College Preparation and the Neoliberal Subject: Reinforcing Racism and Meritocracy at an Urban Magnet School

• In Event: Destabilizing the Ideal Neoliberal Subject: An Examination of Educational Institutions, White Supremacy, and Meritocracy

Abstract

Purpose

Recently, college preparation has become an increasing focus of high schools across the nation. Some public high schools explicitly concentrate on the goal of college attendance; 11 percent of magnet schools have a theme of college preparation (Walton & Ford, 2014). Promoting college preparation and access for students from marginalized communities may be a move towards educational equity in some ways. However, more study is needed of how students experience these policies and practices. In particular, what messages and lessons are sent to students when schools centrally emphasize the importance of college going and the skills associated with it? This paper examines student experiences with college preparation opportunities within a racially and socioeconomically diverse interdistrict magnet high school. The school, which enrolls students from both the high-poverty urban city where it is located and its mostly affluent suburbs, was created as part of a strategy to develop more racially diverse and equitable public schools.

Theoretical Framework

The paper draws on critical theories of racism, hegemony, and neoliberalism. We use critical race theory, and particularly its tenet of the permanence of racism in U.S society (Bell, 1992; Ladson-Billings & Tate, 1995). We additionally build on Gramsci’s (1988) concept of cultural hegemony and Harvey’s (2005) critique of neoliberalism, using the lens of cultural hegemony to make sense of how members of marginalized communities take up racist, neoliberal ideologies that serve to dominate them. Together, these theories enable us to analyze how efforts to promote college going also reinforce White supremacy and neoliberal notions of meritocracy.

Methods and Data Sources

The paper draws on qualitative data collected over the course of a year. We, along with several undergraduate research assistants, engaged in participant observation of classrooms. We also conducted semi-structured interviews with ten students, which focused on their experiences with the college preparation program. Interview transcripts and observation fieldnotes were coded and analyzed to identify themes (Saldaña, 2013).

Findings

We argue that although the school was designed to facilitate educational equity, it actually offered stratified opportunities, and college preparation and access activities were disproportionately available to White students. Furthermore, students viewed this stratification as legitimate, understanding it as merit-based. Such beliefs not only normalized the pattern that students with access to college preparation activities were predominantly White, but also positioned these students as more deserving, or having earned the opportunities they were granted. Students also drew on neoliberal ideas around the value of college preparation, focusing on the independent study skills and competitive advantage they gained, rather than content knowledge or critical thinking.

Scholarly Significance

As we seek to promote equity and anti-racism in schools, there is an increasing need to interrogate if and how policies ostensibly designed to support marginalized students and communities actually achieve these goals. In arguing that an intense focus on college going serves to legitimate neoliberal and racist ideas about individual responsibility and meritocracy, this paper contributes to growing scholarship that highlights the complexity of implementing policies intended to make schools more equitable.

Authors

• Jia-Hui Stefanie Wong, Trinity College

• Robert Cotto, Trinity College