(Re)Defining Good Education: Neoliberalism, Racialized Hidden Curriculums, and Differing Frameworks for the Purpose of Schooling

• In Event: Fairmont Roundtable Session Three
  In Roundtable Session: Activism, Pride, and Resistance March On (Table 1)

Abstract

The seeming common goal of providing a “good education” belies the lack of consensus in educational ideals. Drawing from a community roundtable project, the paper questions how educational and community members define the purpose of schooling. The paper demonstrates how differing educational goals between largely white, middle-class educators and largely working-class parents and community members of color illuminate contradictory assumptions. In doing so, the paper analyzes how educators often drew from a neoliberal framing focused on marketable skills for employment and economic assimilation, versus the parents and community members who imagined a broader set of goals for their children. The paper concludes by highlighting how oft-marginalized voices of communities of color could provide educators an alternative foundation to reimagine schooling.

Author

• Kenzo K. Sung, Loyola Marymount University
  Presenting Author