The Attack on Public Education
These are difficult times for public education. It is under political attack by what noted educator and scholar Henry Giroux calls the “apostles of authoritarianism.” He says, “Public schools, more than ever, are subject to the toxic forces of privatization and mindless standardized curricula while teachers are de-skilled and subject to intolerable labor conditions, not unlike Walmart workers. Unfortunately, public and higher education now mimic a business culture run by a managerial army of bureaucrats, more suited to work as accountants in pencil factories than in schools. At the same time, all levels of education are under attack by right-wing politicians who are censoring history, forbidding discussions about racism, eliminating tenure, and imposing enormous restrictions on teacher autonomy.”
Speaker
Henry Giroux
Henry Giroux, a prominent public intellectual, prolific writer, commentator, and scholar. He teaches at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. He is a founding theorist of critical pedagogy. Among his many books are Neoliberalism’s War on Higher Education, The Violence of Organized Forgetting, and America at War with Itself. He is a member of Truthout‘s Board of Directors and a regular contributor to the nonprofit, independent online news organization.
Michael Esser –
Heard this on KPFK. This is a truly great piece of much-needed non-mainstream thinking about where democracy really begins and where the societal rubber meets the road: in schools, classrooms, and seminars. It is because of minds like Giroux’s that it is worth keeping up hope for a turn to the better.
sandy –
Henry Giroux gets it exactly right.
Thank you!
Alisa L Valdes –
Incredible and important talk.
Wendi Adamek –
Wow. This eloquently voices what we, as educators, struggle to keep alive on a daily basis. I appreciated that ambiguity and uncertainty were evoked as important elements of classroom experience.
ToddBritt –
I listen to this lecture about education policy on WMNF FM in Tampa this morning. I found the lecture incredibly insightful, and I am forwarding it to friends and colleagues.