Is Liberation Really the Goal? Wrestling with Freedom in Neoliberal Education Systems

• In Event: Lessons from Organizing and Coalition Building for a More Just Future

Abstract

This paper interrogates the dissonance between the rhetoric of liberation and its practice within neoliberal education systems. Drawing on qualitative data from Black teachers in New York City and personal reflections from over a decade of teaching, the study explores how deeply internalized values of meritocracy, competition, and individualism obstruct emancipatory visions. While many educators and students profess a desire for equity and justice, their solutions often align with reform rather than transformation. Using Coole’s (2005) three dimensions of emancipation—legal, subjective, and socio-economic—this paper reveals how neoliberalism distorts the meaning of freedom, reducing it to upward mobility. The study situates these tensions within the broader contexts of gentrification, capitalist schooling, and political backlash (e.g., Project 2025), urging a collective reckoning with what liberation truly demands. Ultimately, it calls for a reimagining of educational futures rooted in radical care, structural change, and the dismantling of systems never meant to liberate.

Author

• Jasmine Hawkins-White, New York University