“We’re in the Business of a Good Education”: A Whole Lot of BS (a Dark Comedy)

• In Event: Pushing Methodological Boundaries and Performing Dissertation Writing

Abstract

Inspired by curriculum theories, disturbed by current trends in education, and built upon personal experience, Nicole Nolasco uses fiction to explore the future of public education in the United States. Using Savannah, Georgia as the backdrop for her story, Nicole Nolasco (channeling Foucault, 1977), Watkins (2012), and Kozol (1992) presents “public” education in the year 2050: A prison-school where accountability reigns, and corporately-trained “teachers” facilitate learning experiences via computer. In a carefully monitored society controlled by fear and ignorance, few have the courage or knowledge to fight back, and those who do take great risks. Through her characters, Nicole Nolasco challenges the notion that resistance is futile and champions “creative insubordination” for social change (Ayers, 2010).

Through her work, Nicole Nolasco aims to shed light on the critical questions: What are the long-term effects of privatization in education? What positive and negative roles will technology play in education in the future? How will neoliberalism and the culture of fear continue to impact the nation’s children? And what role can teachers play in resisting the status quo?

Author

• Nickie Nolasco, Savannah-Chatham County Public School System