wonder if we are forced to deal with a “teaching to the test” atmosphere or if at some point we can say enough is enough and teach the way we would like to teach.