Meritocratic Education and Social Worthlessness

This book critically examines the socio-cultural role of achievement within education, arguing that the increasingly global demand for measurable standards of academic achievement is an expression of political ideology and the aggressive competitive reality of a neo-capitalist schooling system, resulting in many students feeling socially worthless.

"Meritocratic Education and Social Worthlessness ... launches an unflinching attack on schooling, which it judges to be deeply flawed. The argument is straightforward: in capitalist societies, educational institutions and educationalists alike have become wrapped up in a system of coercion. The objective they serve is to generate a sense of social worthlessness in the subjugated majority. This systematic erosion of personal esteem is designed to acclimatise the children of the masses to the objective conditions of their oppression." - British Journal of Educational Studies

Autorentext
Khen Lampert is a Lecturer in the Department of East Asian Studies, Tel Aviv University, Israel. He has previously published Traditions of Compassion; Compassionate Education: Prolegomena for Radical Schooling; and co-authored A Voice Unheard: Insight to Children's Distress.

Inhalt

1. Introduction 2. Belling the Ring 3. Worthlessness as Social Ideology 4. The Answer of Meritocracy 5. The Folly of Excellence 6. The Loss of Responsibility 7. The Problem of Worthlessness 8. The Difficulty of an Alternative