Smoke and Mirrors: A Racial Capitalist Critique of Neoliberal School Reforms

• In Event: Marxian Analysis of Society, Schools, and Education

Abstract

School accountability systems set the stage for governing bodies to treat some schools and communities as low-performing and undesirable. This is achieved through the systemic use of quantitative data that is derived from the use of high-stakes testing. This paper engages in a critical philosophical analysis of neoliberal school reform arguments through the lens of Racial Capitalism (Melamed, 2015). I examine four arguments for neoliberal school reforms and apply the critique of Racial Capitalism to these arguments to analyze whether neoliberal reforms serve the intended purposes of establishing a more equitable education system. I conclude that neoliberal reform arguments obfuscate the true underlying causes of educational inequality and seek educational justice through systems that perpetuate marginalization in historically underserved communities.

Author

• Martha Perez-Mugg, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  Presenting Author