Neoliberalism inside two American high schools

Abstract

This article examines ‘neoliberalism’ inside two American public high schools. The work of one leading critical theorist, Mark Olssen, is explained and examined. Particular attention is paid to Olssen’s concepts of ‘homo economicus’ and ‘manipulatable man.’ It is concluded that Olssen’s theories on neoliberalism accurately describe developments in public education in the West since the early 1980s. It is also believed that his theories could benefit from a study that ‘looks inside the black box’ and reveals what neoliberalism looks like inside schools. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 teachers and two principals at two public high schools in the American state of Louisiana. Analysis reveals that an educator’s sense of professional autonomy relates to students’ socioeconomic backgrounds. That is, educators at poor schools tend to have dramatically less freedom from local school boards than educators in non-poor schools.

Keywords:

• professional autonomy
• neoliberalism
• public school
• socioeconomic inequality
• the state
• Mark Olssen

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Fictitious names are used for all participants (all teachers and principals), and for both participating schools.

2. Olssen (1996, 345) emphasizes the difference between ‘positive freedom’ (or ‘freedom to’) and ‘negative freedom’ (or ‘freedom from’). Freedom from state coercion is the focus of this article (negative freedom). However, as participants' responses indicate, freedom from the state is deeply valued because it enables positive freedom (e.g. the freedom to teach how and what teachers wish to teach).

3. As conceived and measured by principals’ perceptions.

4. I refer to school board central offices and state departments of education as ‘outside’ entities. I place ‘outside’ in quotations because although they are perceived by participants to come from the ‘outside,’ these entities belong to the same public education system as the schools and local educators.

5. Her tone of voice changed considerably as she spoke this last sentence, and I sensed that she empathized with her peers whose professional lives are more difficult (than her own).

6. Perhaps not ironically, the unspoken, hands-off relationship between the board and BRMHS emerged shortly after Hurricane Katrina.

7. To be clear, I believe BRMHS’s teachers and principal are great at their jobs. However, they significantly benefit from their students’ pre-existing academic capabilities.