Subject choice and the commodification of culture

On the 13^th of October 2012, the Sydney Morning Herald released an article entitled “Hipsters embrace lingo of the ancient words”. While this article places emphasis on what appears to be a revival of classical studies like Latin and Ancient Greek, it also reports a steady growth in vocational subjects such as business studies and legal studies. According to the chief executive of the Board of Studies NSW, Carol Taylor, ''There has been steady growth in those two subjects which indicates that students are looking at those courses as a link with what they might want to go on and do as a career”. In addition, there has been strong interest in Vocational Education and Training courses, with more than 30,000 students enrolled in 2012, and large increases in students taking language courses such as French continuers and Chinese.

I believe that the rise in students wishing to undertake courses that will act as frameworks of knowledge for their intended career choice stem from tensions between the promise of education to improve the social mobility of individuals and the promise to simultaneously improve an individual’s social efficiency. In the past, there has been a strong link between a child’s grades and their father’s profession. If a family was considered ‘high class’, there was a larger likelihood of the child seeking a well-regarded profession. The education system seeks to break down statistics such as these by ensuring people of all genders, nationalities and socio-economic backgrounds are equipped with the opportunity for placement in any profession. The commodification of culture however, especially in the area of education , I believe has lead students to crave the attainment of the highest levels of human capital where negotiating their position in the contemporary world as economically viable and culturally meaningful ensures they can be identified as successful.

I feel as though this ‘pressure’ on students to attain specific levels of achievement and attend university are ways in which the education sector is able to adopt a managerial approach to education in that it allows institutions to promote different courses and options and in this way, turn subjects and the promise of a particular academic outcome into a commodity.

References:

Browne, R. October 13, 2012, The Sydney Morning Herald, <http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/hipsters-embrace-lingo-of-the-ancient-worlds-20121012-27i6u.html>

Holmes, D., Hughes, K., & Julian, R., (2007). ‘Chapter 7: The more you learn the  more you earn? Education today’, Australian sociology: A changing society, 2^nd ed., Pearson Education, Sydney, pp 217-244.

Wells, A.S., Lopez, A., Scott, J. & Holme, J.J. (1999). Charter schools as postmodern paradox: Rethinking social stratification in an age of deregulated school choice. Harvard Education Review, 69(2), 172-204.

Social justice and education

Social justice from an educational perspective pertains to the fair and impartial treatment of all groups to ensure that their members have equal access to education (Gregory et al., 2009). Issues of social justice in education can be contingent to issues regarding gender, disability, and socio-economic status. The recent shooting of MalalaYousafzai, the 14-year-old schoolgirl and peace activist shot by a Taliban gunman last week has brought to light how cultural understandings of social justice in relation to education are so differently perceived throughout the world, specifically in the way in which the identity of a person determines whether their access and desire for education is culturally and socially legitimate.

 

Miron, Darder and Inda (2005) make the point in “Race, identity and representation in education” that as citizens occupy transnational spaces as a result of globalisation and increased opportunity and access, they develop an increased capacity for agency”. Malala Yousafzai is an example of how her increased capacity for agency through the use of blog posts (like this one!) can result in consequences that differ significantly to what an individual would experience had they expressed an identical view of the importance of women’s education in Australia. Where Malala faced extreme religious intolerance through military violence for being, according to Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan, “Pro-West, speaking against Taliban and calling President Obama her ideal leader”, the cultural response to the same reverent expression of the importance of equal opportunity and social justice would in Australia, be praised.

 

What all this confirms is that values, beliefs and norms are a major component of any culture and despite whteher they hinder social progression, they will effect education. In Australia, I feel as though this means that the freedom of individuals to attain specific levels of cultural capital as suggested by Bourdieu is essential so to ensure that incidences of symbolic, religious violence do not occur on home soil, and to recognise where other places on an international level require assistance.

References:

Boone, J. 12 October 2012, “Pakistani teen has bullet removed from head”,  <http://www.smh.com.au/world/pakistani-teen-has-bullet-removed-from-head-20121011-27fgd.html#ixzz29gnYwPZp>

Gregory, D., et al (2009). The dictionary of human geography, 5^th ed, Blackwell  publishing, London, p 693.

Mirón, L, Darder, A., & Inda, J.X. (2005). Transnationalism, transcitizenship, and the implications for the ‘new world order’. In C. McCarthy, W. Crichlow, G. Dimitriadis, & N. Dolby (Eds.), Race, identity and representation in education (2^nd Ed.), (pp.461-480), New York: Routledge.

Wadham, B. Pudsey, J. & Boyd, R. (2007). Culture and education. Sydney: Pearson Education. Chapter 1: What is culture?

Language and education

On the 7^th of October 2012 the Sydney Morning Herald released an article outlining the view of Education Minister Martin Dixon on language education. In the article he states his belief that the scene must be set in terms of “convincing the community about the importance of learning another language". With $6 million dollars being spent over the next 3 three years in the area of recruitment of language teachers, the article also explains how Ted Baillieu has promised a languages revival in which every Victorian student up to year 10 would be required to take on a language by 2025, starting with prep in 2015”. This intense revival of languages within Australian schools leads to questions regarding the implications the introduction of mandatory language classes will have on our students.

I will begin with noting that this article echoes one that was released just over a year ago by the BBC, where English Education Secretary Michael Gove stated that “every child aged five or over should learn a foreign language”. More specifically in terms of culture, Gove made the suggestion that  learning a foreign language, and the culture that goes with it, would be “one of the most useful ways in which to broaden the empathy and imaginative sympathy and cultural outlook of children”.

                                                                                      

In a globalised world, I feel as though this suggestion holds much merit. Globalisation relates to the escalation and quickening of the processes that promote global interdependence (Wadham 2007, p. 52). The educational implications of this in Australian society have displayed themselves in varying degrees, including changes to assessment, policy and practice, all of which can be driven by global competition to enter world markets, like those in the United States, Europe and Asia. The competition to locally and internationally succeed in these markets is something that can be achieved with the advantage of being bilingual or even trilingual. In this way, we see how the introduction of mandatory language in schools could develop future generations of students' understanding of a diverse range of cultures and in doing so, provide multiple possibilities for transnational partnerships.

In the circuit of culture, where the key elements of production, representation, regulation, identity and consumption all integrate, having knowledge of an additional language, as well as the culture that goes with it, as Gove earlier suggested,strengthens this practice.

References:

BBC, 1^st October, 2011, “Teach foreign languages from age five, says Gove”. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-15135560>

Tomazin, F. 7^th October, 2012, “Minding your language a virtual reality”, <http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/minding-your-language-a-virtual-reality-20121006-27681.html>

Wadham, B. Pudsey, J. & Boyd, R. (2007). Culture and education. Sydney: Pearson Education. Chapter 1: What is culture?

The authoritative role of teachers and cultural progression

Leonard (2009) talks of how Paolo Freire supported a form of classroom authority that was neither impossible nor predetermined, but rather, 'open'. He rejected authoritarianism and neutrality, and instead reconstructed authority as a form of power sharing, where teachers use their authority and knowledge in the interest of the oppressed. This is important because the role of teachers, as Leonardo puts it, is to “reconstruct the consciousness of students”.

On the 3^rd of March 2012, The Australian released an article entitled “Raise status of teachers, add some authority and watch our students blossom”. The article makes several important points but closes with the following two: Firstly, that, “raising the status of teachers is the first step towards promoting a culture of high expectations in the classroom”, and secondly, “that Anglo-American pedagogy that sees the general motivation of students replacing an academic and intellectual ethos where the acquisition of knowledge is the key to personal and societal progression, both devalues the authority and professional status of teachers, and does not compensate for the impact intellectual authority makes on a classroom”.

I find myself agreeing with these statements. I, like Leonardo (2009), believe that teachers not only have a foot in public life as public servants, but also in cultural life as transmitters of specialised knowledge. I also believe educators are in a unique position to assume the role of the organic intellectual over and beyond their role as purveyors of knowledge and have the transformative opportunity to influence young minds on questions of justice, power, and humanity, providing a view from their area of specialisation. Not only does this make teachers authoritative, but also accountable. As they build civic capacity to intervene not only on behalf of less mature students but equally on their own behalf, they affirm their autonomy as intellectuals and have arguably the highest influence on cultural progression (Leonardo, 2005).

By rising the status of teachers, a culture of high expectations regarding the importance of the acquisition of knowledge regardless of ones future profession should, I feel, be adopted. The result being a critical population that has the capacity to question and independently search for information to ensure the continual transformation of society into one of deeper understanding, and one able to reflect on concepts such as freedom, agency, policy, and identity, all of which affect the changing social and cultural makeup of the world in which we live.

References:

Furedi, F. The Australian, Raise the status of teachers, add some authority and watch our students blossom, March 3 2012. <http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/opinion/raise-status-of-teachers-add-some-authority-and-watch-our-students-blossom/story-e6frgd0x-1226287574078>

Leonardo, Z. (2009). ‘Affirming ambivalence: Introduction to cultural politics and education’, in Z. Leonardo (Ed.), Handbook of Cultural Politics and Education, pp. - 48, Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.