Neoliberalism in Education

Ivan Illich’s View on Neoliberalism in Education

Illich perceived school as the initial establishment that should focus on institutionalizing
values. He argued that intelligence, for example, should be evaluated by the grades somebody
attains, career, attendance, overall behavior, et cetera. This system of evaluating Education made
people consumers of already established values in a society. Illich stated, "In a schooled world,
the road to happiness is paved with consumer's index." (Illich 2004, p. 40). Therefore,
institutionalizing values in contemporary society involves creating perspectives consistent with
society's consumerist structure.
In addition to developing socially acceptable individuals, schools do away with people
who do not meet the requirements set by various indices and scales. For example, Illich
addresses the modernization of poverty, and in this concept, he argues that poverty can only
affect those who have not met the key publicized principles of consumption. While excluded
from society's ideal, the poor are forced to rely on its institutions (Bartlett and Schugurensky,
2020, p. 70). Institutionalizing produces subjectivities in this sense that is alienated. They are
created without the resources to support themselves and develop as people.
Based on Illich's assumptions on Education, the national curriculum should focus on
three primary objectives. These promote free self-formation, enhancing socialization among
people and enabling people to relate to the realities of the world. In other words, apart from
focusing on the pre-established values in societies, educated people should be able to solve the
puzzles of life through critical and creative thinking. They should not just rely on existing
knowledge and principles but apply the learned knowledge to solve various challenges facing
modern societies.

Neoliberalism in Education 3

Bernstein’s View on Neoliberalism in Education

Bernstein criticized compensatory Education as a social democratic approach that was
predicated on the idea of cultural deprivation. He also implied that research may have
contributed to the stigmatization of working-class culture, admitting that his work may have
contributed to this by "focusing on the subculture and forms of family socialization": "The
concept "restricted code"... equated with "linguistic deprivation," or even with the non-verbal
child" (Loughland, and Sriprakash 2016, p. 140). Bernstein initially addressed the curriculum's
underlying, class-based presumptions before improving her comprehension of context. Because
the weak categorization and the weak conceptualization of the hidden Education potentially
make possible the integration of the tradition of the family and the community.
However, integration into the classroom is facilitated by the class culture of middle-class
families, and Bernstein referred to both the old and new middle classes. In the updated account,
he addressed the relevance of an emerging education market. The immediate historical setting
was the development of social Democracy's mixed economy and, as a result, a primary public
sector.
Bernstein's critics of neoliberalism in Education hold some weight in modern schools.
For example, currently, the national school curriculum focuses on promoting equity and
Democracy in Education but eliminating the traditional class system where particular knowledge
was reserved for the rich while the poor were disadvantaged (Kårhus 2019, p. 20). Unlike
traditional curriculum, the modern curriculum is the same as per various levels of learning.
However, many working-class students continue to feel alienated by the idea that they must
change to succeed on someone else's terms. However, it shows that class has been redefined for a
time when aspiration is talked about endlessly.

Neoliberalism in Education 4

Michael Foucault’s View on Neoliberalism in Education
In his lectures at the Collège de France in 1978 and 1979, Foucault analyzed the
evolution of two neoliberal schools of thought following the Second World War: Ordoliberalen
in Germany, often known as the Freiberg School, and Human Capital Theory in America
(Foucault 1991, p. 74). Ordoliberalen advocated that governments should foster an environment
where efficient competition may prevail in marketplaces. In Foucault's words, this idea
necessitated universalizing "the entrep