ADVANCES IN EDUCATION IN DIVERSE COMMUNITIES: RESEARCH, POLICY AND PRAXIS Series Editor: Carol Camp Yeakey Volume 1:
Producing Knowledge, Pursuing Understanding – Edited by Edmund W. Gordon
Volume 2:
African American Education, Race Community, Inequality and Achievement. A tribute to Edgar G. Epps – Edited by Walter R. Allen, Margaret Beale Spencer and Carla O’Connor
Volume 3:
Teacher Unions and Education Policy: Retrenchment or Reform? – Edited by Ronald D. Henderson, Wayne J. Urban and Paul Wolman
Volume 4:
Suffer the Little Children: National and International Dimensions of Child Poverty and Public Policy – Edited by Carol Camp Yeakey, Jeanita W. Richardson and Judith Brooks Buck
Volume 5:
Higher Education in a Global Society: Achieving Diversity, Equity and Excellence – Edited by Walter R. Allen, Marguerite BonousHammarth and Robert Teranishi
ADVANCES IN EDUCATION IN DIVERSE COMMUNITIES: RESEARCH POLICY AND PRAXIS VOLUME 6
POWER, VOICE AND THE PUBLIC GOOD: SCHOOLING AND EDUCATION IN GLOBAL SOCIETIES EDITED BY
RODNEY K. HOPSON Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
CAROL CAMP YEAKEY Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
FRANCIS MUSA BOAKARI University of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio, TX, USA
United Kingdom – North America – Japan India – Malaysia – China
JAI Press is an imprint of Emerald Group Publishing Limited Howard House, Wagon Lane, Bingley BD16 1WA, UK First edition 2008 Copyright r 2008 Emerald Group Publishing Limited Reprints and permission service Contact:
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Awarded in recognition of Emerald’s production department’s adherence to quality systems and processes when preparing scholarly journals for print
To Dr. Barbara Ann Sizemore Dr. Asa G. Hilliard III (Nana Baffour Amankwatia) Whose considerable bodies of work continue to challenge and counter the prevailing assumptions on schooling and education in comparative and international contexts. In so doing, their works give power, voice and legitimacy for the benefit of our global public good. Rodney K. Hopson Carol Camp Yeakey Francis Musa Boakari Editors
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS Walter R. Allen
Department of Sociology, Higher Education & Organizational Change, Graduate School of Education & Information Studies, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Eugene L. Anderson
Center for Educational Policy and Research, American Dental Education Association, The Voice of Dental Education, Washington, DC, USA
Adeela Arshad-Ayaz
Faculty of Education, University of Regina, Regina, SK, Canada
Kingsley Banya
Dean’s Office, Florida International University, College of Education, Florida, USA
Francis Musa Boakari
Dreeben School of Education, University of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio, TX, USA; and Universidad de Sao Paolo, Brazil
Edward J. Brantmeier
School of Education, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA
Birgit Brock-Utne
Institute for Educational Research, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
Judith Brooks-Buck
Department of Educational Administration and Supervision, School of Liberal Arts and Education, Virginia State University, Petersburg, VA, USA
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Bryan Cook
American Council on Education, Washington, DC, USA
Laura C. Engel
Faculty of Social Sciences, Law and Education, School of Education, University of Nottingham, UK
Antoinette Errante
Educational Policy and Leadership, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA
Jennifer Hays
Department of Social Anthropology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Tromsø, Tromsø, Norway
Rodney K. Hopson
Department of Foundations and Leadership, School of Education, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Michael E. Jones
Indiana Institute on Disability and Community at Indiana University, Indiana University at Bloomington, Bloomington, IN, USA
Reva Joshee
Department of Theory and Policy Studies, Centre for Leadership and Diversity, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Erin Kimura-Walsh
Higher Education & Organizational Change, Graduate School of Education & Information Studies, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Kimberly Ochs
Department of Education, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
Alison Price-Rom
University of Maryland College of Education, College Park, Maryland
Kim Hyunsook Song
Division of Teaching and Learning, TESOL, University of Missouri – St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
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Meagan Sylvester
Department of Behavioural Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences, The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus, Trinidad and Tobago, West Indies
David Urias
School of Education, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Carol Camp Yeakey
Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Center on Urban Research and Public Policy and Interdisciplinary Program in Urban Studies, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
PREFACE Power, Voice and the Public Good: Schooling and Education in Global Societies comes at a most propitious time in our tumultuous world. With the dawn of the new millennium, our global problems of poverty, hunger, disease, war, inadequate schooling, abuse and exploitation, homelessness, and natural disaster have become ever more challenging. That such issues have profound consequences on children across the globe is of no small consequence. It would appear that issues of social equity, social justice and democracy have been subverted in the quest for profit, dominance and social control. Amidst it all, we have become borderless societies where problems from one nation state encumber the resources and priorities of other nation states. Power, Voice and the Public Good: Schooling and Education in Global Societies, while focusing largely on schooling and education in global contexts, provides a lens to view the nexus between schooling and many of the aforementioned global problems which confound us all. Many years ago, the noted anthropologist Margaret Mead stated ‘‘There is no greater insight into the future than to recognize that when we save our children, we save ourselves’’ (Mead, 1991, p. 2).1 Her statement is as true today as it was many years ago. The chapters in this volume present challenges, but they also present opportunities for all of us to bring our best judgments and efforts to confront the very interdependent cultural and material dilemmas whose resolutions are necessary for global survival and growth. Readers will note that there is no concluding chapter in this volume, for the text relative to inadequate schooling and the interlocking variables confronting children in nation states across the globe is still being written. However, as you read the sixth volume in this series, I trust you will come away informed, yet energized, to actively engage in confronting the critical dilemmas facing children throughout the world, for the benefit of us all.
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NOTE 1. Quote attributed to Margaret Mead, cited in National Commission on Children. (1991). Beyond Rhetoric: A New American Agenda for Children and Families. Final Report. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Carol Camp Yeakey Series Editor
INTRODUCTION PURPOSE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE BOOK The purpose and significance of Power, Voice, and the Public Good: Schooling and Education in Global Societies aim to highlight the defining nature and impact of globalization in contemporary educational policy and praxis with particular attention to changing relations in local, state, national, and international contexts, from pre-school to postsecondary education. While globalization impacts major issues such as poverty, social justice, terrorism, citizenship, immigration, language, and human rights, the nature and appropriation of education and schooling remain at the center of these issues (Sua´rez-Orozco & Qin-Hilliard, 2004). That is, educational systems, policies, practices, and praxis in Mexico, Thailand, India, Korea, the United States, the West Indies, and other nation states addressed in this edited volume require responding to and engaging with the new challenges, conflicts, opportunities, and costs of globalization. The intention of Power, Voice, and the Public Good is to present the impact of globalization on schooling and education as political, conflictual, and contradictory is hardly distinct from other books on the same topic, those above, or others (Arnove & Torres, 2003; Burbules & Torres, 2000; Peters, 2005; Rhoads & Torres, 2006; Stromquist & Monkman, 2000; Sua´rez-Orozco & Qin-Hilliard, 2004). The current volume will generate theoretical debate on the nature of globalization and related issues of internationalization, decentralization, colonialism, and privatization with particular focus on interdisciplinary frameworks around social equity and attention to the larger social and public good. Using interdisciplinary perspectives from sociology, public policy and politics, sociolinguistics, economics, comparative and development studies, history and the law, among others, around the effects of globalization on our knowledge economy, the authors address both the multiple dimensions of globalization through particular focus areas and the unique impact in nation states across the globe.
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What distinguishes Power, Voice, and the Public Good is the leitmotif of social equity and the public good within the larger examination of education for globalization. Global, historical, cultural, technological, and demographic changes are not just happening to and affecting children and youth in and out of schools. The cumulative effect has been debilitating and detrimental to a recurring cycle of the marginalized, uneducated, unnourished, and unschooled amidst our transforming global economy. Further, this volume attempts to fill the increasingly forming knowledge gap between the complex study of education and schooling across global borders and neighborhoods. In doing so, the volume seeks to highlight and examine the contemporary competing values, ideologies, and politics of both protagonists and antagonists of globalization across multiple contexts. In illuminating the varied conceptions of globalization, Patrick Fitzsimons (2000) echoes how the construct of globalization reveals dichotomous and paradoxical representations and realities and, even more, how these changing conceptions of globalization correspond with the changing conceptions of education. As much as globalization is remapping social spaces and being explained as a force for homogeneity, Fitzsimons writes that it is also ‘‘a stimulus for a politics of difference produced through such things as history, religion, and culture’’ (p. 505). He suggests that these differences manifest in electronic information technologies which, while bringing information both instantly and globally visible, reveal multiple subjectivities and discourses. His own definition of globalization reveals these paradoxes and dichotomies as inevitable; that is, globalization refers to the constitution of systems that are reliant on the increasing interdependence and internationalization of formal institutions (in financial markets, businesses, nationstates, media, and the Internet), while at the same type relying on dimensions of localism (including personal identity and ethnic affiliation). (p. 507)
Max Pensky (2005) echoes these same conflicting elements of the concept and process of globalization. Whereas globalization produces markets to produce spectacular wealth, increasing instability and risk, and savage inequalities, it also generates spectacular poverty and more extensive communicative networks and nodes, and ‘‘ever more laming forms of political and social exclusion also generates a ‘globalization from below’ or even a ‘counterglobalization’ forming new cultural hybrids, new forms of citizenship and belonging, new modes of political agency, and even languages of political resistance’’ (p. 3). The changing notions and conceptions of globalization as Pensky and Fitzsimons declare are both widespread and unassailable.
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The broad scope of definition and usage, of the term globalization, in the social sciences contributes to its different disciplinary and research agenda orientation. Using the study of immigration and education as phenomenon of globalization, Sua´rez-Orozco (2001) situates the term globalization in a variety of disciplines and observes that their unique epistemological, theoretical, and empirical boundaries make for disparate approaches to the study of globalization. Anthropologists and their long-term interests in culture, he suggests, ‘‘detaches social practices and cultural formations from their traditional moorings in national territories’’ (p. 346). In short, globalization complicates notions of nation, culture, language, and community in ways that localizes the exotic to ones own backyard. Various cultural formations (e.g. language, marriage, kinship, ritual, etc.) are as available in major urban growth centers on the other side of the world as they are in local villages and inlets. The interest in the study of globalization by the economist is in transnational financial markets and capital flows across national boundaries as well as the post-national production and distribution of goods and services at places like Kentucky Fried Chicken, Mercedes Benz, or Adidas. Political scientists, according to Sua´rez-Orozco (ibid.), focus on a host of issues related to the study of globalization, from the attention to the emergence of international systems of human and civil rights to the issues of citizenship that pervade diverse nation states. Even communication scholars offer ways to rethink globalization by expressing new ways of thinking communication of cultural politics and posing new questions about the nature of communication, and media processes that constitute culture amidst ‘‘a vector of uneven, unequal, and unpredictable global flows and motions’’ (Shome & Hegde, 2002, p. 173). In its varied and ubiquitous conceptual understanding, definitions of globalization are very rarely agreed upon. According to one leading text of critical perspectives on globalization (Burbules & Torres, 2000), the term refers to the emergence of supranational institutions, the impact of global economic processes, a particular hegemonic policy discourse, the emergence of new global cultural forms, and even a sociocultural construction by policymakers for power and reproduction. That the term is not agreed upon by critical educators in this instance, though not trivial, is not the concern here. Instead, this proposed book will add clarity to the unassailability and inevitability of globalization beside related issues that affect education and schooling in globalized societies. Regardless of the definitions and conceptions of globalization, when one considers the relationship between globalization and education and the effects of globalization on education, a host of interesting observations
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continue. Taken broadly as the transmission of knowledge in a society, education is an important embodiment of globalization. However, a narrow perspective on the effects of globalization on education hardly does justice to the need for a larger conceptual slate of issues related to the consequence of globalization processes and practices in education and the state (Lipman, 2004; Rhoads & Torres, 2006). Martin Carnoy and Diana Rhoten (2002) argue just this same point in considering the profound impact of globalization on the transmission of knowledge: The way knowledge is delivered in the classroom is an important aspect of knowledge production, and the classroom seems largely untouched. But the classroom is only one part of the knowledge production process, and even it is being subtly but ultimately transformed by the forces of globalization. In assessing globalization’s true relationship to educational change, we need to know how globalization and its ideological packaging affect the overall delivery of schooling from transnational paradigms, to national policies, to local practices. (p. 2)
THEMES AND STRUCTURE OF THE BOOK Three themes underpin the tripartite structure of Power, Voice, and the Public Good. One theme consistent with each chapter includes attention to the definitional and theoretical underpinnings of globalization as it relates to specific issues of the chapter. In defining and theorizing about globalization, authors take different stances on the topic in juxtaposition with the dominant issues of their chapter. For some, they situate globalization beside colonialism, internationalization, or neoliberalism and still others find that globalization beside decentralization, hegemony, or privatization are the dominant aspects of their chapter. A second theme of the book extends the ubiquitous nature and topical display of globalization. Globalization, as the authors of the book recognize, operates at multifarious levels, systems, and aspects. The sum of the chapters provide a plethora of examples how education and schooling respond to and are driven by larger global networks, demands, and discourses. Authors of the book build important historical arguments and patterns around the practice of education and schooling, illustrating how oftentimes competing actors are impacted by the events of the particular nation state. The third and final theme of the chapters of the book surround possibilities of understanding, redefining, and rethinking aspects of globalization with the backdrop of issues that relate to globalization, education, and the
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pursuit of public good. Each chapter of the book consistently addresses ways of looking at the hope and promise of education and schooling in spite of the advent, realities, and complexities of their globalized societies. In addition to themes, the layout of the book offers an organizational framework for understanding how the dominant issues and themes of the book are interwoven. The layout of the book is divided into the following: (i) globalization and educational politics and policies, (ii) globalization and higher education, and (iii) globalization, educational reform, and social context, where specific chapters fit the appropriate section. The first section of the book, globalization and educational politics and policies, addresses the extent to which conflicts and tensions by key actors in policy and agenda setting arenas exist in globalized societies. Antoinette Errante’s chapter on the nexus between peace, globalization, and education underscores how the politics of peace, violence, and war are part of a larger set of constructs that perpetuate disempowerment, fear, and inequality, especially in developing country contexts. In the embodiment of what she terms the ‘‘syndrome of uncertainty’’, Errante describes how the politics of peace reveals important implications for the future of national and transnational educational policies. Reva Joshee’s chapter on the competing context of neoliberalism and social justice in Canada shows how discussions and configurations of policy webs of social justice are at play in challenges and criticisms surrounding decisions of the Toronto School District Board. By using the metaphor of policy webs and discourse, Joshee argues how discourses of neoliberalism dominate and influence educational practice at a local policy level. David Urias’ chapter on immigration focuses on the economic, societal, and educational costs in the United States amidst the key Supreme Court decision, Plyler v. Doe, 1982 and the current aftermaths that have driven the establishment of legislative and political decisions surrounding the education of illegal immigrants. Urias’ analysis of the educational, cost benefit, and economic issues and realities of educating undocumented immigrants reveals some incomplete pictures that are often not taken into account when the discussion of immigrantization is considered in North America and especially in the United States. Birgit Brock-Utne’s chapter on the effects of neoliberal agenda on education in some African countries highlights the paradoxical and complicated reality of cost sharing and privatization policies in contemporary Africa. Using examples from Tanzania and Uganda, Brock-Utne illustrates how the larger global backdrop and influence of World Bank educational politics and policies require understanding the role of education
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as commodity and the political and economic decision-making that occur in the interests of oftentimes a privileged minority in the northern and western hemisphere of the world. The chapter by Judith Brooks-Buck analyzes the growing reality and contradictions of commercialism in American education and especially how it targets disenfranchised and minorities populations of one of the richest countries of the world. Brooks-Buck’s chapter further illustrates how commercialism and changing educational politics, policies, and practices in the United States are inextricably linked with competition, power, and schooling. Alice Price-Rom’s chapter revisits the issue of globalization and internationalization by examining the approaches of citizenship education in four post-communist countries through a citizenship education exchange program. In illustrating the tensions between the local and the global, in this case local context and global democracy, Price-Rom’s chapter suggests how education for democratic citizenship is an inevitable conflict of interests and indicative of more complicated issues that relate to the contested nature of citizenship and the varied definitions and approaches of citizenship education in unique contexts. The final chapter in the first section by Rodney Hopson and Jennifer Hays depicts the unique issues that beset post-independent Namibia educational and language politics and policies and their impact on the most marginalized population in the country and southern Africa. By illustrating the affect of these policies and politics on the San people of Namibia, Hopson and Hays show how the changing face of educational issues, despite being driven by the larger issues of globalization, face particular realities for certain minoritized and disposed populations. The first chapter of the second section of the book on globalization and higher education is written by Erin Kimura-Walsh and Walter Allen. In illustrating aspects of globalization from above and below, the chapter portrays how neoliberal and anti-neoliberal global movements have driven key exchanges between groups around the world from Mexico to South Africa. The Kimura-Walsh and Allen chapter both frames the context of World Bank and IMF relationships in higher education and focuses their attention more specifically on the role of students in challenging antisweatshop and Sudan divestment movements in the United States. Kingsley Banya’s chapter on globalization, knowledge economy, and the emergence of private universities in sub-Saharan Africa articulates similar constructs of globalization above and below in analyzing the growth of higher education institutions in Africa. Banya’s chapter portrays a crisis of higher education in Africa, especially challenges its perception of foreign
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entity amidst a constellation of daunting tasks related to staffing, finance, and quality. Despite the crisis, Banya suggests the need to develop more innovate and creative partnerships and linkages between institutions within and across nation-state borders. Meagan Sylvester’s chapter on globalization of higher education, specifically at the University of West Indies, adds to the book topics related to effects of neoliberalism in globalized societies. By focusing on policy changes and shifts over a 10 year period, Sylvester illustrates how the birth of the University of West Indies is part of a larger story in understanding the impact of globalization in the Caribbean and the concomitant responses that have taken place to develop entrepreneurial activities at the university in recent years. The chapter by Eugene Anderson and Bryan Cook analyzes the past, present, and future of postsecondary education enrollment for students of color in the United States amidst the changing higher education, economic, and political environment in the country. In depicting the issues of access in higher education, Anderson and Cook highlight the effects of major affirmative action cases in the United States and forecast the future of enrollments through a host of enrollment trends and patterns. David Urias’ chapter on international education in a global context closes the section on the book. His chapter specifically provides analysis on the U.S. influence and dominance in the higher education international student market. By depicting the growth and trends of international student enrollment in higher educational institutions in the United States, Urias suggests how research on international education is at odds with the increasing currency of international education in the American borders. The final section of the book starts with Kim Song’s Chapter on the impact of Japanese colonial legacy on Korean education. In describing the four periods of social and governmental change in Korea between 1910 and the present, Song illustrates how Korea’s most recent educational reforms require an understanding of the power of neoliberal global reform alongside the imperial education orchestrated by the Japanese in Korea since the Korean War. Edward Brantmeier’s chapter on globalization, education, and cultural changes in the United States southwest focuses on the context of educational reform among the Navajo Indian Nation. In privileging the notion of globalization from below, Brantmeier suggests how cultural globalization is manifest in the cultural assimilation and hybridity that takes place among the Navajo in their schooling and educational venues. As both curse and blessing, cultural globalization is the focus of discussion in the chapter and
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describes how the Navajo Indian have for years challenged the dominance of assimilation narratives in the construction of their own local identity and development. The context of educational reform in Spain is taken up by Laura Engel’s chapter. The Engel chapter describes discourse of good governance and public management in changing European standards of education, with specific focus on how these global and regional trends and debates affect Spanish educational governance and decentralization. Michael Jones’ chapter on the changing educational and cultural formation of Thai education illustrates the repeating themes of globalization within the book. In doing so, Jones shows how the reform mechanisms at play from 13th century Thailand to the present have revolved around the role of monks, religion, identity, and development in the country. In exploring contemporary Thai education reform context, Jones further depicts how the development of alternative education practices are part and parcel of the effect of globalization in 21st century Thailand. Kimberly Ochs’ chapter analyzes the state of international teacher migration. By illuminating the sociocultural and economic contexts of teacher migration in industrialized nations and in developing nations, Ochs’ chapter reports on findings from empirical research conducted in the United Kingdom and serves to inform a larger international context of teacher migration the world over. The final chapter by Adeela Arshad-Ayaz analyzes the role of education and the nature of educational reforms in the United Kingdom, the United States, and in developing countries. By framing and problematizing globalization in its political, economic, and cultural domains, the ArshadAyaz chapter suggests how globalization’s impact on education most profoundly contributes to both new discourses and sets agendas surrounding the role of schools in globalized societies. In its entirety, the three themes and three parts of the Power, Voice, and Public Good: Schooling and Education in Global Societies show how the face of education and schooling in globalized societies is constantly contested by the winds of social and historical change, unique to each country context and situation. This volume would not be complete without acknowledging our families, partners, and significant others. No expression of gratitude can convey our heartfelt appreciation for their love, appreciation, and support in the completion of this volume.
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REFERENCES Arnove, R. F., & Torres, C. A. (Eds). (2003). Comparative education: The dialectic of the global and the local (2nd ed.). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. Burbules, N. C., & Torres, C. A. (Eds). (2000). Globalization and education: Critical perspectives. New York: Routledge. Carnoy, M., & Rhoten, D. (2002). What does globalization mean for educational change? A comparative approach. Comparative Education Review, 46(1), 1–9. Fitzsimons, P. (2000). Changing conceptions of globalization: Changing conceptions of education. Educational Theory, 50(4), 505–520. Lipman, P. (2004). High stakes education: Inequality, globalization, and urban school reform. New York: Routledge Falmer. Pensky, M. (Ed.) (2005). Globalizing critical theory. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. Peters, M. (2005). Education, globalization, and the state in the age of terrorism. Boulder, CO: Paradigm. Rhoads, R. A., & Torres, C. A. (2006). The university, state, and market: The political economy of globalization in the Americas. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. Shome, R., & Hegde, R. (2002). Culture, communication, and the challenge of globalization. Critical Studies in Media, 19(2), 172–189. Stromquist, N. P., & Monkman, K. (Eds). (2000). Globalization and education: Integration and contestation across cultures. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. Sua´rez-Orozco, M. M. (2001). Globalization, immigration, and education: The research agenda. Harvard Educational Review, 345–365. Sua´rez-Orozco, M. M., & Qin-Hilliard, D. B. (Eds). (2004). Globalization: Culture and education in the new millennium. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Rodney K. Hopson Carol Camp Yeakey Francis Musa Boakari Editors
GLOBALIZATION, EDUCATION AND THE TROUBLE WITH PEACE$ Antoinette Errante METHOD AND PRESENTATION OF DATA My framework is based upon a grounded analysis (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) of a review of the existing social science and education literature regarding globalization and peace from approximately 1960 to the present. My review consisted of identifying emergent themes in the literature and from these identifying conceptual categories and the relationships among them that could explain some of the ways in which globalization, peace, and educational processes are linked. I approached the literature as a ‘‘cache of documents’’ (Glaser & Strauss, 1967), that is, as bodies of literature reflecting certain sensibilities regarding globalization and peace. My framework is based upon an analysis of how these sensibilities have influenced the reproduction of inequalities through the education sector as a socialization and policy context.
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In this chapter I will explore how globalization discourses have created what I call a ‘‘syndrome of uncertainty’’ that have made us fearful of the conditions of peace, and, in so doing, undermined our willingness to work for justice. I give particular attention to the ways in which this syndrome of uncertainty has limited our understanding of the causes, consequences, and courses of action available regarding globalization’s contribution to inequality and marginalization through educational processes.
Power, Voice and the Public Good: Schooling and Education in Global Societies Advances in Education in Diverse Communities: Research Policy and Praxis, Volume 6, 3–29 Copyright r 2008 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited All rights of reproduction in any form reserved ISSN: 1479-358X/doi:10.1016/S1479-358X(08)06001-4
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A review of the social science and educational literature regarding peace drew my attention to the concepts of interdependence, interpenetration, and shifting identities through two major themes: (1) peace and violence as cultural practices (Avruch, Black, & Science, 1991; Chew, 2001) and (2) the relationship of these practices to power and identity (Comaroff & Comaroff, 1992; Dirks, Eley, & Ortner, 1994). Cultural practices offer us ‘‘socialization templates’’ (Ross, 1990) that influence the values, attitudes, behaviors, and dispositions we learn regarding how, why, when, and how to fight or reconcile. The scholarship concerning peace consolidation in post-conflict societies (Biggar, 2003; Christie, Wagner, & Winter, 2001) was especially helpful because these can help us understand how we might move from cultural practices of violence to practices of peace. They also help us grasp why we may be more ambivalent regarding peace and justice than we may be consciously aware. Reconciling individuals and groups often experience a profound crisis of representation: the very triumphalist identities that protected groups from the pervasive fear of annihilation during violence – identities that idealized in-group members and demonized ‘‘the enemy’’ – must be surrendered in order for former enemies to sustain non-violent interactions. No matter how welcome the prospect of peace, this process constitutes a kind of psychological suicide (Errante, 1999; Marris, 1974; Sachs, 1993; Volkan, 1988). The difficulties we experience in surrendering former violence-based identities rendered salient the importance of reviewing the literature concerning power and identity (Cohen, 1985; Dirks et al., 1994; Hunt & Benford, 1994). I found especially useful Comaroff and Comaroff’s (1992) definition of power as ‘‘access to and control over valued symbolic and material resources.’’ Valued symbolic and material resources embody our idealized identities; while they may differ across cultural contexts, they are resources that serve a similar function: their primary importance is their symbolic significance as power resources that give us a sense of individual and collective intact identities. Whether those identities result from the values, attitudes, behaviors, dispositions, and beliefs that promote peace or violence is merely a question of whether peaceful or violent means appear more likely to defend or procure valued symbolic and material goods. This is how either violence or peace becomes hegemonic: whatever we become habituated to becomes ‘‘normal’’ and thus rendered invisible (Christie et al., 2001; Errante, 2003). When protracted over many years, the mutually constitutive forms of violence that surround us as values, attitudes, and dispositions may become so insinuated in the daily fabric of life, perhaps
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even some of you readers may not be aware of the violences in which you may be implicated as perpetrators, victims, or both. Instead, the symbolic and material resources through which we express and give meaning to power also become tied to this broader context of hegemonic violence (Errante, 1999; Gilligan, 2001). We may only understand the myriad ways in which our lives and identities have been influenced by experiences of violence once these – the sources of our illusions of intactness – have been removed. It is only in such moments that peace – as feelings of mutual attunement, closeness, security, interdependence, well-being – registers as traumatic, an uncomfortable aberration requiring values, attitudes, behaviors, and dispositions that are unfamiliar and leave us feeling vulnerable (Herman, 1992). The research on peace and violence in transitional societies thus made it clear that if we think of violence as only happening ‘‘out there’’ in the Rwandas, Serbias, and Timors of the world, we will be missing the point and risk attributing levels of peace to our own communities that are probably inaccurate. Violence is not only the depriving of someone’s life by the spilling of blood; violence is committed any time we participate in restricting and controlling another group’s access to power resources; thus, the most virulent form of violence is not terrorism, but structural violence, which refers to inequality, and the loss of life arising from it due to unequal access to such important resources of power as health care, food, education, and housing. Worldwide, structural violence annually kills millions more than acts of terrorism or political violence (Christie et al., 2001; Gilligan, 2001). These links among and between power, identity, cultural practices of violence and peace (and the symbolic and material origin of that practice) and willingness to change hegemonic/normalized states brought me back to the literature concerning globalization. This literature is also preoccupied with ‘‘interdependence,’’ ‘‘shifting identities,’’ and ‘‘interpenetration’’ as some of the consequences of the rapid shifts in people, technologies, and capital associated with globalization. Unlike the research on peace, however, most of the globalization literature associates these concepts with terror and violence, particularly by deploying the themes of magic, occultism, and apocalypticism (Comaroff & Comaroff, 2000; Lifton, 2000; Messay, 2001). I call this globalization discourse’s ‘‘syndrome of uncertainty.’’ There was also another body of literature that challenged the very existence of globalization as an exceptional and recent phenomenon. This literature tended to ‘‘read against’’ prevailing notions of globalization as uncertainty and terror, instead asking what such a discourse reveals about
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who fears, why they fear, and who most benefits from the framing of globalization as a syndrome of uncertainty (Cooper, 2001; Falk, 1997). A theoretical picture thus began to emerge: Globalization produces a syndrome of uncertainly through discourses that disempower us by heightening fear regarding the very thing we say we want: peace, justice, and mutual attunement with people around the world. A critical analysis of this discourse also reveals certain dynamics of power, such as who has the power to control the ways in which globalization is framed, what does this reveal about who has power, who wants it, who is afraid they will lose it, and what we mean by power in this instance. As this framework began to emerge, so too the ways in which the education sector – as a socialization and policy context – is implicated in the tensions between globalizing processes and our work for peace and justice. To elaborate my framework, I begin with a discussion of what I call the peace-globalization-education nexus in order to focus the reader on some of the ways these processes are mutually constitutive. With this nexus in mind, I then turn my attention to the globalization literature and the three themes that taken together create a syndrome of uncertainty: magic, occultism, and apocalypticism. I subsequently suggest how each of these three themes are deployed in the education sector in ways that tend to reproduce values, attitudes, behaviors, dispositions, and structural conditions that support disparities across and within countries.
THE PEACE-GLOBALIZATION-EDUCATION NEXUS: WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND If you want peace, work for justice. – Henry Louis Mencken
Henry Louis Mencken’s quote reminds us why a volume dedicated to the ways in which globalization affects inequality and marginalization through educational processes might wish to address peace. After all, there is a good deal of cross-national and historical evidence that inequality – not poverty or poor people – is a strong predictor of violence in all its forms (domestic, interpersonal, international, self-inflicted, structural, political) (Ember & Ember, 1994; Gilligan, 2001). Violence in turn is mutually constitutive so that one or more forms of violence (political, economic, structural, international, interpersonal) locally and/or globally tends to beget other forms of violence (political, economic, structural, international, interpersonal) locally and globally (Christie et al., 2001; Errante, 2003;
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Gilligan, 2001; Scheff, 1994). In these processes, the education sector can be a victim (access to education can reproduce inequalities), perpetrator (school knowledge can reproduce inequalities and/or historical agents that reproduce inequalities), or transformer (consciously and/or unconsciously contribute to the rearing of transformative historical agents that seek to dismantle the status quo by moving towards more peace or more violence). When it comes to peace, globalization, and education, what goes around really does come around and any one of these processes influences and is influenced by the other two. In this chapter, let us consider how this nexus influences and is influenced by three clusters of social processes of particular relevance to the education sector: (1) the socio-economic cluster; (2) the ‘‘power to define power’’ cluster, and the (3) shifting learning and socialization context cluster.
The Peace-Globalization-Education Nexus: Socio-Economic Implications The peace-globalization-education nexus responds and is responsive to local and global socio-economic trends. An example of this is the links among and between fair trade practices, workforce preparation, and levels of violence within and across nations. Technological advances have facilitated companies previously operating within national economies (and loyalties) shifting their manufacturing operations to countries where labor is cheap and profit margins are high (Barbieri & Schneider, 1999; Halsey et al., 1997). This process not only creates employment and salary disparities across and within nations; it also encourages educational disparities. We have long known that in underdeveloped countries where ruling elites maintain their economic advantage by making cheap labor pools available in the global marketplace, there is a disincentive to creating highly efficient educational systems that graduate large numbers of literate and skilled workers (Carnoy, 1974; Frank, 1992). Recent shifts in global capital and labor practices have accentuated these shifts in several ways: (1) they are creating high levels of male unemployment in the so-called developed western world as manufacturing jobs have moved to ‘‘underdeveloped’’ countries with cheap labor costs (Halsey et al., 1997). Even with suppressed wages, the rise in female employment has tended to increase the consumer power of women in the developing world. (2) In the west, as male-dominated manufacturing jobs disappear, service-oriented jobs are being created that are largely gendered in favor of women. Globally, then male consumer power has diminished relative to women
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even as advances in telecommunications has tended to glorify and commodify western consumer culture (Barbieri & Schneider, 1999; Comaroff & Comaroff, 2000; Halsey, 1997). These gendered economic disparities (or structural violence) across and within nations has led to an increase in violent masculinities across and within nations manifested in rises in domestic abuse, violent nationalism, racism, and homophobia (Comaroff & Comaroff, 2000; Greig, Kimmel, & Lang, 2000; Kimmel, 2003). Historical and cross-national studies have shown socialization contexts where hegemonic violence cultivates violent masculinities to be the best predictors of the cross-generational transmission of violence (Ember & Ember, 1994; Christie et al., 2001).
The Peace-Globalization-Education Nexus and the Power to Define Power The global spread of western consumer culture and commodities as highstatus resources of power illustrate that the effects of economic disparities heighten and are heightened by social processes that I refer to as ‘‘the power to define power.’’ One of the most significant ways that groups with power reproduce it is through their access to and control over knowledge production and distribution, including the power to define power, what it is and is not, who has it and what it looks like (Apple, 1993; Said, 1993; Tikly, 1999). Post-colonialist scholars, for instance, have noted that most of our conceptual categories originate in the power of 19th century social science to define the ‘‘west’’ in relation to the ‘‘rest’’ giving birth to our perceptions of what constitutes ‘‘modern’’ versus ‘‘traditional,’’ ‘‘civilized’’ versus ‘‘uncivilized,’’ ‘‘religion’’ versus ‘‘magic,’’ and ‘‘science’’ versus ‘‘superstition’’ (Comaroff & Comaroff, 1992). Over time, these categories frame what we consider ‘‘official knowledge’’ worthy of transmitting in educational settings (Apple, 1993). Schools have been complicit in this process ever since the worldwide institutionalization of western modes of school began in the 19th century (Ramirez & Boli, 1987). Globalization has further tended to facilitate the ‘‘homogenization’’ of ‘‘official knowledge’’ across and within countries (Dale & Robertson, 2002). Globalization discourse’s power to define power not only occurs in formal school settings. The spread of western consumer cultures through telecommunications advances facilitate the framing of western cultural goods as high status. Telecommunications have also facilitated the spread of values, attitudes, beliefs, and dispositions that challenge the dominance of western culture – as evident in the rise of interest in the west regarding
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eastern forms of yoga and healing, and the rising use of the internet by terrorist groups and cells to recruit members (Jurgensmeyer, 2000). What these processes have in common is that they point to the ways in which the peace-globalization-education nexus influences and is influenced by the social construction of agency and disempowerment.
The Peace-Globalization-Education Nexus: Implications for Learning and Socialization Contexts Finally, the peace-globalization-education nexus affects and is affected by the cluster of social processes that are shifting learning and socialization contexts. To the degree that the education context is a learning context (along with community, family, and popular culture) it is also a place where we may directly and indirectly learn the ‘‘socialization templates’’ regarding the practice of peace and/or violence. These templates include everything from conflict resolution strategies to values, attitudes, and behaviors regarding ‘‘otherness’’ and the construction of difference (Tyack, 1993). As global economic forces have fostered violent national and transnational social movements, they have shifted the socialization contexts in which children learn from and about peace and violence. These are not merely practices learned in school through the explicit curriculum (Broadfoot, 2000). It is not that globalization per se produces violence, only that the global web of connections that connect individuals and groups across nations means that local cultural practices and movements of violence and peace are sensitive (for better or worse) to global economic trends and vice versa. These cultural milieus and movements are powerful learning contexts regarding power, agency, and inequality that educational researchers have largely ignored (Broadfoot, 2000). Where any one of the processes of peaceglobalization-education produces disparities or violence, the nexus will amplify those effects and make them recursive. Where any one of those processes cultivates equality or peace, the nexus will tend to amplify those effects and make them recursive.
The Peace-Globalization-Education Nexus and the Worldwide Struggle for Equality: A Divided Vision Despite the strong relationships (for better or worse) between and among peace, globalization, and educational processes, why do we not appear to
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have harnessed globalization processes that would encourage peace? The word ‘‘peace’’ like the word ‘‘democracy’’ is such a ‘‘hurrah word’’ (Cohen, 1985), we take for granted that peace is always the obviously preferably alternative to violence. This conventional notion of peace as ‘‘not conflict’’ is misleading because it does not allow us to consider how dissent and peace may co-exist, or how violence and harmony (where peaceful dissent regarding inequality has been criminalized) may co-exist (Nader, 1991). Hurrah words are utopian words. And so, we have constructed peace to mean a state we can never really truly achieve even as we say and believe peace is what we really all want. Mencken’s earlier quote reminding us that if we want peace, we should work for justice suggests why this is so. Once we speak of peace in terms of justice, we must examine our feelings regarding the leveling of privilege and the sharing of power that improving everyone’s (e)quality of life entails. But as David Cohen (1984) observes regarding prevailing American views of education as the ‘‘great equalizer,’’ such an examination may reveal a greater ambivalence regarding peace and justice than we previously thought. Americans celebrate common schools but also worry about them. Education in common means schools attended by all, open to all, supported by the state. We congratulate ourselves on the outstanding achievements of public education in this country and celebrate the egalitarian achievement of common schools. But when we worry about public schools, we think about the other meaning of the word ‘‘common.’’ The two meanings of the word common seem to symbolize a deep ambivalence that we Americans have about public education. We view our schools with a split vision – sometimes celebrating their commonness as an egalitarian achievement and sometimes worrying about their commonness as an unfortunate consequence of equality. (p. 253)
This ambivalence regarding peace and justice may not be limited to educational processes nor American ideologies. Our extant central organizing principles in the social sciences originate in the anxiety-ridden generalizations of western 19th century thinkers reflecting on their own situation, one similar to ours in their ambivalence about equality and the ‘‘common man’’ inching ever closer into political, economic, and cultural realms previously occupied by an aristocratic few (Karier, 1986; Tilly, 1984). Tilly identifies eight ‘‘pernicious postulates’’ originating in this western anxiety regarding ‘‘common’’ men and women that continue to frame our social science thinking regarding social change: [F]alse general principles derived from the bourgeois reaction to nineteenth century changes should be the first to go. Let us discard the idea of society as a thing apart and of
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societies as overarching entities; of social behavior as the consequence of individual mental events shaped by society and of those mental events as the links between persons and societies; of social change as a single coherent phenomenon, of standard stages through which societies develop; of differentiation as the dominant, inevitable logic of social change; of a contest between differentiation and integration as the source of order and disorder; of disorder itself as a general phenomenon resulting from the strain of rapid social change; of sharp separation between legitimate and illegitimate forms of coercion, conflict and expropriation. (p. 18)
The naturalization of these postulates as truth means as a general rule we have very little conscious awareness of the degree to which we ourselves are ambivalent agents of peace. With these postulates safely embedded in western cognitions, one would associate any changes in the status quo (including those required to sustain greater levels of justice locally and globally) with disorder. Our tendency to draw distinctions between legitimate and illegitimate forms of coercion would reinforce this because we would tend to see state efforts to eliminate dissent as harmony and groups protesting for greater equality against oppressive states as ‘‘disorderly’’ and ‘‘illegitimate.’’ In this way, violence and inequality are rendered invisible and thus ‘‘normal’’ and peace and equality become the enemies that threaten to disturb our illusions of ‘‘peace.’’ What chance then, would globalization and education processes have to work towards peace and justice if we might not even recognize peace if we saw it?
GLOBALIZATION AS SYNDROME OF UNCERTAINTY: WHOSE SYNDROME AND WHOSE UNCERTAINTY? Our ambivalence towards the changes conducive to peace locally and globally are eminently evident in the globalization literature. Like peace research, globalization discourses are also preoccupied with concepts such as ‘‘interdependence’’ and ‘‘integration’’ (Cooper, 2001; Dale & Robertson, 2002; Ruggie, 1997). But whereas peace research uses these terms – interdependence and integration – to describe the key ingredients in achieving, maintaining, and cultivating peace and justice, globalization discourses frames ‘‘interdependence’’ as something to fear, promotes uncertainty and ultimately leads to violence (Appadurai, 1998; Barbieri & Schneider, 1999; Comaroff, 1997; Comaroff & Comaroff, 1999, 2000; Falk, 1997; Geschiere, 1998; Henwood, 1991; Katz, 1998; Stein, 2001; Storper, 2000). If our primary interest is to understand whether and the degrees to
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which the nexus of globalization, peace, and education processes can contribute to closing the power (political, economic, cultural, symbolic) gaps among and within nations, therefore, globalization discourses become interesting for what they reveal regarding our fundamental ambivalence regarding peace and justice rather than for the empirical realities they purport to explain. Whether globalization discourses are addressing the rising worldwide penetration of global capitalism (Comaroff & Comaroff, 2001), the subsequent decline of power of nation-states in relation to multinational and transnational firms (Falk, 1997), or the technological advances that have facilitated the movement of persons, commodities, and ideas (Dimitriadis & Kamberelis, 1997; Katz, 1998), they all tell us that increasingly the global and the local are mutually constitutive. While scholars acknowledge that the term ‘‘globalization’’ is conceptually problematic (Dale & Robertson, 2002), they distinguish contemporary globalization processes on the grounds that the ways in which our technologies have made cultural, social, and psychological transmigration possible constitute a profound ontological shift (Griffin, 2001; Storper, 2000). ‘‘Context’’ is no longer a well-defined geographical physical reality. Moreover, to the extent that these economic, social, cultural, and psychological forces have caused inequalities and rapid shifts in prevailing race, class, and gender identities they have been disorienting in ways that have tended to escalate violence (Barbieri & Schneider, 1999; Cingranelli & Richards, 1999; Stein, 2001; Storper, 2000). Globalization scholars have pointed in particular to the striking range of ways that individuals and groups worldwide have dealt with the sense of uncertainty resulting from this ontological shift, from witchcraft and witch hunts (whether these manifest in heightened hunts of witches, pedophiles, or terrorists in our midst), to vivisection, and apocalyptic violence (Appadurai, 1998; Comaroff, 1997; Comaroff & Comaroff, 1999, 2000; Geschiere, 1998; Messay, 2001; Stein, 2001). Globalization discourses thus tend to frame the integration and interdependence we are experiencing as (a) new and (b) dangerous. We are told that globalization has made the world a little less wide by the ways in which it brings people together but that this interpenetration of borders, economies, beliefs, and communities risks tearing people apart through increasing terror, uncertainty, and intolerance. But is globalization really new and dangerous? Critical and post-colonial scholars suggest that if we follow the intellectual trail of this particular rendition of globalization, it will point to a history of hegemonic violence
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and western dominance based upon the social construction of the aversion to interdependence: [With respect to globalization . . . ] the Cold War era may well prove an interlude in a more enduring American dilemma: how to be not only politically in the world but of it when no overarching external threat exists. (Ruggie, 1997, p. 120) If the Cold War can be said to have had any virtues, at least it kept the major capitalist powers from each other’s throats. Of course, this peace came at some cost – repression and manipulation of client states, proxy wars in the Third World, squandering money on weapons of unimaginable horror, and a constant if subliminal fear of universal annihilation . . . Now the bipolar, hierarchical world is gone. (Henwood, 1991, p. 13) It may help us situate Huntington’s [1993] emphasis on the Islamic threat [in his clash of civilizations thesis]. In effect the extraordinary impact of the clash thesis was not a result of questioning world order fundamentals, but rather reflected the frenzied search for a new enemy of sufficient magnitude to fill the void created by the collapse of the Soviet Union and revolutionary Marxism. (Falk, 1997, p. 127)
As the above scholars note, the West in general and the United States government in particular has shown itself ambivalent about globalization processes because it is, after all, the West who has cultivated its resources of power across and within nations based upon its power to define the world according to ‘‘the west and the rest,’’ a perspective that was equally globalizing in scope but based upon hierarchy and duality rather than interdependence. What this suggests is that those who stand to lose the most from global interdependence may not be already dependent groups (states, regions, transnational organizations), but those who previously felt themselves to be independent, self-sufficient, and/or producers of dependence elsewhere. Such attitudes regarding dependence/independence/interdependence apply equally to economic, cultural, and psychological processes and constitute the broader milieu in which education policymakers worldwide formulate, implement, and resist school-related policies. One of the ways in which this milieu is created is by globalization discourse’s framing of the uncertainty people worldwide are apparently experiencing as exceptional, and that the (subsequent) rise in violence is due to the exceptional processes that globalization has ushered in. The sense of precariousness, deprivation, and uncertainty attributed to globalization processes, however, are not exactly new in human history. Scholars point out that economic capitalist penetration was at least as high in other points in history (such as during the slave trade) as it is purported to be in our exceptional global age (Cooper, 2001). It is just as likely, therefore, that the past serves as prologue of how local injustices can provoke international social
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movements. For example, African-Americans well understood the impact that World War I and World War II could have on their civil and human rights in the United States (Gallagher, 1941; McMillan, 1943; Reddick, 1943; Sieferth, 1939). They were equally aware that their fate was linked with that of other oppressed groups worldwide (Daniel, 1934; Tate, 1943). All of these processes of violence and uncertainty linked to the specialness of globalization could be as easily explained if we considered how the historical construction and evolution of western hegemonic violence (structural, political, cultural) combined with the spread of economic and social laissez-faire capitalist processes and ideologies worldwide has over time normalized brutality and privilege across disparate groups, and undermined the status of peace practices within and across national, transnational, cultural, economic, and psychological borders.
OF KNOWLEDGE AND AGENCY: MAGIC, OCCULTISM AND APOCALYPTICISM What is exceptional about globalization discourse, therefore, is its preoccupation with present experiences of indeterminism and uncertainty as exceptional in world history, and thus requiring exceptional responses. While the terrorinducing processes invoked by globalization discourses appear disparate, they all point to a looming sense of insecurity that require the adoption of terror management strategies that are violent and thus recursive; they actually heighten terror. Here, we see the simultaneous fascination and abhorrence for ‘‘indeterminate meaning’’ (Geschiere, 1998), the ‘‘violence of abstraction’’ (Comaroff, 1997), and ‘‘dead certainties’’ (Appadurai, 1998). By invoking a syndrome of uncertainty, globalization discourses have reappropriated colonialism’s ‘‘wild man’’ evoking terror that must be healed through western intervention (cf. Taussig, 1987). Rather than the colonist’s 19th century fear of the customs, traditions, and body of the ‘‘native,’’ this latter-day ‘‘wild man’’ constructed by globalization discourse represents our contemporary experiences of global interpenetration and interdependence. Perhaps we have come to ruminate about the terrorists, pedophiles, informants, and witches that might be lurking in our most intimate settings, because it is this very idea of interpenetration we fear. While this fear may be universal in that most groups may fear ‘‘foreign invasions,’’ it is really only the West that is experiencing global interpenetration and interdependence as something new or exceptional because these challenge western triumphalist
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identities. As the earlier quote about the United States and the Cold War suggest, for example, in the United States, Puritan hegemonic visions of millennial Protestantism have persisted over the centuries in the many forms taken by the United States’ belief in a divine destiny to act as a moral beacon and leader to the rest of world. Such a triumphalist, exceptionalist, and apocalyptic ideology is anathema to the integrative discourse of globalization. Tilly (1984) suggests a further reason why western intellectual discourses might register discomfort with globalization, and it has little to do with a heightened sense of disparity and inequality ‘‘out there.’’ Tilly observes that European and US encounters with Third World scholars has ‘‘shaken up’’ all of these ‘‘pernicious postulates’’ to some degree: the world that western globalization discourse perceives ‘‘out there’’ is really a reflection of its own anxieties and sense of intellectual indeterminism as the global penetration of markets, commodities, cultures, ideas, and symbols begins to ‘‘shake up’’ the West as much as the West believed it had previously only shaken up everyone else. As Falk (1997) observes, this is hardly a perspective that will support integration and interdependence: The dynamics of dewesternization that started with the collapse of the former colonial system but are going forward now in the shape of the assertiveness of non-western civilizational claims, particularly those being made on behalf of Islam and Asia, have undermined the universalism of the modern era. As a result globalization coexists with civilizational pluralism and various forms of political fragmentation . . . (p. 135)
Post-colonial and critical globalization scholars thus remind us to be critical of the realities and causalities constructed by globalization discourse’s uncertainty syndrome because they tend to foster conditions that direct the globalization-peace-education nexus towards reproducing hegemonic relations and disparities across and within nations. To focus more specifically on how this syndrome of uncertainty is implicated in the reproduction of inequality/ structural violence through education processes, I will focus on three themes in the globalization literature: magic, occultism, and apocalypticism.
Magic, Global Interdependence and Indeterminate Official Knowledge or . . . Don’t Stand So Close to My Canon In their analysis of ‘‘millennial capitalism’’ Comaroff and Comaroff (2000) observe that the uncertainties brought about by an increasingly globalizing world order have brought about a rise in ‘‘occult economies.’’ Millennial
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capitalism refers at once to global capitalism in the new millennium and the millennial thinking driving these economies. It has become a doctrine of faith (often obscuring mounting evidence to the contrary) that global capitalism can solve everything from world hunger to democracy, world peace, and national supremacy. The Comaroffs and other scholars note that global capitalism has become occult to the degree it has become a ‘‘process without a subject’’ (Dale & Robertson, 2002) or ‘‘designer-free, a partial dystopia that is being formed spontaneously’’ (Falk, 1997, p. 125). It has given globalization a Hegelian-like sense of inevitability, as if it were another version of the universal spirit, this time finding its most perfect expression not in the state, but in the forces of global capitalism. As occult economies have risen so have ‘‘economies of the occult,’’ a reference to the growing worldwide commodification of magic and witchcraft as a technology of power (Comaroff & Comaroff, 2000; Geschiere, 1998). Scholars emphasize particularly the use of witchcraft to perpetrate violence against those who have become wealthy under occult economies (and thus suspected of witchcraft) or the use of witchcraft in order to ‘‘get rich quick.’’ So is witchcraft and magic really on the rise or are scholars simply more sensitive to its existence? Is globalization really the ultimate causality of the witchcraft and magic we seem to notice in our midst? Might these cases be at least as readily explained if the link between global capital and hegemonic violence were examined in an historical context? By deploying a term like magic, we are associating globalization with a process that western social science has already constructed as something ‘‘not western’’ and therefore to fear. This may be why we tend to find only evidence of the ways in which globalization has ushered violent forms of magic and witchcraft. Lost in this framing is any sense of magic and witchcraft historically and globally (is witchcraft really on the rise, and if so, specifically in which context) or the degree to which witchcraft and magic are really just ‘‘other people’s medicine’’ and are employed in successful rituals of individual and community healing throughout the world (Efraime & Errante, 2002). That scholars should be preoccupied with a heightened sense of a relationship between magic, occultism, and violence is quite revealing however: as capitalism becomes more occult through globalization, other magic is becoming less so. I say ‘‘other magic’’ because magic simply refers to technologies of power that are based upon the manipulation of natural forces. Laissez-faire capitalism has not just now become occult or magical; it is rooted in the principle of natural law. Capital has been always been a powerful muti;1 it is why we are hard-pressed to question the forces of profit
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maximization as the central organizing logic of economic development. Its surfacing as a form of magic in the globalization literature is merely a revelation of what always was but remained occult. Our historically western tendency to attribute magical thinking to exotic others has really been more of a mirror of our own practices all along (Cohen, 1985). The surfacing of capital as magic and magic as capital enables us to take a closer look at some the dynamics underlying hegemonic violence, inequality, and global capitalism. Traditionally, practitioners of witchcraft, particularly those of the healing arts, were not allowed by custom and belief to profit from others’ suffering; they accepted whatever one could or would offer them. My own research in traditional healing has put me in contact with numerous curandeiros (traditional healers) in Mozambique as well as Italian stregas2 (witches). When employed for peaceful purposes, they can be extraordinarily effective in negotiating conflicts within families and communities. However, as protracted conflict and persistent poverty has compromised healers’ access to the material and symbolic goods through which they have historically maintained their status and their communities’ well-being, the temptation to appeal to sorcery and incite conflict has increased because it is much more profitable (Errante, 1999). As their clients are locked in protracted cycles of conflict with their neighbors, so too are requests for the services of traditional healers or witches, whether these are in Southern Africa or in Europe. These dynamics in turn simply mirror the multitude of transactions by individuals, governments, multinational, and transnational groups that profit socially, politically, economically, and/or psychologically from the existence of conflict. To the extent we have always attempted to harness the forces of nature, magic, and its commodification has always served to reproduce the status quo. Unfortunately, because the status quo within and across national borders has become so steeped in hegemonic violence, the ‘‘magic’’ that we are commodifying – whether it be body parts, powders, missiles, or forms of dress that encourage violent masculinities – now serve to heighten terror in order to destroy it. In short violence has become more profitable than peace. Globalization’s discourse of magic and uncertainty, however, largely render invisible local and historical clusters of social processes (such as capitalism) that have tended to reproduce and encourage hegemonic violence. Instead, the ‘‘magic narrative’’ implies that capitalism has only led to extreme violence and brutality once it has penetrated the so-called developing world while rendering invisible some of the ultimate causes of rises in violence: heightened and ongoing (not new) global capital exploitation.
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The education sector is and has been both ‘‘victim’’ and ‘‘perpetrator’’ of this association of magic with a syndrome of uncertainty that renders invisible certain local and global causalities involved in the reproduction of violence and inequality. Global economic, political, and cultural forces have produced a sense of intellectual indeterminism by challenging western ‘‘official knowledge’’ (Apple, 1993) and dominant paradigms. Ironically, just as post-coloniality has critiqued the social and political construction of ‘‘official knowledge’’ and ‘‘shaken up’’ dominant western paradigms with thoughts about the agency of previously marginalized groups, globalization discourses present prevailing technologies of power as ‘‘author-free’’ and thus beyond the scope of human agency. Thus, not only has the ‘‘magical realism’’ of globalization discourses framed capitalism and wealth as dangerous now that it has reached the non-western world, but non-western people apparently have no agency to address or redress these dangers. Here then we have another contradiction that keeps us effectively ambivalent about work for peace as justice: the globalizing forces that have facilitated the inclusion of a broader range of voices versus the globalization discourses that suggest these voices have virtually no agency, except through violence. Globalization discourses regarding magic and indeterminacy thus invite us to face some of our old constructions regarding official knowledge and technologies of power and re-frame our possibilities for new ones. For the education sector, the challenges presented by a critique of globalization’s deployment of magic is this: where have we all along employed magic in educational processes and to what degree do these participate in the reproduction of hegemonic violence? The ‘‘canons’’ related to the institutionalization of mass schooling in the west and its worldwide institutionalization brim with magical thinking about the powers we could harness and direct through western-style schooling and official knowledge. Our enchantment with schooling has become so strong, we can hardly imagine learning occurs anywhere else, in spite of much contemporary evidence to the contrary (Broadfoot, 2000, 2002). The millennial school that arose with the worldwide institutionalization of western-style mass schooling created the ‘‘myth of school omnipotence:’’ (a) formal schooling is the sole place where children do any substantive learning; (b) there is a direct correlation between what is taught in schools and what children end up learning; (c) children’s interactions with socialization agents and contexts beyond the schools do not substantially influence what they learn inside of school; (d) schools can ‘‘cure’’ every social ill from intemperance to poverty to violence; (e) an ‘‘educated person’’ is exclusively someone who attends western-style schools; (f) all other forms
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of adults teaching children is neither ‘‘school’’ nor ‘‘education’’; and (g) in order for a nation-state to be a nation-state, it must have western-style schools. To the degree the education sector has participated in the power to define official knowledge, it has contributed to our prevailing notions concerning ‘‘magic’’ and witchcraft and their association solely with terror and violence, and rendered invisible the ways in which magic and witchcraft constitute ‘‘other people’s’’ religions and systems of healing. This also means we have de-legitimized important socialization agents that could influence the next generation’s view of peace and violence, such as traditional healers and community elders not ‘‘educated’’ by western criteria. In so doing, the education sector is complicit in rendering invisible some of the historical and contemporary causes of hegemonic violence and the socialization contexts that reproduce it. The question concerning official knowledge and magic point to a much bigger problem concerning the myth of school omnipotence. The increasingly rapid movement of persons, technologies, media, and popular culture has shifted the relative importance of certain socialization agents and technologies (e.g. parents, religious leaders) and created or given prominence to new ones (such a shopping malls, Internet, satellite television) (Griffin, 2001; Katz, 1998). Without an understanding of the shifting ground of educational processes in relation to other social, cultural, technological, economic, and political processes, we risk continuing to render invisible some of the very processes that would enable us to better position schools to address marginalization and inequality. De-centering schools as ‘‘magic bullets’’ for all that ails us involves two activities. First we need to re-discover and explore the visions of education as social and cultural transmission that were lost with the school’s institutionalization as a western institution. Second, globalization processes present challenges of scale to the framing of our research endeavors (Appadurai, 2000; Comaroff & Comaroff, 1999). We need to engage what globalization has made ‘‘lumpy’’ (Cooper, 2001) and ‘‘awkward’’ (Comaroff & Comaroff, 1999), that is, attempt to understand how economic, psychological, cultural, social, race, and gender processes across and within levels of social complexity (e.g. local, national, international, transnational) become ‘‘tangled up in schools’’ (Nespor, 1997). Giving up our millennial visions of schools offers us an opportunity to address outdated illusions about the ‘‘place’’ of schools in the lives of children. From there, we can more readily begin to tackle the limits and possibilities of formal schooling as well as gain an expanded vision of alternative resources – in the form of ideas, values, and human resources – that could be a part of an expanded
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attempt to level cultural, social, economic, racial, and gender inequalities that do not now – nor have they ever – end at nations’ borders.
Occulting Agency and the Social Construction of Despair Our willingness to continually rethink the ways in which schools are situated in the peace-globalization-education nexus is also important because there seems to be a concerted effort by globalization discourse to displace all processes, including educational processes ‘‘beyond our control.’’ In the United States, such occulting of agency is not new in educational processes, particularly those related to testing, measurement and accountability. For instance, whenever funding to schools, as is now the case in No Child Left Behind (NCLB), is positively related to measurements of student achievement, the implicit assumption is that (a) all students are the same and there is no sample variation (Linn, Baker, & Betebenner, 2003); and that (b) schools alone cause student achievement. Such accountability systems render invisible any structural reasons that might influence disparities in student results, such as poverty, homelessness, and racism while rendering visible more personalized criteria such as the competence of students and teachers. Such occulting of agency seems to be part of a general trend noted earlier to frame globalization processes as if they were inevitable and ‘‘authorfree.’’ If the source of processes remains occult, we have no way of either holding authors responsible or of exercising our own agency in attempts to engage them. But of course, globalization processes generally, and those of interest to educational policymakers in particular, are not really ‘‘authorfree,’’ there is simply a different relationship among agents of change than existed in more state-centered times: Globalization has undermined the certitudes associated with the proclamation of a statecentric world. At the same time, globalization has concealed the locus of real power in relation to the shaping of global policy. Leaders of states are constrained by these structural forces, and receptive to their interpretation of global market priorities. In paradoxical fashion, the Marxist account of the relation between economic and political power seems persuasive only after Marxism has lost its capacity to win adherents to its world view. (Falk, 1997, p. 135)
The fusion of political and economic interests is critical for educational policymakers to understand, especially: (1) what are the relationships between political and economic power across and within levels of social complexities and how do these relations influence educational processes; and
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(2) given the growing link between occult economies and hegemonic violence, to what degree do these political and economic relationships contribute to the reproduction of hegemonic violence through educational processes? I offer a case of the intersection of local, global, political, economic, historical, and contingent forces that have all contributed to the reproduction of hegemonic violence through educational processes in my own location in Columbus, Ohio. Initially, President Bush’s administration planned to invest heavily in ‘‘NCLB,’’ which serves primarily school districts serving children of poverty and children with disabilities. Those funds, however, were diverted for use in the United States’ war and reconstruction of Iraq as well as its broader pre-emptive campaigns against terrorism; this has left NCLB an unfunded mandate. In Columbus, Ohio, draconian cuts to the educational budget as a result of the need for more war funds have been felt hardest by African American students attending some of the city’s poorest and most racially segregated neighborhoods. Many of these students live with inequality and structural violence in its multiple forms. The President’s decision to put the nation’s educational budget at the service of the war on global terror would be of concern if we were to only consider the possible ramifications for these students because such cuts risk further marginalizing them and widening the gap in their educational opportunities. But it is not only the legacies of jim crow that became occulted in the discourse on global terror. One of the other groups of students populating some of Columbus’ most under-funded schools is Somali students, most of them refugees of a bitter and bloody civil war. In Columbus, as in other school system, the encounter between poor African-American and Somali youth has been difficult and even combative.3 Some of the Somalis are former child soldiers and veterans of violent combat. They and their families have been exposed to extreme deprivation, violence, and torture. They have had to make the transition to a new land, a new culture, a new language, and, invariably, a new identity, as they interact with host country nationals, who, even in the most welcoming of circumstances, have no idea what they have been through, nor the life that they have had to leave behind. Public schools have not always eased the stress of such a monumental transition. Somali youth have felt discriminated against on several fronts: they are not simply ‘‘foreign’’ but are also mostly Muslim. As if to further deny the cultural pride and identities that their experiences with protracted violence and status as refugees already had inevitably challenged, many of these youth resent that, to the American
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imagination, Somalis are primarily Black. The hegemonic tolerance of violence towards African-Americans is thus extended to them. African-American youth, however, at once imagine their Somali colleagues as Black and resent them for it. They have come to view the Somalis as Blacks with privileges such as bilingual classes, tutoring, and religious dispensations. Why, they wonder, are these Blacks treated better than they are? Rather than perceiving an opportunity for solidarity and cultural exchange, for African-American students, the Somali students have become a foil for their own marginalization. Two youth groups from different parts of the globe – but each one raised in a context where violence became normalized – meet; the legacies of their respective experiences of violence puts them at odds with one another. The global, political, and economic ties that bind them have been effectively ‘‘occulted.’’ Sadly, this occulting of agency in a school context only serves to promote a socialization-learning context that reproduces violence and conflict. Globalization discourses do not contribute much in terms of alternative socialization templates. This is not because globalization discourse obscures all agency, but because it has obscured all agency except that which is expressed in terms of violence. In its most extreme form, globalization’s syndrome of uncertainty has ushered in a particularly insidious cult of terror in which heroic agency becomes fused with violence that is apocalyptic.
Apocalypse Now In its broadest sense, apocalyptic thinking refers to a paradoxical form of violence in which destruction becomes a necessary precursor to healing (Lifton, 2000). We have seen this kind of apocalyptic thinking in its various forms in the last few years: from suicide bombers, to pre-emptive strikes against suspected terrorists (Jurgensmeyer, 2000), to the homicidal/suicidal violence displayed in such US school shooters as Kip Winkel (McFadden, 2003). But we might also consider notions of competition in laissez-faire capitalism a form of apocalyptic violence because it is premised on the notion that the weakest must ‘‘die’’ in order for the strongest to survive. Conflicts are not resolved but eliminated. Apocalyptic violence is an extreme example of how values we would normally associate with peace processes – such as freedom, liberation, and agency – become fused with destruction. If the uncertainties of the world provoke an extreme and pervasive fear of annihilation, then the most
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extreme way to manage this terror and express one’s human agency is to gain control over one’s own mortality while destroying simultaneously those who appear to threaten it. The implications of apocalyptic thinking are several for education as a socialization and policy context. For one thing, this kind of violence is being modeled everywhere for youth worldwide; we cannot ignore it as a ‘‘socialization template’’ that has been made available to youth. Youth with an extreme sense of hopelessness and acute sense of shame are the most vulnerable to engage in such acts of violence (McFadden, 2003). It behooves us to consider how schooling contexts contribute to such feelings, and what schools might do – as we expand our vision of the place of schools in the socialization lives of children – to counteract these feelings and templates. Moreover, apocalyptic violence is a kind of heroic agency that is specifically linked worldwide to the formation of violent masculinities (Donald, 1992; Sparks, 1996). As we rethink the place of schools in the socialization contexts of childhood and youth, we might also re-evaluate the ways in which school processes contribute to the social construction of gender roles in which both young men and women are socialized to produce and consume violent masculinities. Apocalyptic violence is the ultimate expression of a freedom borne of having nothing left to lose; it is this kind of despair, and our conceptual frames that tend to cultivate such a deep sense of hopelessness, that we ought to be redressing as a precursor to addressing the negative impact of globalization on already marginalized school populations. Children and youth look to adults to help them make sense of the world, and if we as adults do not know who is exercising influence in children’s lives, then neither do they. We must be willing to address our own ambivalences regarding the prospects for and desire of peace, and examine the beliefs and values that we must be willing to surrender or reshape, before we can hope to mobilize youth as an active force for peace.
DISTURBING THE PEACE: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE FUTURE OF NATIONAL AND TRANSNATIONAL EDUCATIONAL POLICIES Either we have hope within us or we don’t; it is a dimension of the soul, and it’s not essentially dependent on some particular observation of the world or estimate of the situation. Hope . . . is not the same as joy that things are going well, or willingness to invest in enterprises that are obviously headed for success, but rather an ability to work
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Where peace is merely disguised as the elimination of dissent through the direct and indirect proliferation of hegemonic violence, then peace is best achieved by disturbing its impostor. One could hardly find a more shining example of hope in the non-violent disturbance of the peace in our times than that of unarmed Nigerian women who in the summer of 2002 took over five Chevron pipeline stations to demand better contracts, employment opportunities and social development funds from the giant multinational. Pointedly, the protests began with Itsekeri women taking over the Chevron Texaco oil terminal in Escravos, the Portuguese word for slaves, a reminder of the historical position of this part of the world in previous iterations of global economies. Their protest spread to other nearby communities where Ijaw women soon followed their example. They took over the pipelines with no arms except their bodies, and indeed their most effective strategy turned out to be their threat to strip naked in protest. In the end, Chevron agreed to expand local employment opportunities and upgrade contracts, provide compensation for any environmental damage, schools, hospitals, water, and electricity, put aside $160,000 to help local women start businesses, and establish a scholarship fund. This approach is in stark contrast to – and more successful than – previous protests in the Niger Delta, characterized by armed men kidnapping managers and sabotaging local plants. Apparently, these women did not realize they had no agency or resources with which to negotiate with the powers of global capital around them. They did not appear to realize capitalist exploitation was a new phenomenon and that their plight was the recent result of global capitalism. It thus perhaps did not occur to them that old conflict resolution strategies such as their threat of nudity would not work. Instead, they did what we might all be doing and encouraging at all levels of social complexity and educational policy: thinking about locally and culturally sanctioned expressions of conflict resolution that provide a moral compass to political, business, and economic leaders. At Escravos, where once naked Black bodies were represented as Black subjugation to White western domination, they now speak to empowerment. Globalization indeed: what goes around does eventually come around. These women’s resolve and strategy for confronting a seemingly behemoth opponent is a reminder of how we might begin to move beyond the paradoxes revealed in globalization discourse: that although
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globalization is based upon the principles of economic, cultural and technological integration and interdependence, it has thus far been an integration that has maintained separation and conflict to the extent it has reproduced existing social, economic, political, and cultural inequalities and created new ones. Globalization discourses have produced a syndrome of uncertainty that disempower by making us fearful of the very conditions needed to work for peace; in so doing they have heightened our fear of processes of social change and created an ethos of powerlessness to change them. By invoking terror, these discourses create more of it. The education sector has either followed suit or has been unable to sway the momentum of this uncertainty syndrome in the direction of peace and equality. The challenge for policymakers concerned with disparity and marginalization is to think about how to move the peace-globalization-education nexus in the direction of peace and social justice. Only then we can begin to formulate learning environments aimed at leveling race, class, gender, and ethnic privilege. It is our ambivalence about this leveling, of course, that is the trouble with peace, and which globalization discourses bring to our attention.
NOTES 1. Muti is the Zulu word for medicine, and includes the plants, herbs and other natural substances that are used for healing. The fact that here, the word appears in the context of ‘‘magic’’ is indicative of the political, racial, and economic construction of ‘‘official knowledge’’ (Apple, 1993) that relegated muti in western medicinal terms – to the realm of magic and superstition. 2. Witches and practitioners of indigenous pre-Christian pagan religions exist throughout Europe, although many such groups came close to extinction with the Inquisition. Witches seem to have had better luck in Italy, however, where communities of stregas employing pre-Christian pagan rituals have flourished uninterrupted. 3. While this encounter is currently being studied by the school district, there is little published research to date. I am presenting it as an anecdote illustrative of some of the links I am making between and among education, globalization, and peace processes.
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Donald, R. (1992). Masculinity and machismo in Hollywood’s war films. In: S. Craig (Ed.), Men, masculinity and the media (pp. 124–136). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Efraime, B., Jr., & Errante, A. (2002). Kindersoldaten und traumata – der fall Mosambik. In: K. Holm & U. Schulz (Eds), Kindheit in Armut welheit Leverkusen. Germany: Leske & Budrich. Ember, M., & Ember, C. (1994). Prescriptions for peace: Policy implications of cross-cultural research on war and interpersonal violence. Cross-Cultural Research, 28(November), 343–350. Errante, A. (1999). Peace work as grief work in Mozambique and South Africa: Post-Conflict communities as context for child and youth socialization. Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, 5(3), 261–279. Errante, A. (2003). Where in the world do children lean ‘bloody revenge’? Cults of terror and counter terror and their implications for child socialisation. Globalisation, Societies and Education, 1(2), 131–152. Falk, R. (1997). State of siege: Will globalization win out? International Affairs (Royal Institute of International Affairs 1944-), 73(1), 123–136. Frank, A. G. (1992). Latin American development: Theories revised. Latin American Perspectives, 19(Spring), 125–139. Gallagher, B. G. (1941). The dilemma of America in defense of democracy. The Journal of Negro Education, 10(3, Racial Minorities and the Present International Crisis), 442–452. Geschiere, P. (1998). Globalization and the power of indeterminate meaning: Witchcraft and spirit cults in Africa and East Asia. Development and Change, 29(811–837). Gilligan, J. (2001). Preventing violence. New York: Thames & Hudson. Glaser, B., & Strauss, A. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory: Strategies for qualitative research. New York: Aldine de Guyter. Greig, A., Kimmel, M., & Lang, J. (2000). Men, masculinities and development: Broadening our work towards gender equality (No. Gender in Development Monograph Series #10), UNDP. Available at http://www.undp.org/gender/programmes/men/UNDP_Men_and_ Masculinities.pdf Griffin, C. (2001). Imagining new narratives of youth: Youth research, the ‘new Europe’ and global youth culture. Childhood: A Global Journal of Child Research, 8(2), 147–166. Halsey, A. H., & Karabel, J. (Eds). (1997). Education: Culture, economy and society. New York: Oxford University Press. Havel, V. (1990). Disturbing the peace. New York: Alfred Knopf. Henwood, D. (1991). After the cold war-economic war? Middle East Report, 169(March–April), 13–15. Herman, J. L. (1992). Trauma and recovery: The aftermath of violence from domestic abuse to political terror. New York: Basic Books. Hunt, S. A., & Benford, R. D. (1994). Identity talk in the peace and justice movement. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 22(January), 488–517. Jurgensmeyer, M. (2000). Terror in the mind of god: The global rise of religious violence. Berkeley: University of California Press. Karier, C. (1986). The individual, society and education. Chicago: University of Illinois Press. Katz, C. (1998). Global economic restructuring and the eroding ecologies of youth. In: T. Skelton (Ed.), Cool places: Geographies of youth cultures (pp. 130–144). London: Routledge.
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Kimmel, M. (2003). Globalization and its (male) contents. International Sociology, 18(3), 603–621. Lifton, R. J. (2000). The underside of peace: Reflections on Aum Shinrikyo. In: P. Wapner & E. J. Ruiz (Eds), Principled world politics (pp. 231–239). Lanham, NH: Rowman & Littlefield. Linn, R., Baker, E. L., & Betebenner, D. W. (2003). Accountability systems: Implications and requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Educational Researcher, 31(6), 3–16. Marris, P. (1974). Loss and change. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. McFadden, J. (2003). Why good parents kids kill: A challenge to prevailing morality. Unpublished manuscript. McMillan, L. K. (1943). Light which the two world wars throw upon the plight of the American Negro. The Journal of Negro Education, 12(2, The American Negro in World War I and World War II), 429–437. Messay, K. (2001). The rehabilitation of violence and the violence of rehabilitation: Fanon and colonialism. Journal of Black Studies, 31(5), 539–562. Nader, L. (1991). Harmony models and the construction of the law. In: K. Avruch, P. Black & J. Scimecca (Eds), Conflict resolution: Cross-cultural perspectives (pp. 41–59). New York: Greenwood Press. Nespor, J. (1997). Tangled up in school: Politics, space, bodies, and signs in the educational process. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Ramirez, F. O., & Boli, J. (1987). The political construction of mass schooling: European origins and worldwide institutionalization. Sociology of Education, 60(January), 2–17. Reddick, L. D. (1943). What should the American Negro reasonably expect as the outcome of a real peace? The Journal of Negro Education, 12(3, The American Negro in World War I and World War II), 568–578. Ross, M. H. (1990). The culture of conflict and conflict management: Linking societal and dispute-level theories. Zeitschrift fur Ethnologie, 115, 91–109. Ruggie, J. G. (1997). The past as prologue? Interests, identity, and American foreign policy. International Security, 21(4), 89–125. Sachs, A. (1993). Reparation-political and psychological considerations. Psycho-analytic Psychotherapy in South Africa, 2(Summer), 14–27. Said, E. W. (1993). Culture and imperialism. New York: Vintage. Scheff, T. (1994). Bloody revenge: Emotions, nationalism and war. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. Sieferth, W. S. (1939). The problem of racial and minority groups in America as seen by Europeans. The Journal of Negro Education, 8(3, The Present and Future Position of the Negro in the American Social Order), 313–322. Sparks, R. (1996). Masculinity and heroism in the Hollywood ‘‘blockbuster’’: The culture industry and contemporary images of crime and law enforcement. British Journal of Criminology, 36(3), 348–360. Stein, E. (2001). International integration and democracy: No love at first sight. The American Journal of International Law, 95(3), 489–534. Storper, M. (2000). Lived effects of the contemporary economy: Globalization, inequality and the consumer society. Public Culture, 12(2), 375–409. Tate, M. (1943). The war aims of World War I and World War II and their relation to the darker peoples of the world. The Journal of Negro Education, 12(3), 521–532.
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Taussig, M. (1987). Shamanism, colonialism, and the wild man. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Tikly, L. (1999). Postcolonialism and education. International Review of Education, 45(5/6), 603–621. Tilly, C. (1984). Big structures, large processes, huge comparisons. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. Tyack, D. (1993). Constructing difference: Historical reflections on schooling and diversity. Teachers College Record, 95(1), 8–34. Volkan, V. D. (1988). The need to have enemies and allies: From clinical practice to international relationship. New York: James Aronson.
NEOLIBERALISM VERSUS SOCIAL JUSTICE: A VIEW FROM CANADA$ Reva Joshee The past two decades have seen considerable interest in the topic of globalization in relation to education (e.g. Angus, 2004; Edwards, Nicoll, & Tait, 1999; Jones, 1998). Roger Dale (2000) has noted that there are two main theoretical approaches to understanding globalization. The first, which he calls ‘‘common world educational culture’’ sees globalization as a movement to a more universal set of principles that can help bring out the best in the various national systems of education. The second, which he calls a ‘‘globally structured educational agenda’’ sees the process as one of homogenization driven by extra national forces leading to a day when the nation-state, and national systems of education, are obsolete. Expanding on the latter approach, Martin Carnoy (1999) has argued that globalization has a significant impact in five areas that are of central concern to the field of educational administration: (1) the organization of work in schools and school systems; (2) tight linking of education to capitalism, which, among other things, creates pressure on governments to reduce public spending on education; (3) systematic international comparisons that are aimed at increasing ‘‘accountability by measuring knowledge production and using such measures to assess education workers (teachers) and managers’’
$
Some of the data in this chapter was collected as part of a study on Inclusive Schools funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
Power, Voice and the Public Good: Schooling and Education in Global Societies Advances in Education in Diverse Communities: Research Policy and Praxis, Volume 6, 31–53 Copyright r 2008 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited All rights of reproduction in any form reserved ISSN: 1479-358X/doi:10.1016/S1479-358X(08)06002-6
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(p. 16, emphasis original); (4) introduction of information technology in ways that are transforming education; and (5) the development of a new ‘‘world’’ culture based on market values that is marginalizing many groups world-wide and resulting in new struggles over ‘‘the meaning and value of knowledge’’. While most characterizations of globalization stress both its uniformity and inevitability, Bob Lingard (2000) has argued that the ways in which global imperatives meet local history results in differences in the ways policies and practices appear in different settings. This chapter will examine the particularities of diversity policies in Canadian education. Neoliberalism is the engine that has been driving the globally structured education agenda. The process through which neoliberal policies became legitimized included a demonization of earlier policies that supported the welfare state (see, e.g., Ball, 1998; Harvey, 2006). Among these policies were those that expressed a commitment to social justice. Elsewhere my colleagues and I have argued that in Canada newer policies have not completely supplanted the older ones (Joshee, 2007; Joshee, DeBeer, Goldberg, & Saunders, 2006; Joshee & Johnson, 2005). We have used the metaphor of the policy web to explain how, in the area of social diversity, this layering of policies results in the existence of multiple policy discourses that create space for policy actors to challenge the dominant neoliberal ideology. We have also shown that in recent years new diversity discourses built on the logic of neoliberalism have entered the educational policy domain. To understand how social justice discourses provide space for resisting and subverting neoliberal ideology I examine the multiplicity of diversity discourses and provide evidence of how the principles of social justice do continue to influence the trajectory of education. In this chapter, I examine the situation in Canadian education by looking closely at the policy discourses shaping the work in Canada’s most populous province, Ontario. I demonstrate that in Canada we continue to argue for social justice using logic linked to policy discourses that existed prior to the neoliberal onslaught. I argue that while there is a certain inevitability associated with the globally structured education agenda this need not translate to a total negation of social justice either in policy or practice.
WHY ONTARIO? Canada is a country with ten provinces and three territories, each of which boasts its own set of unique characteristics. Education is constitutionally defined as a provincial responsibility. Although several federal government
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departments have some responsibilities in the area of education, there is no federal department of education. Thus, it is difficult to examine educational policy at a national level. Ontario, as home to over one-third of all Canadians, is the most populous of the provinces. Canada’s largest city, Toronto, is the capital of the province. The total population of the Greater Toronto Area is about five million, over 40% of whom are people of color (City of Toronto, 2006). Recent projections indicate that by 2017 people of color will comprise over 50% of the population of Toronto (Statistics Canada, 2005). State policies promoting cultural diversity have existed in Canada since the 1940s (Joshee, 2004). Educators, activists, labor organizers, and government officials from Ontario have been at the forefront of diversity movements in Canada from the 1940s onwards (Joshee & Johnson, 2005). Until 1995, Ontario had some of the most progressive policies in Canada addressing diversity, equity, and social justice. When the Progressive Conservative government of Mike Harris came to power in 1995, the prime Canadian example of Carnoy’s (1999) characterization of globalization came into being. One of the first acts of the new government was to introduce the Job Quotas Repeal Act (1995), the stated purpose of which was ‘‘to repeal job quotas and to restore merit-based employment practices in Ontario’’ (Government of Ontario, 1995). This statute rescinded the provincial Employment Equity Act (1993), provisions of the Human Rights Act, Police Services Act and Education Act that related to employment equity, and forced all public agencies that had been collecting equity-related data on the social characteristics of their workforce to cease collecting and destroy existing data. Also in 1995, the Conservative government disbanded the Anti-Racism Secretariat of the Ministry of Citizenship and halted work on gender equity and education that had been on going between the Ontario Women’s Directorate and educators. Interestingly, Policy/Program Memorandum 119, a policy document of the Ministry of Education, which mandated the development and implementation of school board policies on antiracism and ethnocultural equity by September 1995, was not repealed, but it was also not enforced. In addition, the document specifying guidelines for the development of anti-racist policies (Ontario Ministry of Education, 1993) remained accessible on the Ministry of Education website. The first Minister of Education in the Harris cabinet, John Snobelen, who was frequently described in the media as a high school drop-out, came into his post ‘‘speculating on the need to ‘invent a crisis’ as a means of promoting rapid change [in the education sector]’’ (Gidney, 1999, p. 236). In addition to creating animosity between educators and the government, Snobelen set in
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motion a series of reforms that influenced all areas of public education. While Snobelen’s tactics may have hastened educational reform, as Anderson and Ben Jaafar (2003) have noted, ‘‘the evolution of education policy in the province [of Ontario from the late 1980s to the early 2000s] has been remarkably consistent in direction in all but a few areas’’ (p. 3). Diversity was one of the ‘‘few areas’’ of policy divergence.
POLICY WEBS AND DISCOURSE As Carol Bacchi (2000) has noted, the irony of working with and through discourse analysis is that it becomes impossible to provide definitions of the terms that are central to our work. This is because the work is about engaging with definitions, looking behind them to understand the larger set of assumptions that are being used to create a particular version of the world, or at least the specific policy domain that we are examining. Following from others (e.g. Bacchi, 2000; Ball, 1994; Hastings, 1998) I posit that policy is not simply a matter of authoritative texts or regulations determined by state actors in response to clearly identifiable ‘‘policy problems’’. Instead I believe the language we use to talk about issues reflects our understanding of those issues. Furthermore, that language and the underlying logic associated with it delimits the ways in which we can respond to an issue. Policy texts, policy problems, and programs of action are therefore also limited by the ways issues are constructed discursively. I also propose that particular policy texts cannot be understood in isolation. No policy text enters a void; it becomes part of a field that is already filled with texts and discourses. That field can only be fully understood by examining related policy texts and discourses that exist at all relevant levels of policy-making. I, therefore, approach my analysis using the metaphor of a policy web (Joshee & Johnson, 2005; Goldberg, 2006). To thoroughly study national policy we would need to think about policies and discourses at the level of schools, school districts, teacher organizations, provinces or states, national educational associations, federal agencies, and international and supranational bodies. These levels represent the rings in the web. The threads are represented by policy texts and discourses in particular areas. In relation to the current study, for example, I am interested in particular policies related to equity, diversity, human rights, and social justice in education. The threads may or may not be straight lines meaning that policies at one level do not guarantee the existence of similar policies at all the other levels. Indeed policies at one level may stand in direct
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contradiction to policies at another level. In Canada, for example, there is a federal employment equity policy that is meant to address workplace inequity for few designated groups. Until 1995, the province of Ontario had a similar policy. As noted above, in 1995, the Progressive Conservative government repealed the policy in the name of ‘‘equal opportunity’’. Even though the Progressive Conservative party was defeated in elections in 2003, the provincial policy has not been reinstated but most of the larger school districts in Ontario have reprised their own employment equity policies. The image of the web draws our attention to the fact that policies exist in several locations and that policy texts are interrelated. For example, it is not possible to say that there are no national education policies in Canada simply because there is no federal department of education. The web also forces us to attend to the fact that the policy process is influenced by the work of policy actors at many levels. Unlike some others who have used the image of the policy web (e.g. Mora, 2001; Elzinga, 2004; Southworth, 1999) I do not see it as a device to trap and immobilize policy actors. While I recognize this possibility I use the metaphor as a way to think about how the open spaces created by the web can provide room for policy actors to advance, subvert, or sustain particular discourses based on their own positions and knowledge. Given that this chapter is meant to uncover existing diversity discourses I have drawn my data from the provincial, national, and supranational levels. I have examined documents from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Prime Minister’s office, the federal Department of Human Resources Development, the federal department of Canadian Heritage, the Conservative Party of Canada,1 Debates of the House of Commons, the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC), the Ontario Ministry of Education, the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC), and the Toronto District School Board (TDSB). In total I have studied about 150 documents relating to diversity and education in Canada. I began by looking at policy statements on issues connected to diversity (i.e. equity, human rights, language, antiracism, gender equity, etc.). Against the backdrop of other studies that have examined diversity and social justice in educational policy in Canada (Fleras & Elliott, 1996; Goldberg, 2006; Joshee et al., 2006; Joshee & Johnson, 2005; Joshee, 2007; Ungerleider, 1992) I identified discourses present in the diversity policy texts. I then examined other education policy texts that were not directly seen as diversity policy (e.g. curriculum documents, school safety policies, special initiatives) to determine which of the discourses seemed to actually be influencing the
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direction of the provincial policy and programs. Through this process I identified six discourses that broadly speaking align themselves with two ideological positions – neoliberalism and social justice. What follows is a brief description of the discourses and a snapshot of how these discourses are at play in the Ontario policy web.
NEOLIBERALISM Neoliberalism has been on the ascendancy since the 1980s, linked very closely with the work of supranational organizations like the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Trade Organization (WTO), and the OECD. The hallmark of neoliberalism is a vision of society as a marketplace. David Harvey (2006) has noted that neoliberalism ‘‘proposes that human well-being can best be advanced by the maximization of entrepreneurial freedoms within an institutional framework characterized by private properly rights, individual liberty, free markers and free trade’’ (p. 145). In education the neoliberal agenda stresses: global competitiveness, the reduction of the (publicly financed) costs of education, and of social reproduction in general, the necessity for greater market choice and accountability and the imperative to create hierarchically conditioned, globally oriented state subjects – i.e. individuals oriented to excel in ever transforming situations of global competition, either as workers, managers or entrepreneurs. (Mitchell, 2003, p. 388)
In the educational policy arena this has spawned discourses of choice, accountability, and the equation of school success with achievement on standardized tests (see, e.g., Hill, 2004). While neoliberal processes necessitate increased social inequality (see, e.g., Harvey, 2006; Hill, 2004) this agenda also requires that policy actors pay attention to equity and diversity in ways that create social cohesion and provide access to opportunities to participate in the economy. As Maurice Boissiere (2004) notes in a background paper for the World Bank, ‘‘[t]he non-economic arguments for public investment revolve around the social benefits from investing in primary education, such as greater social cohesion and a strengthened foundation for democracy. These benefits are generally not thought of as economic ones, but they may serve as background for social stability that would allow economic benefits to bear fruit’’ (p. 7). He goes on to explain that while there is little evidence that curriculum promoting social cohesion actually lessens social conflict, this is nonetheless an area of interest of the World Bank and the OECD.
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NEOLIBERAL DISCOURSES IN CANADA In Canada neoliberal discourses in education have been on the rise since at least the early 1990s. In 1990, for example, the National Literacy Secretariat of the federal government issued a key document outlining its rationale for involvement in literacy: ‘‘Lack of literacy skills and difficulty in meeting the demands of the new technology for increased skill levels is not only limiting future prospects of individuals, but is also limiting the future prosperity of the Canadian economy as a whole’’ (Perrin, 1990, p. 10). A particularly important moment came in September 1993 when the provincial and territorial ministers of education agreed that the emphasis of the work of their national coordinating body, the CMEC would center on economic priorities. They issued a joint statement that began with the following: We are all well aware of the challenges to the education systems posed by our rapidly changing world: globalization of the economy, openness with regard to other cultures, pressing needs for skilled labour, technological advances that are having an impact on our daily lives as well as the job market. These changes require constant adjustments to our educational practices to ensure high quality, accessibility, mobility and accountability. (CMEC, 1993, p. 1)
Following from this position, most major government documents on education now ‘‘begin with reference to the knowledge society and the importance of education for individual, state or provincial prosperity’’ (Crocker, 2006, p. 5). Although many documents also acknowledge the importance of education to social development, generally the social aspects that are deemed to be important are those which support a market economy. This has led to three diversity discourses: equity of outcomes, the business case, and social cohesion. Equity of Outcomes The equity of outcomes discourse is rooted in notions of equality of condition and equality of outcome. It harkens back to discourses related to what has been called first generation human rights, which grew out of traditions of liberal individualism (see, e.g., Garcı´ a-Montu´far, Solı´ s, & Isaacson, 2004; Ignatieff, 2000) and which focus on redistribution of goods in society. While recognizing systemic inequalities and the need for the State to intercede on behalf of disadvantaged members of society, the key focus is on the relationship between the individual and the State. The degree to which the State has succeeded in addressing systemic inequalities is
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measured in terms of outcomes; when members of all groups are equitably represented in all facets of the society, then equity will have been achieved. Significantly the underlying logic of this discourse does not challenge existing structures or programs and assumes all members of the society want the same things. In 1995, CMEC signaled the centrality of this discourse couching it in terms of the ‘‘shared Canadian value’’ of accessibility. In its annual report CMEC announced that ‘‘all persons should have the opportunity to pursue an education to the fullest of their ability’’ and questioned ‘‘does everyone have the same learning opportunities?’’ (CMEC, 1995). In Ontario today, the equity of outcomes discourse is the predominant diversity discourse in the Ministry of Education. As one recent document notes, the Ministry of Education has committed itself to providing ‘‘resources to assist those students and schools who are struggling with additional challenges or disadvantages’’ (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2004). A program called Pathways to Success that was introduced in 2003, for example, ‘‘has provided additional funding to support programs that will benefit students who need extra help in reading, writing and mathematics and in their transition from school to the workplace and to college or university’’ (Council of Ministers of Education, Canada, 2003, p. 16). Thus, it is clear that in the first instance, outcomes are being defined in terms of literacy and numeracy and that the government also has a longer-term vision of student achievement that is linked to economic success. Diversity then is constructed in relation to equity of achievement in academic subjects and the economy.
The Business Case The business case version of diversity has been present in Canadian policy discourse since at least the mid-1980s when the federal Progressive Conservative government under Prime Minister Brian Mulroney launched a campaign called Multiculturalism Means Business. Fleras and Elliott (1996) have noted that there are three key elements related to this discourse, namely: 1. cultural diversity is a resource for international business; 2. multiculturalism provides a strategy for managing workplace diversity; and 3. members of ethnic communities are constructed primarily or solely as contributors to the economy.
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Most recently we see this logic in the federal government’s ‘‘innovation strategy’’. In a document outlining the government commitment to developing knowledge the official bilingualism policy is justified in terms of its potential contribution to making Canadian workers more competitive: ‘‘In this era of global competition, learning Canada’s two official languages enhances young Canadians’ competitiveness in today’s job markets, both at home and internationally’’ (Human Resources Development Canada, 2000, p. 18). This same logic has also found its way into documents produced by the federal official languages program (see, e.g., Official Languages Program, 1999). A policy firmly rooted in concerns for equality, recognition, and group rights is now being ‘‘sold’’ as primarily on the basis of its economic benefits. The logic underlying this discourse would suggest that if cultural diversity is not productive, or if it interferes in some way with economic productivity, it ought not to be supported or tolerated. In Ontario, this discourse is most evident in the work of the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration and thus informs the Secondary School Community Involvement Program where high school students, who must ‘‘volunteer’’ 40 h to the community before they can graduate, are described as ‘‘a valuable resource just waiting to be tapped’’ (Ontario Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration, 2005).
Social Cohesion Prominent Canadian researcher Jane Jenson (1998) has made the point that social cohesion is a response to the consequences of neoliberal policies and programs. As Jenson (1998) has stated, ‘‘[t]he paradigm shift in economic and social policy towards neo-liberalism is now identified as having provoked serious structural strains in the realm of the social and political’’ (pp. 5–6). Social cohesion is invoked as a corrective measure that can help to increase social solidarity and restore faith in the institutions of government. It is important to note, however, that invoking social cohesion does not ultimately call into question the basic neoliberal project. Paul Bernard (1999) has remarked that ‘‘social cohesion and related nebulous expressions such as social capital and mutual trust . . . rightly attract attention to the perils of neoliberalism, but in most cases they implicitly prescribe a dose of compassion and a return to values rather than a correction of social inequalities and an institutional mediation of interests’’ (Bernard, 1999, p. 3). In terms of this discussion, it is important to
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note that the social cohesion discourse casts diversity as posing ‘‘challenges to social cohesion’’ (OECD, 2004). In Ontario, the social cohesion discourse is evident in the work and language of the Ministry of Education. The Ministry has stated, ‘‘Publicly funded education is the cornerstone of a fair, productive and socially cohesive society’’ (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2004b). At first glance, the Ministry’s work in diversity does not appear to be informed by this discourse but we see the effects of the social cohesion discourse in the Ministry’s approach to the review of the safe schools policy. Some documents have cast safe schools policies as part of the equality of outcomes discourse inasmuch as they are purportedly designed to ensure ‘‘disruptive students’’ are given ‘‘every chance of completing their diploma, with initiatives such as alternative school settings, summer schooling, mentoring and tutoring, and youth apprenticeship programs’’ (Tobin Associates, 2003, p. 16). However, as a recent OECD conference on antibullying highlighted, programs to combat school violence and bullying are central to creating social cohesion (Galloway, 2004). This echoes larger societal conversations about safety and anti-terrorism that speak to security as a prerequisite for economic prosperity (see, e.g., Heyneman, 2000). We have seen that the focus on security without attention to issues of diversity and equity has led to discriminatory practices like racial profiling. Indeed this was the issue addressed by the OHRC in its report on the Ontario Safe Schools Act (Bhattacharjee, 2003). In its review of safe schools policy the Ministry of Education did not address any of the equity issues raised by the OHRC; instead it focused on school safety audits, security access devices, an anti-bullying hotline, and anti-bullying programs (Government of Ontario, 2004).
SOCIAL JUSTICE From the end of the Second World War through movements for national independence and the development and refinement of commitments to human rights, social justice was seen as an ideal embedded in all progressive democracies, including Canada. Trevor Gale (2000) usefully distinguishes between three major paradigms for understanding social justice: distributive, retributive, and recognitive. He notes that the first two paradigms focus primarily on the economic sphere and the distribution of goods. By contrast recognitive justice moves from a focus on distribution to process and procedure; examining not just who has what but who is involved in making
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key decisions about their own lives (Gale, 2000, p. 267). Additionally, this third view, which Gale advocates, proceeds from the perspective that differences need to be acknowledged and supported. As a result, social justice requires that ‘‘difference is differently valued’’ (p. 262). This notion of recognizing difference is also part of the approach to social justice advocated by Martha Nussbaum (2003). Unlike Gale, however, she makes the point that there needs to be a core definition of social justice for all members of society regardless of their group identity. In particular, building on Amartya Sen’s idea of defining equality through capabilities – the actual ability of individuals in the society to do and be (Sen in Nussbaum, 2003, p. 33) – Nussbaum argues that a true commitment to pluralism requires ensuring all citizens and institutions in the society endorse basic capabilities related to fundamental concepts like freedom of religion, freedom of association, and freedom of choice. Without this, she argues, we deny people ‘‘(often, women in particular) the chance to figure out what culture and form of life they actually want. So [we] are actually curtailing the most meaningful kind of pluralism, which requires having a life of one’s own and some choices regarding it’’ (Nussbaum, 2003, p. 48). A final key element of social justice is that it is more about process than ends. As Morwenna Griffiths (1998a) has said, ‘‘[a] socially just state of affairs is one characterized by a continual checking and adjusting. It is not a static perfect system . . . ’’ (p. 12). Educational approaches ideologically aligned with social justice have focused on some combination of understanding, critiquing, and addressing injustice or oppression (see, e.g., Carrim & Soudien, 1999; Dei, 1996; Moodley, 1999; Sleeter & Grant, 1989). The primary goal of education is to create an engaged and critical citizenry by giving students knowledge and experiences that allow them to examine and address issues of power and difference (Sleeter, 2002). Educational policies are meant to address the societal conditions that create and support inequality these may include the lack of representation of individuals from minority groups in educational institutions, the lack of recognition of minority cultures in educational structures, and the lack of participation by minority group members in educational decision-making.
SOCIAL JUSTICE IN CANADA In the case of Canada, as Charles Ungerleider (1992) has cogently argued, the development of a social justice infrastructure was implicit in much of the
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policy activity of the nation from the 1940s through the 1980s. While Ungerleider points to policies addressing human rights, French–English relations, immigration and multiculturalism, there was also work done in this period address the status of Aboriginal peoples, gender equity, gay rights, and rights of disabled persons. Arguably, the State-based work toward social justice reached a pinnacle with the adoption of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (1982), in which seven separate sections directly address issues of equality and social diversity. There are currently three main social justice inspired diversity discourses: identity, recognition, and rights.
Identity The identity-based discourse links diversity primarily with ethnicity or culture. In the past it was associated with a central goal of multiculturalism, the maintenance or development of distinct cultural identities. Many (e.g. Dei, 1996; Lee & Cardinal, 1998; Moodley, 1992) have pointed out that equating diversity with what is often represented as superficial aspects of folklore or heritage is problematic. In relation to multiculturalism, in particular, this discourse has been viewed as relatively depoliticized and celebratory. Nonetheless the identity discourse has had a unique hold on public imagination in Canada. Public opinion research consistently shows that an overwhelming majority of Canadians see multiculturalism as a defining characteristic of the country (Jedwab, 2002; Kalin & Berry, 1994). A recent publication of the Department of Canadian Heritage (2004) tells us, this sense of identity is connected with Canadians wishing to distinguish ourselves from Americans: ‘‘Canada’s insistence on its own cultural space and on the importance of cultural diversity has much to do with living next door to the most powerful economic and cultural dynamo in the world’’ (np). An example of the identity-based discourse can be seen in policies linked with francophone education in Ontario. The right of official language minority groups to receive education in their first language is enshrined in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Francophone communities across Canada have argued that the French language will not survive unless there is also attention to larger issues of cultural development. As a result, one of the core strategies of francophone education in Ontario is ‘‘animation culturelle’’, which is ‘‘intended to promote success in school and the cultural development of the student by placing learning in a meaningful context in
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which French culture and language become relevant in the student’s eyes’’ (French – Language Education Strategy Task Force, 2004, p. 18). Significantly, such statements do not exist in relation to the education of any other minoritized group in Ontario.
Recognition Closely linked to the identity-based discourse is the discourse of recognition. This discourse is identified with the idea of valuing diversity and difference. Where the identity-based discourse focuses on the development of unique identities, the recognition discourse speaks to the need for all members of society to respect these identities and to include members of diverse communities in public life in ways that do not require them to dissociate from their identities. This discourse was one of the foundational discourses of the Aboriginal Affairs Branch of the Department of Canadian Heritage Policy. This branch states that its vision encompasses ‘‘flourishing Aboriginal societies participating fully in the life of a Canada enriched by Aboriginal contributions, cultures and heritage, and a relationship between government and Canadian citizens founded on dialogue and mutual respect’’ (Government of Canada, 2005). It is also found in many official documents as a way of describing the values underlying Canada’s commitment to diversity. For example, the Speech from the Throne,2 2004 stated, ‘‘We want a Canada with strong social foundations, where people are treated with dignity, where they are given a hand when needed, where no one is left behind’’ (cited in Augustine, 2004). In recent years, the recognition discourse has replaced the identity discourse in the work of the federal Multiculturalism Program. Where the program formerly had as one of its objectives the development of ethnocultural identities, now it focuses on promoting cross-cultural understanding, which is defined as ‘‘understanding and respecting other cultures’’ (Secretary of State for Multiculturalism, 2005, np). In Ontario education, recognition was once a prominent discourse. Today it persists in a few documents such as Policy and Program Memorandum 119 (1993), Development and Implementation of School Board Policies on Antiracism and Ethnocultural Equity, which requires among other things that, ‘‘[a]t all stages of implementation, a high priority shall be assigned to broadening the curriculum to include diverse perspectives and to eliminating stereotyping’’. It was also evident in the first anti-violence policy statement issued by the Ontario Ministry of Education. Significantly in this case it only
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referred to people of Aboriginal origin: ‘‘Given the unique status of Aboriginal people, and acknowledging their desire to focus on alternative approaches to violence prevention, school boards are encouraged to work closely with both First Nations communities and urban-centred Aboriginal communities within their service area’’ (Government of Ontario, 1994, np).
Rights The third discourse linked to social justice is the rights-based discourse. The rights-based discourse is closely linked to notions of human rights and therefore sees social, cultural, and economic justice, rather than economic benefit, as the rationale for supporting diversity. It also promotes the view that respect for human dignity and the achievement of relative equality are essential to the good of a society. Within the logic of this discourse, the attainment of equality is necessarily dependent on state intervention. The rights-based discourse in relation to diversity has been connected to a number of approaches, such as anti-racism, feminism, and antihomophobia, which are often grouped under the banner of ‘‘antioppression’’. These approaches focus on power inequities as they are structured by society and its institutions (see, e.g., Dei, 1996; Wright, 2000). But where these anti-oppression approaches seek remedies at the group and individual levels, the rights-based discourse focuses only on the individual level. In Ontario, the OHRC has consistently used the rights-based discourse to frame its work in diversity. It has argued for accessibility based on accommodation with respect to the education of people with disabilities. Within the framework presented by the Commission, education is defined as the social, physical, and academic development of the student and the principle of accommodation is defined in terms of dignity, individualization, and inclusion where both the process of determining the accommodation and the accommodation itself must respect the dignity of the individual (OHRC, 2004). In recent years, the OHRC has also argued that it is important to consider economic, social, and cultural rights, together ‘‘as the right to live a dignified life can never be attained unless all basic necessities of life – work, food, housing, health care, education and culture – are adequately and equitably available to everyone’’ (OHRC, 2001). Finally, the rights discourse is evident in the Commission’s report on the Ontario Safe Schools Act (Bhattacharjee, 2003). The report critiques safe schools policies for their disproportionate negative impact on students of color,
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First Nations students, and students with disabilities and argues for immediate action to remedy the situation.
CHALLENGING NEOLIBERALISM Neoliberal and social justice discourses co-exist in the educational policy sphere in Canada, generally, and Ontario, specifically, indeed they are often found within the same documents. But it is not enough to recognize the existence of the two broad ways of understanding and approaching diversity. Policy actors must take up social justice discourses and put them forward as a direct challenge to neoliberal conceptions of diversity and education. In the final section of this chapter I will discuss an example of how neoliberal discourses are being challenged in the practices of the largest school district in Ontario, the TDSB. The TDSB was established in 1998 as the result of the amalgamation of seven distinct school districts, each of which had a different history with regard to equity and diversity. Some of the boards, notably the Toronto School Board and the North York Board had been acknowledged leaders in diversity and education in Canada while other boards had only just begun to address the issues. The TDSB now serves over 270,000 students, making it the largest school board in Canada and the fifth largest is North America. The website for the TDSB notes that approximately 45% of its students have a language other than English as their first language and about 12% of them arrived in Canada in the last three years. Shortly after the amalgamation, some staff at the TDSB began to work on an equity policy for the board. They deliberately brought together members of diverse equity-seeking groups from across the city to engage in a process of dialogue and deliberation, which resulted in the creation of the Equity Foundation Statement and an accompanying set of procedures and guidelines (TDSB, 1999a). This statement was followed by the Human Rights Policy (TDSB, 2000a), the Guidelines and Procedures for Religious Accommodation (TDSB, 2000b), and the Employment Equity Policy (TDSB, 2004a). Together these four documents are the primary diversity policy statements for the TDSB. Not surprisingly, the discourses represented in these statements are largely social justice based, with a particular emphasis on recognition and rights. The Equity Foundation Statement, for example, begins with the statement, ‘‘The Toronto District School Board values the contribution of all members of our diverse community of students, staff, parents and
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community groups to our mission and goals’’ (TDSB, 1999a, p. 1). It also acknowledges the existence of systemic discrimination and inequitable treatment and notes that ‘‘[t] he Board is therefore committed to ensuring that fairness, equity, and inclusion are essential principles of our school system and are integrated into all our policies, programs, operations, and practices’’ (TDSB, 1999a, p. 1). Similarly, the Religious Accommodation document notes, ‘‘The Toronto District School Board values the uniqueness and diversity of its students and community, and understands that people from diverse religious communities need to work and study in environments that are safe and respectful’’ (TDSB, 2000b, p. 2). The rights-based discourse is most evident in the Human Rights Policy Statement, which notes that, ‘‘[e]very student, employee, trustee, parent and community member has the right to learn and work is an environment free of discrimination and harassment’’ (TDSB, 2000a, p. 1). It is also present in the Employment Equity Policy Statement, which focuses on outreach, recruitment, selection, and development activities designed to assist individual members of designated groups to be hired and promoted by the TDSB. The definition of equity provided in the document, for example, notes that equity is ‘‘the provision of opportunities for equality for all by responding to the needs of individuals’’ (TDSB, 2004a, p. 1). Importantly, these four statements and related documents also introduce the discourse of equity of outcomes through a focus on ensuring that all students are successful in the system and that members of all groups can be equally represented in the workforce of the Board. The web page that announces the TDSB commitment to equity in education, for example, notes: We believe that equity of opportunity and equity of access to our programs, services, and resources are critical to the success of all those whom we serve, and for those who serve our school system. We have groundbreaking equity initiatives that support a school climate that encourages all students to work to high standards, affirm the worth of all students, and help them strengthen their sense of identity and develop a positive self-image. (Equity in Education, www. tdsb.on.ca)
While the discourse of social cohesion is not central to these foundational equity documents, it is the principal discourse in the safe schools policy, which is situated as an equity-related policy. The policy component that speaks to coordination, for example, notes that the three main policy statements to which the safe schools policy is linked are the Equity Foundation Statement, the policy on Dealing with Neglect and Abuse of
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Students, and the Human Rights Policy. From the outset the safe schools policy has announced its purpose as: The mission of the Toronto District School Board is to provide ‘‘learning environments that are safe, nurturing, positive and respectful’’. Such learning environments are peaceful and welcoming for all. They must be free of negative factors such as abuse, bullying, discrimination, intimidation, hateful words and deeds and physical violence in any form. They must also clearly demonstrate respect for human rights and social justice and promote the values needed to develop responsible members of a democratic society. (TDSB, 1999b, p. 1)
Nonetheless, the policy has come under considerable criticism for its disproportionately negative impact on students of color and students with disabilities (Bhattacharjee, 2003). As a result in 2004 a task force was struck with an explicit mandate to examine the impact of the policy on minoritized students. The task force spoke with students, parents, advocates for minoritized students, and members of equity-seeking communities and concluded that the policy was more focused on policing than on creating a safe and inclusive environment. It recommended, among other things, that the TDSB eliminate the language and logic of zero tolerance from the policy, strengthen the links between safe schools and the board’s key equity statements, and ‘‘redirect funds toward direct services to the schools and toward the creation of a new model which would include educators employed as safe school advisors, youth support workers, attendance counselors and other youth support positions to work collaboratively with the Equity, Human Rights and Community Services Departments. Given the composition of our schools and the backgrounds of the majority of students who are expelled or suspended, the departments should be supervised by the superintendent of equity and inner-city schools in an enlarged portfolio’’ (TDSB, 2004b, p. 390). The report was tabled in the spring of 2004 but by July 2005 the TDSB had still not acted on the recommendations. In July 2005 the OHRC initiated a public interest complaint against the TDSB ‘‘on behalf of racialized students and students with disabilities alleging that the application of the Safe Schools Act and the Toronto District School Board’s (‘‘TDSB’’) policies on discipline are having a disproportionate impact on racial minority students and students with disabilities’’ (OHRC, 2005). In November 2005, the OHRC and TDSB reached a settlement on the complaint. By the terms of the settlement the TDSB stipulated that the safe schools policy had discriminatory effects and
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it agreed to address these both by changing the safe schools policy and by reinvesting in other equity programs. The text of the policy statement was immediately changed lo eliminate the term ‘‘zero tolerance’’ and a work group was struck to monitor safe schools and oversee the implementation of the task force recommendations. The work group has facilitated the collection of data on suspensions and has produced reports on the operations of the policy. The work group has facilitated the collection of data on suspensions and has produced reports on the operations of the policy. Despite this work a recent motion of the Safe Schools Work Group notes that the policy is still not creating inclusive environments and suggests, ‘‘The indicators of success if we choose to move forward would certainly include decreases to suspension and expulsions and to numbers of safe schools related complaints lodged against the board, but, perhaps more importantly, increases to number of students staying in school, to graduations, and to successful post-secondary placement’’ (TDSB, 2006, p. 2). It also makes specific recommendations for the allocation of resources to address the continued problems with the policy. It remains to be seen whether the social cohesion discourse will continue to dominate this policy area but it is clear that the social justice discourses have already changed it.
CONCLUDING COMMENTS I have demonstrated that the Ontario policy web within which diversity in education is being enacted is defined by six competing discourses, three compatible with neoliberal goals and three with social justice goals. As the example from the TDSB shows, some policy actors in the field of education are using the spaces created by these discourses to ensure the continuation of social justice inspired programs and initiatives in the schools. Recognition, rights, equity of outcomes, and social cohesion are the four predominant diversity discourses at the TDSB. As I have demonstrated earlier, they exist in dynamic tension in equity policy statements and in key equity-related work such as the safe schools initiative. Significantly, policy actors are challenging the neoliberal goals associated with social cohesion as they are expressed in the safe schools policy. Similar discursive struggles are evident in other major board initiatives such as Model Schools for the Inner City and the work of the Advisory Committee on Student Achievement. While it is beyond the scope of this chapter to examine the full extent of the complex interactions between and among the discourses I would like to signal here
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that I believe that they are in a constant dialogue where neoliberal discourses are modified by social justice discourses and vice versa. Returning to the themes of this book, one might ask, ‘‘What does this examination of policy webs say to us about power and voice in relation to education and globalization?’’ It demonstrates that there is still the potential for committed policy actors, be they educators, scholars, community activists, or government officials, to influence the direction of educational practice on the ground. The forces of globalization are at work through supranational organizations, some federal and provincial agencies, and the interventions of other voices, such as those from the business communities, however, this does not mean that the neoliberal ideology associated with globalization will inevitably overpower the voices of those seeking social justice. As scholars with interests in this field I believe we have a role to play in helping to ensure continued support for work in social justice. One of the key things we can do is to bring to light examples such as the work in the TDSB and examine both what is happening and the mechanisms that allow it to happen. This, I believe, will help others who are trying to achieve similar goals. I believe what this does is to provide hope in a time when many former and would-be activists have lost hope that there is anything we can do to change the trajectory of globalization. Following from Paulo Freire (1994), I believe hope is indispensable for as Freire noted, ‘‘When it becomes a program, hopelessness paralyzes us, immobilizes us. We succumb to fatalism, and then it becomes impossible to muster the strength we absolutely need for a fierce struggle that will recreate the world’’ (p. 8). As scholars and activists we cannot give up hope; we need to use our intellect and our heart to continue the struggle to recreate the world.
NOTES 1. The Conservative Party of Canada currently forms the federal government. This party is relatively new on the political scene as it was formed from the merger of two right of center parties. At the time of writing, this party has only been in power for about one year therefore I refer to some documents that outline the party policies and platform. 2. The Speech from the Throne opens each session of Parliament and establishes the government’s agenda for that parliamentary session.
REFERENCES Anderson, S., & Ben Jaafar, S. (2003). Policy trends in Ontario education, 1990–2003. Working paper. Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON.
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Angus, L. (2004). Globalization and educational change: Bringing about the reshaping and renorming of practice. Journal of Education Policy, 19(1), 23–41. Angustine, J. (2004). Speech by Jean Augustine to the Economic Club of Toronto, March. Retrieved on March 21, 2005 from www.pch.gc.ca Bacchi, C. (2000). Policy as discourse: What does it mean? Where does it get us? Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 21(1), 45–57. Ball, S. (1994). What is policy? In: S. J. Ball (Ed.), Education reform: A critical and poststructural approach. Buckingham: Open University. Ball, S. (1998). Big policies/small world: An introduction to international perspectives in education policy. Comparative Education, 34(2), 119–131. Bernard, P. (1999). Social cohesion: A critique. Discussion paper. Canadian Policy Research Networks, Ottawa. Bhattacharjee, K. (2003). The Ontario Safe Schools Act: School discipline and discrimination. Toronto: Ontario Human Rights Commission. Retrieved on March 19, 2005, from www.ohrc.on.ca Boissiere, M. (2004). Rationale for public investments in primary education in developing countries. Background Paper for the Evaluation of the World Bank’s Support to Primary Education. Available at www.worldbank.org, Retrieved on July 12, 2006. Carnoy, M. (1999). Globalization and educational reform: What planners need to know. Paris: UNESCO. Carrim, N., & Soudien, C. (2003). Critical anti-racism in South Africa. In: S. May (Ed.), Critical Multiculturalism. London: Falmer. City of Toronto. (2006). Toronto’ s racial diversity. Available at http://www.toronto.ca/ toronto_facts/diversity.htm. Retrieved on December 17, 2006. CMEC – Council of Ministers of Education, Canada. (1993). Joint declaration future directions for the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC). Toronto: CMEC. Retrieved on March 15, 2005, from www.cmec.org CMEC – Council of Ministers of Education, Canada. (1995). Progress report on the national education agenda. Toronto: CMEC. Retrieved on March 15, 2005, from www. cmec.org CMEC – Council of Ministers of Education, Canada. (2003). Access, inclusion and achievement: Closing the gap. Country response: Canada. Toronto: CMEC. Retrieved on March 15, 2005, from www.cmec.org Crocker, R. (2006). Human Capital Development and Education. Research paper as part of the series on Skills and Knowledge for Canada’s Future: Seven Perspectives Towards an Integrated Approach to Human Capital Development. Ottawa, ON: Canadian Policy Research Network. Dale, R. (2000). Globalization and education: Demonstrating a ‘‘common world educational culture’’ or locating a ‘‘globally structured educational agenda’’! Educational Theory, 50(4), 427–448. Dei, G. S. (1996). Anti-racism education: Theory and practice. Halifax: Fernwood Publishing. Edwards, R., Nicoll, K., & Tait, A. (1999). Migrating metaphors: The globalization of flexibility in policy. Journal of Education Policy, 14(6), 619–630. Elzinga, A. (2004). Metaphors, models and reification in science and technology policy discourse. Science as Culture, 13(1), 105–121. Fleras, A., & Elliott, J. (1996). Unequal relations: An introduction to race, ethnic and aboriginal dynamics in Canada (2nd edn.). Scarborough, ON: Prentice-Hall Canada Inc.
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French – Language Education Strategy Task Force. (2004). Final report. Toronto, ON: Ontario Ministry of Education. Gale, T. (2000). Rethinking social justice in schools: How will we recognize it when we see it? International Journal of Inclusive Education, 4(3), 253–269. Galloway, D. (2004). Conference summary and implications for international collaboration: A personal view. Presented at Taking Fear out of Schools International Policy and Research Conference on School Bullying and Violence. Stavanger, Norway, September 6–7, 2004. Retrieved on March 10, 2005, from www.oecd.org Garcı´ a-Montu´far, G., Solı´ s, M.A., & Isaacson, S. E. (2004). Advances in Religious Liberty in Peru. Brigham Young University Law Review 2004, pp. 385–417. Gidney, R.D. (1999). From Hope to Harris: The reshaping of Ontario schools. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. Goldberg, M. P. (2006). Discursive policy webs in a globalisation era: A discussion of access to professions and trades for immigrant professionals in Ontario, Canada. Globalisation, Societies and Education, 4(1), 77–102. Government of Canada. (2005). The Aboriginal Affairs Branch. Retrieved on March 23, 2005, from www.pch.gc.ca Government of Ontario. (1994). Royal commission on learning. Toronto, ON: Queen’s Printer. Government of Ontario. (1995). Job Quotas Repeal Act, 1995. Toronto, ON: Ontario Provincial Parliament. Government of Ontario. (2004). McGuinty government acting to protect students. Press release issued December 14, 2004. Retrieved on March 22, 2005, from www.pch.gc.ca Griffiths, M. (1998). Educational research for social justice. Getting off the fence. Philadelphia, PA: Open University Press. Harvey, D. (2006). Neo-liberalism as creative destruction. Geografiska Annaler: Series B, Human Geography, 88(2), 145–158. Hastings, A. (1998). Connecting linguistic structures and social practices: A discursive approach to social policy. Journal of Social Policy, 27(2), 191–211. Heyneman, S. P. (2000). From the party/state to multi-ethnic democracy: Education and social cohesion in Europe and Central Asia. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 22(2), 173–191. Hill, D. (2004). Books, banks and bullets: Controlling our minds – The global project of imperialistic and militaristic neo-liberalism and its effect on education policy. Policy Futures in Education, 2(3&4), 504–522. Human Resources Development Canada. (2000). Adult literacy: Policies, programes and practices: Lessons learned. Ottawa, ON: Government of Canada. Ignatieff, M. (2000). The rights revolution. Toronto: Anansi Press. Jedwab, J. (2002). Immigration and the vitality of Canada’s official language communities: Policy, demography and identity. Ottawa: Minister of Public Works and Government Services. Jenson, J. (1998). Social cohesion: The state of Canadian research. Ottawa: Canadian Policy Research Networks. Available at www.cprn.org. Retrieved on January 27, 2005. Jones, P. W. (1998). Globalisation and internationalism: Democratic prospects for world education. Comparative Education, 34(2), 143–155. Joshee, R. (2004). Citizenship and multicultural education in Canada: From assimilation to social cohesion. In: J. A. Banks (Ed.), Diversity and citizenship education: Global perspectives (pp. 127–156). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
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Joshee, R. (2007). Opportunities for social justice work: The Ontario diversity policy web. Journal of Educational Administration and Foundations, 18(1 and 2), 171–199. Joshee, R., DeBeer, Y., Goldberg, M. P., & Saunders, S. R. (2006). Versions and subversions of diversity: Discursive struggles in Ontario school districts. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Canadian Society for Studies in Education, Toronto, ON, May 28, 2006, 21pp. Joshee, R., & Johnson, L. (2005). Multicultural education in the United States and Canada: The importance of national policies. In: N. Bascia, A. Cumming, A. Datnow, K. Leithwood & D. Livingstone (Eds), International handbook of educational policy (pp. 53–74). Kluwer. Kalin, R., & Berry, J. W. (1994). Ethnic and multicultural attitudes. In: J. W. Berry & J. A. Laponce (Eds), Ethnicity and culture in Canada: The research landscape (pp. 293–321). Toronto: University of Toronto Press. Lee, J. -A., & Cardinal, L. (1998). Hegemonic nationalism and the politics of feminism and multiculturalism in Canada. In: V. Strong-Boag, S. Grace, A. Eisenberg & J. Anderson (Eds), Painting the maple leaf: Essays on race, gender, and the construction of Canada (pp. 215–241). Vancouver: BC: UBC Press. Lingard, B. (2000). It is and it isn’t: Vernacular globalization, educational policy, and restructuring. In: N. C. Burbules & C. A. Torres (Eds), Globalization and education critical perspectives (pp. 79–108). New York: Routledge. Mitchell, K. (2003). Educating the national citizen in neoliberal times: from the multicultural self to the strategic cosmopolitan. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 28(4), 387–403. Moodley, K. A. (1992). Ethnicity, power, politics and minority education. In: K. A. Moodley (Ed.), Beyond multicultural education: International perspectives (pp. 79–94). Calgary, AB: Detselig Enterprises Ltd. Moodley, K. A. (1999). Anti-racism education through political literacy: The case of Canada. In: S. May (Ed.), Critical multiculturalism: Rethinking multicultural and anti-racist education. London: Falmer. Mora, J. (2001). Caught in a policy web: The impact of education reform on Latino education. Journal of Latinos and Education, 1(1), 29–44. Nussbaum, M. (2003). Capabilities as fundamental entitlements: Sen and social justice. Feminist Economics, 9(2–3), 33–59. OECD. (2004). Policy brief education and equity. OECD Observer, February 2004. Available at www.oecd.org. Retrieved on December 12, 2005. Official Languages Program. (1999). The ABC’s of official languages. Retrieved on March 23, 2005, www.pch.gc.ca OHRC – Ontario Human Rights Commission. (2001). Human Rights Commissions and Economic and Social Rights. A Research Paper by the Policy and Education Branch. Retrieved on March 29, from www.ohrc.on.ca OHRC – Ontario Human Rights Commission. (2004). Submission to the Toronto District School Board, Safe and Compassionate Schools Task Force. Retrieved on April 29, 2004, www.ohrc.on.ca OHRC – Ontario Human Rights Commission. (2005). Human rights settlement reached with Toronto District School Board. Retrieved on November 17, 2005, www.ohrc.on.ca Ontario Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration. (2005b). Secondary School Community Involvement Program. Retrieved on March 29, 2005, from www.gov.on.ca/citizenship
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Ontario Ministry of Education. (1993). Development and implementation of school board policies on antiracism and ethnocultural equity. Policy Program Memorandum 119. Toronto, ON: Government of Ontario. Ontario Ministry of Education. (2004). Building the Ontario education advantage: Student achievement. Second in a series of mini-discussion papers prepared for the Education Partnership Table to permit wide input to the direction of education in Ontario. April 29, 2004. Available at www.edu.gov.on.ca. Retrieved on March 15, 2005. Perrin, B. (1990). Literacy counts. Ottawa, ON: National Literacy Secretariat. Secretary of State for Multiculturalism. (2005). Annual report on the operations of the Multiculturalism Act. Ottawa, ON: Department of Canadian Heritage. Retrieved on February 7, 2005, from www.pch.gc.ca Sleeter, C., & Grant, C. (1989). Turning on learning: Five approaches for multicultural teaching plans for race, class, gender, and disability. Columbus, OH: Merrill. Sleeter, C. E. (2002). State curriculum standards and the shaping of student consciousness. Social Justice, 29, 8–25. Southworth, G. (1999). Primary School Leadership in England: Policy, practice and theory. School Leadership & Management, 19(1), 49–65. Statistics Cannada. (2005). Population projections of visible minority groups, Canada, provinces and regions: 2001–2017. Demography Division. Catalogue no. 91–541-XIE. Tobin Associates (2003). Quality education for all young people: Challenges, trends, and priorities. Report of Canada. Toronto, ON: Council of Ministers of Education, Canada. TDSB – Toronto District School Board. (1999a). Equity foundations statement and commitments to equity policy. Toronto: Toronto District School Board. Retrieved on June 12, 2005, from www.tdsb.on.ca TDSB – Toronto District School Board. (1999b). Safe schools policy. Toronto: Toronto District School Board. Retrieved on June 12, 2005, from www.tdsb.on.ca TDSB – Toronto District School Board. (2000a). Human rights policy. Retrieved on June 12, 2005, from www.tdsb.on.ca TDSB – Toronto District School Board. (2000b). Guidelines and procedures on religious accommodation. Retrieved on June 12, 2005, from www.tdsb.on.ca TDSB – Toronto District School Board. (2004a). Employment equity policy. Retrieved on June 12, 2005, from www.tdsb.on.ca TDSB – Toronto District School Board. (2006). Recommendations of the Safe and Compassionate Schools Task Force Implementation Work Group. Retrieved on September 17, 2006, from www.tdsb.on.ca Ungerleider, C. (1992). Immigration, multiculturalism and citizenship: The development of the Canadian social justice infrastructure. Canadian Ethnic Studies, 24(3), 7–22. Wright O. M. (2000). Multicultural and anti-racist education: The issue is equity. In: T. Goldstein & D. Selby (Eds), Weaving connections: Educating for peace, social, and environmental justice (pp. 57–98). Toronto: Sumach Press.
THE COST OF EDUCATION FOR SOME: EDUCATING ILLEGALS IN THE U.S. David Urias The question taxpayers keep asking is ‘‘Why should we pay for services for those who have broken the law to get here?’’ – Michael D. Antonovich1 The level of immigration is so massive. It’s choking the urban schools. It’s bad enough when you have desperate kids with U.S. backgrounds requiring massive resources and in come kids with totally different needs, and it creates crushing burdens on schools. – David Stewart2
INTRODUCTION United States immigration policy is one of the most dynamic and fiercely argued public policy issues today – often including questions of how many and from where. Poor economic conditions overseas, perceptions of a relative abundance of opportunity in the United States, flight from persecution and upheaval, and revolutions in communication and transportation are often cited as the major factors explaining historic and current waves of immigrants (legal and illegal) to U.S. shores (Batchelor, 2004; Borjas, 2004; Porter, 2006). U.S. immigration legislation is also a key factor in determining the numbers and composition of America’s new residents. Power, Voice and the Public Good: Schooling and Education in Global Societies Advances in Education in Diverse Communities: Research Policy and Praxis, Volume 6, 55–89 Copyright r 2008 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited All rights of reproduction in any form reserved ISSN: 1479-358X/doi:10.1016/S1479-358X(08)06003-8
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The focus of this chapter therefore consists of the costs associated with providing illegal immigrants with the benefit of free, public schooling within the context of globalization. More specifically, given the broader social, political, and economic parameters of the immigration debate and its meaning, the chapter discusses the legal and educational issues faced in the United States by those undocumented students who desire to attend public schooling, as well as the ways current state and federal laws both empower and discourage them. Immigration has occurred around the world for as long as history has been recorded, but within the present context of globalization, the phenomenon takes on particular significance. Due to advances in communication, transportation, and other technologies, immigration has come to be more about transnationalism than assimilation. These advances allow migrants to maintain close ties with their home countries. The shift from a nation-centered economy to a global economy has also fostered the development of a new kind of immigration, where these individuals are capable of easily moving from their home country to the receiving country (United Nations, 2002). According to a 2002 United Nations study, over 175 million people (3 percent of the global population) reside in a country where they were not born, and this number reflects a doubling since 1975 (United Nations, 2002). Despite common perceptions, the United States receives less than 2 percent of the world’s migrants and refugees each year (U.S. INS, 1999). As of 2000, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Census Bureau reported that almost 29 million foreign-born immigrants reside in the United States (Schmidley, 2003). Excluding students, more than 2.5 million highly educated immigrants from low-income countries reside in the United States (Rapoport, 2002). Proportionally, the world’s very poorest do not migrate as much as the more educated (O’Neill, 2003). On the contrary, recent global migration has increasingly consisted of the movement of people with secondary education; 88 percent of immigrants to the OECD countries have a minimum of secondary education (Carrington & Detragiache, 1998). According to the Institute for Public Policy Research (Bloch, 2004) some 40 percent of tertiaryeducated adults from Turkey and Morocco, and nearly a third from Ghana, have emigrated to OECD countries; over half of tertiary-educated adults from the Caribbean live in the USA, including 75 percent of tertiary-educated Jamaicans and Haitians; over 10 percent of Mexico’s tertiary-educated population lives in the USA, along with 30 percent of its doctoral graduates; and, the proportion of secondary-educated Nicaraguans and El Salvadorians living abroad amounts to 40 and 50 percent, respectively.
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U.S. immigration policy is one of the most dynamic and disputed public policy issues today, and debates often center around issues of both total numbers and numbers representing certain immigrant groups. U.S. immigration legislation is a key factor in determining the numbers and composition of the country’s immigration population. Additionally, on one side of the immigration debate are the labor needs of business and America’s historic openness to newcomers. On the other side are concerns about national security, the real worries of American workers, and strong public support for gaining control of the country’s borders. Today, immigration reform has to contend with our present central reality; namely, in a world where goods, capital, ideas, and services are becoming more and more mobile and able to cross national borders, tighter restrictions on the movement of people are increasingly anachronistic. Europe is wrestling with the same conflicts as the United States. For example, the European Commission is considering proposals for a crackdown on the large number if illegal immigrants, even as it looks for new ways to admit legally the temporary workers needed for construction, tourism, and agriculture (Mandel, 2007). World Bank and Harvard University economist Lant Pritchett argues that the global pressure for labor movement across national borders is rising. He cites the combination of big gaps in wages between rich and poor countries and the slow population growth of many developed countries, which will soon lead to a shrinking workforce unless more immigration is allowed. Cheap communications make a difference as well since it is less psychically costly to move when one can stay in touch (Mandel, 2007). However, before proceeding, some background on illegal immigration is needed.
ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION IN THE UNITED STATES Immigrants are classified under various definitions. In the United States, the main categories of immigrants are legal versus illegal or undocumented immigrants, and refugees. According to Smith and Edmonston (1997), immigration is deemed illegal in three main circumstances: (1) entry without documentation or permission, (2) overstaying legal entry, or (3) by violating the terms of a legal entry. Countries immigrants tend to choose are usually more technologically advanced, have greater resources and offer more opportunities. However, there are some individuals that leave for personal reasons. Children of illegal immigrants born in the foreign country may automatically gain citizenship in countries like the United States.
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Conversely, in countries like France, the children are not automatically granted citizenship. At age 18 they are allowed to obtain French citizenship if they request it. If for whatever reason they fail to request French citizenship, they are considered to be residing in the country illegally and could be asked to leave. The Pew Hispanic Center, an estimates that 10.3 million (29 percent) of U.S. immigrants are illegal or undocumented (Passel, 2005a, 2005b). Since the mid-1990s the number of unauthorized migrants arriving in the United States has exceeded the number of new legal immigrants; approximately 700,000 unauthorized migrants arrive annually, compared with about 610,000 legal immigrants (Passel, 2005a, 2005b). Other estimates range between seven and twenty million undocumented individuals (Knickerbocker, 2006) and the number is growing rapidly (Passel, 2005a, 2005b). According to the Pew Hispanic Center, Mexicans make up the largest group of undocumented migrants at 5.9 million or (57 percent of the total); 2.5 million undocumented migrants (24 percent of the total) are from other Latin American countries; 9 percent are from Asia, 6 percent from Europe and Canada, and 4 percent from the rest of the world (Passel, 2005a, 2005b). Nearly two-thirds (68 percent) of undocumented immigrants live in eight states: California (24 percent), Texas (14 percent), Florida (9 percent), New York (7 percent), Arizona (5 percent), Illinois (4 percent), New Jersey (4 percent), and North Carolina (3 percent) (Passel, 2005a, 2005b). Onesixth of the undocumented population, or 1.7 million undocumented immigrants, is under the age of 18 (Passel, 2005a, 2005b). Additionally, U.S.-born citizen children of undocumented parents add up to approximately two such U.S.-born children for every undocumented child. This ratio amounts to approximately 3 million U.S.-born children in families headed by undocumented migrants (Passel, 2005a, 2005b). Illegal immigration to the United States is not a new problem. Illegal and undocumented immigrants have proven to be a source of cheap labor, particularly for the agricultural sector (Green, 2003). In an attempt to address immigrant issues as well as labor shortages in these sectors, Congress passed the Immigration Reform and Control Act in 1986 (PL 99603), which allowed for large classes of undocumented immigrants to adjust their status and become legal residents. This act enabled ‘‘many migrant and seasonal agricultural workers to become legal permanent residents’’ (Stevenson, 2004, p. 2). Newer undocumented families, similar to those who benefited from the mass legalization of PL99-603, face new challenges. Many of these challenges, ranging from the spread of xenophobia to cultural prejudices and increased border security, are due to a backlash against
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illegal immigration in the aftermath of September 11th, 2001 (Johnson, 2002). Consequently, and as the number of permanently settled undocumented immigrants in the United States increases, so does the intensity of the debate concerning whether undocumented children should be permitted the benefits of legal residency, such as accessing public services, particularly public education.
THE RIGHT TO A FREE AMERICAN EDUCATION FOR ALL: LEGAL UNDERPINNINGS3 Today, undocumented immigrant youth face an especially intriguing challenge; namely, their undocumented status makes their presence in the United States a violation of federal law (Stevenson, 2004). Nonetheless, they are embraced by the American public school system because a 1982 Supreme Court case (Plyler v. Doe) guaranteed all children in the United States the right to a free K-12 education regardless of their immigration status. This has created a substantial disconnect between the childhood and adult lives of undocumented immigrants in this country. As these children grow up, the government and the communities in which they live treat them as equals to other children of legal status. After graduation, however, a harsh reality sets in, fraught with inequality and discrimination (Stevenson, 2004). High school seniors who lack valid immigration documents are indistinguishable from their classmates when superficially judged by appearance. These adolescents enjoy the right to a public education in the United States that provides them (just like citizens and legal resident students) with a social center, a place to enroll in free classes, get an affordable lunch, join a sports team, and play in the band. The outlook for these students’ future is bleak, at least when weighed against the postsecondary plans of their classmates. Many undocumented students finish high school and some even college, but what good does this education provide if they are still unable to legally work? Many of these students eventually end up working, like their parents, as manual laborers in the agricultural industry (Stevenson, 2004). Further, a significantly lesser number are likely to graduate from a postsecondary institution due to a strict federal policy that excludes them from eligibility for government educational loans, in-state tuition rates, and adjustment of their immigration status; thereby, effectively denying them access to postsecondary education benefits.4 Following the current federal mandate, several states
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have spoken out against any favorable state treatment of undocumented students and expressly denied them in-state tuition (Stevenson, 2004). On the federal level, several pieces of legislation addressing the issue have been proposed.5 Importantly, these put forward uniform policies that would eliminate broad policy disparities at the state level (Alfred, 2003; Galassi, 2003). To date, the federal measure with the most support is the bipartisan Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (‘‘DREAM’’) Act that is mirrored in the House by its companion bill, the Student Adjustment Act (which currently has 66 cosponsors from both parties). Again, these bills attempt to address the reality of young people who grew up in the United States and have graduated from U.S. high schools but whose future is circumscribed by current immigration laws. Recall that under current law, these young people generally derive their immigration status solely from their parents, and when the parents are undocumented or in immigration limbo, their children have no mechanism to obtain legal residency. The DREAM Act attempts to provide such a mechanism for those who are able to meet certain conditions by enacting two major changes in current law: Eliminate the federal provision that discourages states from providing instate tuition without regard to immigration status; and Permit some immigrant students who have grown up in the United States to apply for legal status. Additionally, the Dream Act establishes a two-stage process for applying for legal status. Immigrant students who have grown up in the United States, graduated from high school here, and can demonstrate good moral character would initially qualify for ‘‘conditional lawful permanent resident’’ status, which would normally last for six years. During the conditional period, an immigrant would be required to go to college, join the military, or work a significant number of hours of community service. At the end of the conditional period, those who meet at least one of these requirements would be eligible for regular lawful permanent resident status. If enacted, the Dream Act would have a life-changing impact on the students who qualify, dramatically increasing their average future earningsand, consequently, the amount of taxes they would pay-while significantly reducing criminal justice and social service costs to taxpayers. Additionally, not only would the Act grant these students access to in-state tuition rates, it would also provide them eligibility for federal financial aid programs to help pay for their postsecondary education. Undocumented or illegal immigrant children cannot be denied access to free public education. The principal legal underpinning for this
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determination came from the 1982 Supreme Court decision in Plyler v. Doe. A 5-to-4 majority of the U. S. Supreme Court held that this policy violated the Fourteenth Amendment, as illegal immigrant children are people and therefore had protection from discrimination unless a substantial state interest could be shown to justify such a denial. In 1975, Texas passed the Alien Children Education (ACE) law, which was designed to withhold state funds for the education of undocumented immigrant children and authorize local school districts not to enroll these children in public schools. In 1977, lawyers filed suit in a Texas District Court on behalf of Mexican children who could not prove their legal status and who had been excluded from the Tyler School District. The suit claimed that ACE violated the rights of these children under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. Similar suits were filed across Texas in 1978 and 1979 against the Texas Education Agency and various Texas school districts. In 1980, a U.S. District Court found that ACE was unconstitutional. In 1981, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed, and the state of Texas appealed. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear this case, and later affirmed the judgment of the Fifth Circuit in 1982. Justice Brennan, joined by Justices Marshall, Blackmun, Powell, and Stevens, wrote for the majority and found that the Texas law was ‘‘directed against children, and impose[d] its discriminatory burden on the basis of a legal characteristic over which children can have little control’’ (Plyler v. Doe, 1982) – namely, the fact of their having been brought illegally into the United States by their parents. The majority also observed that denying the children in question a proper education would likely contribute to ‘‘the creation and perpetuation of a subclass of illiterates within our boundaries, surely adding to the problems and costs of unemployment, welfare, and crime’’ (Plyler v. Doe, 1982). The majority refused to accept that any substantial state interest would be served by discrimination on this basis, and it struck down the Texas law. Under ordinary circumstances, a law that does not trigger the principle of Strict Scrutiny triggers the Rational Basis Test. When a law imposes serious ‘‘costs to the Nation and to the innocent children who are its victims,’’ the proper test to apply is Intermediate Scrutiny. The right to an education is not a fundamental one, but rather a privilege (see San Antonio v. Rodriguez, 1973). However, with respect to costs to the Nation, education is critical to the maintenance of a properly functioning democracy. With respect to educational costs, the deprivation of an education takes an ‘‘inestimable toll . . . on the social, economic, intellectual, and psychological well-being of the individual’’ (Plyler v. Doe, 1982). Thus the Court’s decision involved an
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appeal to utilitarianism. As argued by the majority, the proper level of scrutiny should reflect the overall costs imposed on individuals and on society by the relevant law. The lower the cost, the lower the proper level of scrutiny will be; conversely, the higher the cost, the higher the proper level of scrutiny will be. If a law’s benefits outweigh its costs, it is constitutionally acceptable. In the case at hand, the automatic exclusion of illegals from the reach of the Equal Protection Clause would allow the creation of a class of persons who possess a form of legal inferiority, i.e., a lower caste. The Court concluded that any person, whether an illegal immigrant or not, residing within a state’s borders, is protected by the Equal Protection Clause. The Court’s dissenting minority agreed that it was unwise to deny illegal children a public education, but the dissenting justices argued that the Texas law was not unconstitutional and that the issue ought to be dealt with through the legislative process, as opposed to the judicial one. Furthermore, the dissenters asserted that ‘‘[t]he Constitution does not provide a cure for every social ill, nor does it vest judges with a mandate to try to remedy every social problem’’ and that the majority was overstepping its bounds by seeking ‘‘to do Congress’ job for it, compensating for congressional inaction’’ (Plyler v. Doe dissenting opinion, 1982). Fearing long-term consequences of this decision, groups such as the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) claim that the Court treated its analysis of the Equal Protection Clause as a given that most or all of the illegal children would end up staying in the United States and eventually would become legal residents. The Court did not consider the possibility that they should be deported; neither was the fact that, as citizens of another country, all presumably had a right to whatever education their homelands provide. Opponents also claim that Justice Brennan maintained that the Equal Protection Clause was intended to do nothing less than the abolition of all caste-based and invidious class-based legislation. Other opponents argue that it simply is not ‘‘irrational’’ for a state to conclude that it does not have the same responsibility to provide benefits for persons whose very presence in the state and this country is illegal as it does to provide for persons lawfully present. By definition, illegal aliens have no right to be here and this is the simple justification for saving money at the expense of illegal alien children (Hutchinson, 1984). Opponents further argue that it is not the duty of American citizens and those here legally to educate and therefore financially and philosophically support those who are here illegally (Sutherland, 2003). Furthermore, opponents argue that the potential harm done to legal citizens as they pay taxes and to their children as they share their schools is another issue not considered in this debate.
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As a consequence of Plyler v. Doe, school-aged undocumented immigrant children cannot be denied access to public education. In fact, the school attendance of these children is mandated just as for any other child, and parents and educators are subject under the law if they do not attend. However, the privilege of an education extends only until children complete their secondary education.
ACCESS TO PUBLIC SERVICES: THE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT PROBLEM Since the September 11th attacks, anti-immigrant prejudices have reached a high point. Legislators have drawn connections between unregulated immigration and terrorism (Stevenson, 2004). For example, in a 2003 hearing of the House Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Claims, committee Chairman John N. Hostettler (R-IN) discouraged the consideration of an amnesty law for undocumented immigrants, arguing that legalization ‘‘encourages smuggling and causes border deaths’’ (Stevenson, 2004, p. 30). Such broad anti-immigrant sentiments underlie several general policy arguments that support the exclusion of undocumented students from access to public education benefits in the United States. One argument contends that allowing access to state-subsidized public education benefits imposes an unfair and expensive burden on taxpayers (Borjas, 2005; Hebel, 2007; Sutherland, 2003). This position is largely based on general research indicating that immigrant populations in the U.S. claim and use a disproportionate share of public benefits (Borjas, 2005; Camarota, 2003; Mehta & Ali, 2003). Some opponents argue that undocumented students should be denied access to education benefits because doing so denies opportunities to U.S. citizens and legal residents, both in terms of admission to postsecondary schools and access to federal and state funding (Hebel, 2007; Sutherland, 2003). Conservative opposition groups such as the Federation of American Immigration Reform purport that many media sources give a one-sided account of this issue (Stein, 2004). Although the stories of undocumented students have human appeal as victims in a state of legal and educational limbo, the resulting exclusion of other U.S. citizen and legal resident students also desiring to succeed in their pursuit of an education has remained largely unacknowledged (Stevenson, 2004).
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In further examination of the issue, opponents, such as former governor of Massachusetts, Mr. Romney, purport that providing educational benefits to undocumented students will unjustly reward illegal immigrants for breaking the law (Hebel, 2007). Moreover, it potentially will further attract illegal alien families to move to the United States so their children may receive education benefits and possible legal resident status (Stevenson, 2004). This point is reiterated both as part of the general policy argument against ceding public benefits to undocumented immigrants and also as a policy justification for exclusionary educational laws.
EDUCATIONAL ISSUES Worldwide, schooling is now considered a primary factor leading to status mobility (Iannelli & Paterson, 2005). In the United States, education has become a key factor of economic success (Camarota, 2006a, 2006b). Schooling is linked to better health, smaller families, and greater economic security. Schooling is particularly important for immigrant youth because, for the majority of these children, it represents their first and most enduring interaction with an institution in their new home (Sua´rez-Orozco & Sua´rezOrozco, 2001). It is in school that students learn English, connect with peers and adults of the dominant culture, develop academic knowledge, and begin to understand their place in society (Sua´rez-Orozco & Sua´rez-Orozco, 2006). Many of the same challenges face both documented and undocumented students, and many are also faced by second-generation immigrants. These challenges include: (a) high levels of poverty and low socio-economic status (Capps, Fix, Ost, Reardon-Anderson, & Passel, 2004), (b) low parental education as compared to native-born Americans, (c) conflicts between home and school values, (d) language difficulties, (e) prejudice and discrimination (Sua´rez-Orozco, 2000), (f) segregation (Orfield & Yun, 1999), (g) community violence (Sua´rez-Orozco & Sua´rez-Orozco, 1995), (h) poor schools (Riordan, 2004), (i) lack of continuity of education and schooling, (j) low literacy levels, and (k) frequent moves (Green, 2003). Of particular concern to educators are the language, literacy, educational backgrounds, and socio-economic class of undocumented immigrants. Other issues stem from these students’ tenuous legal status, such as parental fear that limits their willingness to utilize the government and school programs for which they may qualify. Although the education level of unauthorized migrants is increasing, undocumented immigrants are less educated than other sectors of the
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population, with 49 percent having not completed high school, compared with 9 percent of the native-born, and 25 percent of legal immigrants (Passel, 2005a, 2005b). Nonetheless, a quarter of unauthorized immigrants have at least some college education and another quarter have finished high school. Some immigrants from countries such as Bosnia, Sierra Leone, or Central America have little experience with schooling, or their schooling has been severely interrupted (Hood, 2003). Others represent groups such as the Hmong from Vietnam, whose language has not historically had a written form and whose members often do not have basic literacy concepts (Lee, 2005; Kang, Kuehn, & Herrell, 1996). According to the U.S. Census Bureau and National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a majority totaling approximately 4.5 million children come from families where the home language is other than English and English language learners comprise 7.9 percent of the national enrollment in public elementary and secondary schools (Schmidley, 2003). Undocumented immigrants earn less than those in other sectors of the U.S. population; averages in 2003 ranged from $25,700 to $29,900, per family, with increases correlated to length of time in the United States; comparatively, for legal immigrants the average family income was $47,800 and for the native-born it was $47,700 (Passel, 2005a, 2005b). These differences have a direct effect on the achievement of both undocumented students and their U.S.-born classmates, as previous research has clearly correlated student achievement with socio-economic indicators (Coleman, 1966; Riordan, 2004). Other educational challenges are unique to undocumented students. Because the ruling in Plyler v. Doe does not extend past secondary education, students who may have successfully completed primary and secondary schools are effectively barred from continuing their educations due to their undocumented status. Approximately 65,000 undocumented students graduate each year, but less than 5 percent ever attend college (Frum, 2007). The barriers for these students are primarily financial, although financial issues stem from interpretation of issues of legality. Although they are not specifically barred from attending postsecondary institutions as a consequence of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) and the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996, these same acts have been interpreted by some to deny undocumented students in-state tuition, while others have interpreted them to grant it (Frum, 2007). In the majority of states, students who would otherwise be able to attend college can do so only at the non-resident or out-of-state tuition rate,
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which costs an average of 140 percent more than resident, in-state tuition. Thus, as a consequence of their legal status, undocumented immigrant students are not permitted to receive federal financial aid (Frum, 2007). Because these students come from one of the poorest sectors of American society (the average undocumented family income is 40 percent lower than that of either native-born families or legal immigrant families), they are at a distinct disadvantage; in many cases, they view higher education as beyond their financial reach (Frum, 2007). Even those few undocumented students who attend college remain trapped by their status after graduation, as they are unable to secure legal employment. Thus, these students often end up performing manual labor similar to that of their parents, and many dropout as early as high school because they understand at an early age the limited opportunities available to them (Zuckerbrod, 2007; Stevenson, 2004). Despite these challenges, some studies point to immigrant students outperforming their native-born classmates (Rumbaut, 1996). However, this outcome does not represent all immigrant students. Education and skill are not all that distinguish legal and illegal immigrants. It should be noted that inflows of illegal immigrants tend to be highly sensitive to economic conditions, with inflows rising during periods when the U.S. economy is expanding and Mexico’s is contracting. Examining month-to-month changes in apprehensions of illegal immigrants attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border reveals that when Mexican wages fall by 10 percent relative to U.S. wages, attempts at illegal entry increase by 6 percent. The responsiveness of illegal immigration to economic conditions is to be expected. These individuals come to the United States seeking work and their incentive to do so is strongest when the difference in job prospects on the two sides of the border is greatest (Hanson, 2007).
COST VERSUS BENEFIT ESTIMATES An estimation of the cost–benefit of educating undocumented immigrants is of interest for several reasons. First, policy recommendations regarding illegal immigration tend to focus on the costs versus benefits of illegal immigration on society. Anti-immigrant sentiments underlie several policy arguments that support the exclusion of undocumented students from access to public education benefits in the United States. One such argument for excluding undocumented students contends that allowing access to statesubsidized public education benefits imposes an unfair and expensive burden
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on taxpayers (Borjas, 2005; Hebel, 2007; Sutherland, 2003). This position is based on research indicating that undocumented immigrant populations in the United States use a disproportionate share of public benefits (Borjas, 2005; Camarota, 2003; Mehta & Ali, 2003). These findings, however, are disputed by many who argue the contrary (Sifuentes, 2006; Porter, 2006). Additionally, proponents claim that helping immigrants earn degrees would bolster state coffers because these individuals would pay more taxes on the higher salaries likelier earned and the extra goods they could buy (Hebel, 2007). Second, it is estimated that the number of immigrants is growing each year, and the proportion of undocumented immigrants is increasing. Thus, accurately capturing the effects of these trends on education is becoming more critical, considering increased budgetary constraints and public misperceptions. Third, the burden of educating these students is placed typically on local and state governments. Accurate measures of these costs might enable contributions from the federal government that could help to ease this burden, particularly for those locales and states that have the greatest expenditures. The National Research Council has estimated that the net fiscal cost of immigration ranges from $11 billion to $22 billion per year, with most government expenditures on immigrants coming from state and local coffers, while most taxes paid by immigrants go to the federal treasury. The net deficit is caused by a low level of tax payments by immigrants, because they are disproportionately low-skilled and thus earn low wages, and a higher rate of consumption of government services, both because of their relative poverty and their higher fertility. This is especially true of illegal immigration. Even though illegal aliens make little use of welfare, from which they are generally barred, the costs of illegal immigration in terms of government expenditures for education, criminal justice, and emergency medical care are significant. For example, the Center for Immigration Studies reports that California has estimated the net cost to the state of providing government services to illegal immigrants approached $3 billion during a single fiscal year. The fact that states must bear the cost of federal failure turns illegal immigration, in effect, into one of the largest unfunded federal mandates. Generally speaking, there is little consensus over the costs and benefits of illegal immigration, and the debate extends into the educational arena. One immigration researcher recently estimated that legalizing millions of illegal immigrants would cost taxpayers nationwide more than $50 billion a year (Camarota, 2006a, 2006b). Others claim legalization would increase revenues resulting in a net gain of $12 billion over ten years (Sifuentes,
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2006). The disparity in numbers is due to basic uncertainties in data. The conservative think-tank, Center for Immigration Studies, compares the cost of social services and education against taxes and fees paid by immigrants to come up with a deficit figure. This financial gap makes it possible for some analysts to reduce costs associated with illegal immigrants by several billion dollars (Camarota, 2006a, 2006b). With respect to reporting net gain revenues, data is based on inflated tax revenues accruing from immigrant workers (Camarota, 2006a, 2006b). Ideological differences also drive the uncertainties. Those researchers who favor comprehensive immigration reform purport that immigration will not harm the economy. According to Wayne Cornelius, Director of the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies at the University of California, San Diego: ‘‘[t]here are numerous potential threats to future U.S. economic strength and fiscal health, but immigration is not one of them’’ (Sifuentes, 2006, p. 1). Conversely, Robert Rector, a senior analyst with the conservative Heritage Foundation, posits that illegal immigrants have a detrimental effect on the country, including declining wages, increasing dependence on welfare, and rising crime (Sifuentes, 2006). It has been mentioned that undocumented students should be denied access to education benefits because doing so would limit opportunities for U.S. citizens and legal residents, both in terms of admission to postsecondary schools and access to federal and state funding (Hebel, 2007; Sutherland, 2003). Groups such as the Federation of American Immigration Reform purport that many media sources give a one-sided account of this issue (Stein, 2004). The potential exclusion of U.S. citizen and legal resident students also aspiring to a college education has remained largely unacknowledged (Stevenson, 2004). Other opponents argue that providing educational benefits to undocumented students will reward these individuals and serve to attract increasing numbers of undocumented immigrants to the United States (Stevenson, 2004). Proponents argue that the long-term fiscal impact of any member of a society, including undocumented immigrants, depends upon the level of education achieved. In particular, immigrants with more education have more positive long-term fiscal impacts (Frum, 2007). Many studies show that the consumption of, rather than contribution to, public services by undocumented immigrants appears to be ‘‘more a product of their low incomes [and low educational levels] than their immigration status’’ (Frum, 2007, p. 92). The National Research Council purports that an immigrant without a high school diploma will create a net lifetime burden of $89,000, while for an immigrant with only a high school education, the number
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decreases to a negative $31,000. However, an immigrant with an education beyond high school creates a fiscal benefit of $105,000 (Smith & Edmonston, 1997). The reason for this divergence is simple: 60 percent of undocumented immigrants do not have a high school diploma and another 20 percent have no education beyond high school. Thus, undocumented immigrants largely follow the same trend that is evidenced in other sectors of the population regarding education and lifetime earnings. The United States General Accounting Office (GAO) outlines several approaches to estimating the costs of educating undocumented immigrant children. One approach takes into account key cost factors and variations such as higher costs for students needing special programs, enrollment growth, school capacity, and incremental costs. Methods such as this, however, depend on accurate data on the number of undocumented schoolchildren on a state-by-state basis. This data is important because undocumented students and thus the cost of educating them is higher in some states than in others and also because expenditures vary by state and locale. Presently, state-by-state government data is not reliable for such analysis (GAO, 2004). This data is difficult to accurately estimate for multiple reasons; namely because neither states, schools, nor the NCES collect data on one’s immigration status. In many cases, individuals are not required to reveal their immigration status to receive certain benefits, and in some cases, officials are specifically prohibited from asking about one’s immigration status (Delfico, 1993). The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has developed state-by-state estimates of the illegal alien population, but the estimates do not break out age groups and are subject to methodological limitations (GAO, 2004). In GAO Report 04-733, ‘‘Estimating Costs of Illegal Alien Schoolchildren’’ (2004), of the 22 states surveyed, only 3 provided information. Seventeen states claimed they did not have such information, and 2 states (Florida and Georgia) did not respond. Of the 17 states that said they did not have information on the population or costs of schooling illegal alien children, 6 indicated that it would be illegal to ask about children’s immigration status. An unsophisticated and easiest approach to estimating the costs of educating illegal K-12 schoolchildren is to multiply the average current perpupil expenditures by the estimated number of undocumented alien schoolchildren in each state (GAO, 2004). In 2004, the FAIR determined that he total K-12 school expenditure for illegal immigrants cost states nearly $12 billion annually, and when the children born in the U.S. to illegal immigrants are added, costs more than double to $28.6 billion. In 2002, about $1.4 billion of the cost for their education was paid with federal funds,
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leaving the states to pay somewhere in the area of $27.2 billion annually. This amount does not include such ancillary expenses as special programs for non-English speaking students, which represent an additional expense of $290–879 per pupil depending on the size of the class, or the supplemental feeding programs instituted because over 74 percent of illegal Mexican immigrants and their children are living in or near poverty. Basic arithmetic, however, does not represent the total costs. Special programs for non-English speakers add additional fiscal burdens. A recent study found that dual language programs represent an additional expense of $290–879 per pupil depending on the size of the class (Lara-Alecio, Galloway, Mahaderan, & Mason, 2005). Camarota (2006a, 2006b) found that English as a Second Language, bilingual, and other immigrant-oriented programs can raise per-pupil costs by 15–25 percent. Furthermore, because of the high incidence of poverty among undocumented children, school supplemental feeding programs represent another large expenditure associated with these children. Regarding the issue of undocumented students aspiring to higher education, one argument against assisting these individuals is based on the premise that private returns are higher than public returns at the university level (Psacharopoulos, 1981). In this case, if returns to the individual are greater than returns to society, then it follows that the individual should bear the bulk of the cost of higher education. In contrast, however, investing in education leads directly to higher productivity and increased lifetime earnings, thus leading directly to higher tax rates (Cunningham, 2006; Hill & Hoffman, 2005). Broader societal benefits of higher education have also been described in terms of the enrichment of lives, lower incarceration rates, and higher rates of volunteerism (Baum & Ma, 2007; Cunningham, 2006; Baum & Payea, 2005; Hill & Hoffman, 2005). Vexing the debate further, popular xenophobic sentiment is not just against illegal immigration but against high levels of unskilled Mexican immigration per se. As political scientist Peter Skerry observes, the public dislikes the effect on local communities of large numbers of poor Mexicans and their progeny, legal or not. Some of the effects, such as crime, worsen dramatically from the first to the second generation of Mexicans, who not only are legal but are American citizens (MacDonald, 2006). Since criticizing illegal immigration often draws charges of racism, few relish going further and challenging the wisdom of our current immigration flows, legal or not. Yet unless the immigration problem is accurately diagnosed, any legislative fix that merely converts the current illegal flow to a legal one will fail both as policy and as politics.
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THE ECONOMIC REALITY It is the cultural capital that immigrants bring with them that most determines their success. By contrast with the economy of a century ago, today’s knowledge-based economy values education above all else. Collegeeducated workers have seen a 22 percent increase in real income since 1980, while high school dropouts lost 3 percent of their wages. High school dropouts will almost certainly remain poor, imposing huge welfare and health-care costs on taxpayers while lowering tax receipts. Native-born Hispanics collected welfare at over twice the rate as native-born whites in 2005; the foreign-born Hispanic welfare rate was nearly three times that of native-born whites (MacDonald, 2006). State and local governments spent approximately $400 billion on public education in 2003. Between 5 and 6 percent of all children in public schools are themselves illegal aliens or are the U.S.-born children of illegal aliens (Camarota, 2006a, 2006b). Putting aside the higher costs associated with educating language-minority children, the costs of providing education to these children still comes to $20–24 billion for state and local governments. The federal government also provides funding for public education, a significant share of which is specifically targeted at low-income, migrant, and limited English students. The FAIR estimates that the costs of educating illegal alien children at all levels of government, including federal expenditures, was nearly $12 billion in 2004; and when the children born here are counted, they estimated the figure at $28 billion (Camarota, 2006a, 2006b). To gain a clearer sense of these numbers: An estimated 1.1 million school-aged illegal immigrants are living in the United States according to the Urban Institute (Fix & Passel, 2003). The average annual cost of K-12 public education in the United States is $8,745 per pupil. The cost of educating illegals and their children is over $9 billion. English as a Second Language, bilingual, and other immigrant-oriented programs can raise per-pupil costs by 15–25 percent (Camarota, 2006a, 2006b). According to such conservative think-tanks as the Center for Immigration Studies and the Federation of American Immigration Reform, illegal aliens are imposing an additional cost amounting to $900 per American child, i.e., those born of U.S. citizens, in the public school system (Camarota, 2006a, 2006b). With respect to the total impact of immigration on education, more than one in five K-12 students are immigrants (legal or illegal) or the
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children of immigrants. This figure is derived from the Current Population Survey, a mini-census taken each month by the Census Bureau. The survey asks respondents if they are immigrants and if their parents were immigrants – legal status unspecified – thus isolating the impact of immigration on school enrollment. The last U.S. Census survey data are shown in Tables 1 and 2. K-12 education now costs $415 billion annually, or 4 percent of the Gross Domestic Product. Based on the enrollment figures, immigrants must account for at least one-fifth of this amount, or about $85 billion. More importantly, immigration (legal and illegal) is responsible for virtually all
Table 1. Enrollment in K-12 Schools, by Nativity (Numbers in Thousands)
Total enrollment Foreign born U.S.-born children of Foreign born parents
1998
2001
Change 1998–2001
Percent Change 1998–2001
50,734 2,203 7,794
51,355 2,299 8,299
621 96 505
1.2 4.4 6.5
Note: Figures reflect school-age enrollment, aged 5–17. Source: Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, Enrollment Status of the Population, October 2001.
Table 2. Rank
1 2 3 4 5
School Age Population, 2000–2002 (Ranked by Numerical Change) State
2000
2002
Change
Percent Change
United States Florida California Texas Arizona North Carolina Other 45 States
53,118,168 2,700,519 6,762,646 4,262,127 984,561 1,424,562 36,983,551
53,285,336 2,847,094 6,907,398 4,383,860 1,057.116 1,483,860 36,606,133
167,168 146,575 144,560 121,733 72,555 59,173 377,418
0.3 5.4 2.5 2.9 7.4 4.2 1.0
Note: ‘‘School age’’ refers to persons aged 5–17. Also, the states identified above were chosen because they account for about 80 percent of the illegal immigrant population. Source: Census Bureau, ‘‘Florida Leads in Growth of School-Age Population,’’ Press Release, September 18, 2003. http://www.census.gov/Press-release/www/releases/archives/population/ 001342.html
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the recent growth in school-age population. According to Camarota (2006a, 2006b), between 1998 and 2001: the total number of school-age children enrolled in K-12 grew by 621,000; foreign-born children enrolled in K-12 grew by 96,000; and enrollment of children of foreign-born nationals enrolled grew by 601,000. Based on 2004 data compiled by the Federation for American Immigration Reform, educational expenditures for illegal immigration cost the American taxpayer $28.6 billion dollars annually. This cost was partially for educating students who were themselves illegally in the country ($12.0 billion) and in part for the education of their siblings born in the United States to illegal residents ($16.7 billion) (Martin, 2005). The enormous expenditure of taxpayers’ contributions does not, however, represent the total costs. Special programs for non-English speakers are an additional fiscal burden. A recent study found that dual language programs represent an additional expense of $290–$879 per pupil depending on the size of the class (Lara-Alecio, 2005). In addition, because these children of illegal aliens come from families that are most often living in poverty, there is also a major expenditure for them on supplemental feeding programs in the schools. These ancillary expenditures have not been included in the calculations. The million plus school-aged illegal immigrants residing in the United States (Fix & Passel, 2003) and their 2 million U.S.-born siblings can be divided among the states using government estimates of the illegal alien population. Using each state’s per-pupil expenditure reported by the U.S. Department of Education, cost estimates for educating illegal immigrants in each state are shown in Table 3. The calculation of the number of children of illegal aliens in the K-12 public school system, as noted in Table 3, indicates that more than 15 percent of California’s students are children of illegal aliens, as are more than 10 percent of the students in Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Nevada, and Texas. More than 5 percent of the students are the children of illegal aliens in Florida, Georgia, Kansas, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah, and Washington. Defenders of illegal aliens assert that the cost of educating illegal alien students is offset by the taxes paid by their parents, but ‘‘study after study shows that immigrants cost taxpayers much more in public services used than they pay into the system via taxes’’ (Borjas, 2006; Camarota, 2006a, 2006b). This is particularly true of illegal immigrants, who are disproportionately low-skilled and thus low-earning and are much more likely to be
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Table 3.
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Estimated Costs of Educating Illegal Alien Students and U.S. Born Children of Illegal Aliens in 2004 (in $ millions).
State California Texas New York Illinois New Jersey Florida Georgia North Carolina Arizona Colorado Washington Massachusetts Virginia Oregon Michigan Nevada Maryland Minnesota Pennsylvania Connecticut Indiana Wisconsin Kansas Utah Ohio Oklahoma Tennessee New Mexico South Carolina Nebraska Iowa Arkansas Missouri Rhode Island Alabama Idaho Delaware Kentucky DC Other Statesa Alaska Mississippi Louisiana Hawaii
Illegal Alien Students
U.S. Born Children of Illegal Aliens
Total
3,220.2 1,645.4 1,306.3 834.0 620.2 518.1 396.7 321.3 311.8 235.0 228.9 206.0 188.7 167.4 135.4 133.8 117.0 115.2 99.9 95.2 85.9 83.9 80.2 76.8 76.3 67.1 65.0 63.8 59.8 43.4 41.3 37.3 36.8 36.4 34.4 27.3 22.4 21.5 19.6 12.4 11.3 9.9 7.3 3.0 $11,919.9
4,508.3 2,303.6 1,828.9 1,167.6 868.2 725.3 555.3 449.8 436.5 329.1 320.5 288.5 264.2 234.4 189.5 187.3 163.8 161.3 139.9 133.3 120.3 117.5 112.3 107.6 106.9 94.0 91.0 89.3 83.7 60.7 57.8 52.2 51.5 51.0 48.1 38.2 31.4 30.1 27.5 17.4 15.8 13.8 10.2 4.2 $16, 687.9
7,728.5 3,949.0 3,135.2 2,001.7 1,488.4 1,243.4 952.0 771.1 748.3 564.1 549.4 494.5 452.9 401.8 324.9 321.1 280.8 276.6 239.9 228.5 206.2 201.4 192.5 184.4 183.2 161.1 156.0 153.2 143.5 104.1 99.1 89.5 88.3 87.4 82.5 65.5 53.8 51.7 47.1 29.8 27.0 23.7 17.5 7.2 $28,607.8
Source: Federation for American Immigration Reform, 2005. a Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming
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working in the underground economy or providing contractual services and not withholding taxes (Borjas, 2006; Camarota, 2006a, 2006b).
ANALYSIS OF DATA: AN INCOMPLETE PICTURE Data reported in this chapter was obtained from the agencies that administer public programs, such as the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), Department of State, and the Census Bureau. Many barriers existed in obtaining cost data. As previously mentioned, illegal aliens are not required to reveal their status to receive certain benefits. Moreover, officials are prohibited from asking about immigration status. Because limited cost data are available from the federal and state agencies that administer public programs, the total actual costs of benefits for illegal aliens and their citizen children are unknown. What data can be extrapolated indicate that, in general, the costs of providing benefits to illegal aliens are a small but rising percentage of some program costs. These estimates alone, however, present an incomplete picture of this population’s fiscal impact on government because they exclude government revenues attributable to illegal aliens. Certain states and school districts have restricted officials from asking about the immigration status of public school children. For example, the Florida Department of Education bars school districts from collecting personally identifiable data on any student’s immigration status. The Los Angeles County Office of Education has stated that schools in that district are prohibited by law from collecting information on the immigration status of students. Nevertheless, certain conclusions emerge from the incomplete picture of this population’s fiscal impact on government. First, several factors limit the availability of cost data, including specific barriers to asking applicants about their immigration status. Second, state and local governments appear to pay the largest share of costs, of which California pays the most. Third, benefits for illegal aliens and their citizen children constitute a small, but rising, percentage of some program costs.
THE CONTEXT OF GLOBALIZATION The term globalization may be defined in a variety of ways. Globalization has acquired considerable emotive force over the years. Some perceive it as a process that is beneficial – a key to future world economic
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development – and also inevitable and irreversible. Others, such as socialist political groups, union leaders, and an assortment of leftist activists, regard it with hostility, even fear, believing that it increases inequality within and between nations, threatens employment and living standards, and thwarts social progress. A central feature of most definitions is the idea of a single inter-dependent world in which capital, technology, people, ideas, and cultural influences flow across borders and boundaries rather than being constrained for most purposes within nation-states or localities. The focus of globalization, defined in this broad manner, is therefore trans-national as well as inter-national in scope. It includes cross-border flows, which are largely autonomous from mediation through the institutions of the nationstate, e.g., electronic financial flows, communication on the internet or the diffusion of popular culture, as well as cross-border flows that nation-states regulate in terms of trade, immigration, or international student education programs. In this context of globalization, immigration is much more than an economic force. It changes the host society in multiple ways – not just its demography, but also the racial and ethnic composition of the population; its culture in the broadest sense. Immigration challenges both the sending and the receiving nations. What are the social impacts, i.e., the implications for educational systems, politics, and social cohesion? What are the economic impacts with respect to addressing whose responsibility is it to morally ensure children of illegals receive education as a human right when they are not citizens of the receiving country? ‘‘If the immigration status quo persists, the United States will develop a more unequal society with troublesome separations’’ (Martin, 1985, p. 45). While some support this statement, others acknowledge that large-scale Hispanic and Asian immigration is ‘‘contributing to an increasingly bilingual society in the Southwest,’’ creating substantial problems in the schools and generating much resentment that the national identity may be changing in unwelcome ways. ‘‘Social, political, and cultural issues’’ are now ‘‘uppermost in the minds of many Americans concerned with the consequences of immigration’’ (Muller & Espenshade, 1984, p. 187). Immigration is altering the fabric of society and such alterations deserve discussion. While some positive impacts are generally agreed upon, such as the delights of a more international cuisine and the evidence of entrepreneurial energies; underlying questions still emerge. What are the negative impacts outside the economic? Though scholars have had little to say on the matter, citizens have been a source of information they have been reluctant to use. Citizens
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communicate through letters to immigration reform organizations such as the FAIR, notes to congressmen and local public officials, calls to radio talk shows, letters to newspaper editors, and in public forums. And, in time, the American people always project their deepest concerns into electoral politics. Listening to what is said at all levels, one hears an over-arching fear of a society becoming Balkanized, deeply divided along ethno-cultural, and to some extent corresponding class lines. In California, with a substantial Asian population, this perceived division is complex. There are four major and several numerically less significant Asian nationalities which are to some degree physically and culturally distinct. But still the decisive ethno-cultural stratification in California, as well as in the rest of the Southwest and in Florida, is the visibility of the large and growing Hispanic community, diverse in many ways but knit together by a common language and similar cultural inheritance, with the majority of Hispanics united by the fact of Mexico as their country of origin. Education is a key institution for nation-states in constructing citizens, not only in terms of identity but also as potential workers and members of a polity. Education is an important political arena of struggle for members of a polity around who gets taught what as well as matters of access and equal opportunity. It is also a central strategic platform for political actors, including political parties and the wider public, particularly because of its discursively constructed ‘‘public good’’ ethos. Further the structure of education has been a core mechanism in generating legitimacy and societal cohesion for the capitalist state, in part through the knowledge that is transmitted, but also because of the capacity of education systems to propagate ideas like meritocracy and the values of market economies and societies (Robertson, 2007). The fear of social division is not a new theme in American life, and in a nation of functioning pluralism, is understandably suspicious that it repeats an unwelcome pattern of the past. The United States has survived all the centrifugal forces of a diverse nationality, ethnicity, religion, region, and class apart from one narrow escape from social schism in the mid-nineteenth century (Graham, 1998). The country has been and continues to be divided, even along the important lines of race, ethnicity, and culture, but what difference does it make? In response to this, one hears a catalog of worries that the new immigration is making differences that citizens who love this society do not want and should resist. There is an instinct to place the labels ‘‘exaggerated’’ or ‘‘unworthy’’ on concerns from this quarter. But a society that ignores them all is not only unresponsive to its citizens, but may be a helpless
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witness, even accomplice, to the erosion rather than the desirable augmentation of its cultural inheritance, perhaps jeopardizing those priceless things we so take for granted – social cohesion and comity, the grounds of a successful pluralism. The role of those privileged with leadership is, at the least, to listen carefully. In political life, certain worries are occasionally sensationalized. We hear of a border that is porous to entering terrorists, drug trafficking, and crime, as well as to any alien who can walk. There is little good data, but there is talk, of the public health implications of a large flow of unexamined people carrying diseases long since controlled in the United States. There is discussion of the mounting evidence that the host society cannot absorb, or at least is not absorbing, enormous numbers of immigrants on terms of mutual benefit. The schools, whose rate of success with the English-speaking children born to American citizens has lately been seen to falter (Basken, 2006), face staggering additional difficulties in their task of educating the non-English-speaking children arriving at their doors, especially those from families without legal permanency. In the complex literature on educational achievement and the links to social mobility, the failure of schools with Hispanic children cannot be disguised. In a report of the National Commission for Employment Policy, ‘‘Hispanics and Jobs,’’ 40 percent of Hispanics are reported as having difficulty in English. Most do not finish the twelve-year school sequence, and the dropout rate among Hispanics of the age when high school should have been completed was 1.5 times that of blacks and three times that of whites. Fig. 1 and Table 4 explicate this rate. Such evidence in Fig. 1 and Table 4 expose a social segmentation that reflects both class and ethnic disadvantage. While the school systems may be ‘‘local,’’ the social problems they encounter and are finding so obdurate are national problems. Joined to these concerns, which are linked in one way or another to large-scale immigration, are others: strains on public facilities for social services and recreation, as well as housing, and, by historic standards, high levels of inter-group tensions and conflicts. All of these problems resist, or do not adequately receive, measured and reasoned assessment. What it means to be an American has never been agreed upon, but the discussion itself is a valuable part of our common life. There is broad agreement that it begins with command of the English language, and with an acceptance of political democracy and the rule of law. Its measures are thought to be full participation in economic and political life, social mobility and patriotic acceptance of the obligations of citizenship.
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The Cost of Education for Some: Educating Illegals in the U.S. Percent 50 40 Hispanic 30 Black 20 Total 10
White
0 1972
1976
1980
1984
1988 Year
1992
1996
2000 2002
Fig. 1. Status Dropout Rates of 16–24-Year-Olds, by Race/Ethnicity: 1972–2002. Note: The Status Dropout Rate Reported in this Indicator is One of a Number of Rates Reporting on High School Dropout and Completion Behavior in the United States. Source: Status Dropouts Chart from U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2005). The Condition of Education, NCES 2005-094. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
This discussion only hints at the complexity of that vital engine of national cohesion, justice, and individual opportunity – the assimilation process; but that America is gone. We are predominantly and increasingly a service-based economy, de-industrializing at least as measured by employment, and de-concentrating both population and jobs out of the older urban cores. Two implications flow from these structural changes. Consensus may not be reached upon the best private and public measures to adopt in adjusting to an altered world economy, but it is quite clear that we are in a new and lasting era of international industrial competition. America’s economic future depends upon adaptation, and, if it is to retain a substantial industrial capacity, it must be through a shift toward those knowledgeintensive sectors in both manufacturing and services, leaving many of the low-wage, mass production industries to take root abroad. This will require a labor force of high educational and skill levels and aspirations; it does not imply a larger labor force, and certainly not one recruited primarily from the mass populations of the developing world. At this historical moment in time when the nation is forced toward structural changes, cities have lost their earlier function as industrial engines
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Table 4. Characteristic
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Status Dropout Rates, Number, and Percentage Distribution of Dropouts Ages 16–24, by Selected Characteristics. Status Dropout Rate (Percent)
Number of Status Dropouts (Thousands)
Population (Thousands)
Percent of All Dropouts
Percent of Population
10.5
3,721
35,495
100.0
100.0
Sex Male 11.8 2,108 17,893 56.7 Female 9.2 1,612 17,602 43.3 a Race/ethnicity Asian/Pacific 3.9 65 1,652 1.7 Islander Black 11.3 564 4,991 15.1 White 6.5 1,457 22,358 39.2 Hispanic 25.7 1,572 6,120 42.3 Age 16 3.1 125 4,072 3.4 17 5.4 221 4,056 5.9 18 10.3 417 4,031 11.2 19 12.1 467 3,876 12.6 20–24 12.8 2,491 19,461 66.9 Immigration status Born outside the 50 states and the District of Columbia Hispanic 41.4 1,127 2,721 30.3 Non-Hispanic 5.3 113 2,107 3.0 First generationb Hispanic 14.4 284 1,978 7.6 Non-Hispanic 3.5 69 1,997 1.9 Second generation or morec Hispanic 11.3 160 1,421 4.3 Non-Hispanic 7.8 1,967 25,272 52.9
50.4 49.6 4.7 14.1 63.0 17.2 11.5 11.4 11.4 10.9 54.8 7.7 5.9 5.6 5.6 4.0 71.2
Note: The status dropout rate indicates the percentage of 16–24-year-olds who are not enrolled in high school and who lack a high school credential relative to all 16–24-year-olds. High school credential includes a high school diploma or equivalent credential such as a GED. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. Source: Table 19-2 from U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics (2005). The Condition of Education 2005, NCES 2005-094, Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. a Due to small sample sizes, American Indians/Alaska Natives are included in the total but are not shown separately. Black includes African American and Hispanic includes Latino. Race categories exclude Hispanic origin unless specified. b Individuals defined as ‘‘first generation’’ were born in the 50 states or the District of Columbia, and one or both of their parents were born outside the 50 states or the District of Columbia. c Individuals defined as ‘‘second generation or more’’ were born in the 50 states or the District of Columbia, as were both of their parents.
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of assimilation. Factory and blue-collar jobs have slipped away, employment patterns have shifted to knowledge-intensive services, the white and small minority middle class has moved to the periphery, leaving behind lowincome minorities and the old, facing a huge gap between existing job opportunities and the skill levels of this disadvantaged population. There is an economic and social function for America’s cities, and some are struggling toward new forms more rapidly than others; but the contemporary city cannot perform the function it served in the era of mass immigration which coincided with our industrialization a hundred years ago. There are great changes in the U.S. economic base and in the function of industrial cities. Nonetheless, immigration still delivers to America a similar input as it did eighty to a hundred years ago – a million or more a year from countries basically poor, less developed and culturally very different from the nation’s current majority and its heritage. While many institutions contribute to the assimilation process, we can no longer count upon Frederick Jackson Turner’s democratizing frontier6, or the robust industrial cities that formerly heated the melting pot. The national economy is normally a force for social interchange, the acquisition of national norms and English language skills. But here we encounter the first of many signs that the assimilation process is becoming impaired. There seems to be a spread of ethnically secluded work sites, entire assembly lines in auto plants where only Arabic is spoken, and entire job sites and industries in the Southwest that have become exclusively Hispanic-fruit and vegetable agriculture, parts of construction, ethnic-owned restaurants and other businesses, janitorial firms, food and poultry processing plants, race tracks. For the first time in U.S. history, a majority of migrants speak just one language – Spanish – and most of them live in ethnic enclaves served by radio and television stations carrying the messages of American advertising as well as all other communication in Spanish. In such settings the assimilative impulses of the national economy have a fainter influence. Institutions shouldering the assimilative role appear also to be losing vitality or effect. It has already been noted that some aspects of what many see as the faltering ability of the public schools to convey to non-Englishspeaking children (in truth, to a lesser extent, also for all children) the language and other educational attainments required for social success. Even where the schools are effective, it is well known that curricula have in recent years been drained of their attention to American and Western history and culture. A subtle but far reaching shift in values over many decades seems to have carried the majority culture into a zone of self-doubt, leading to the operating conclusion that the new and desirable appreciation
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in the United States of non-Western cultural backgrounds rules out any publicly sponsored cultural reaffirmation of the nation’s originating inheritance as derived chiefly from Western Europe and in the English language. The most striking new feature of our circumstances is, of course, the physical proximity across a 2,000-mile land border of Mexico, the state at the northern tier of a Latin America experiencing rapid population growth within economies in varying degrees of difficulty. In the more than three centuries of immigration which built the current United States there has never been such a circumstance where immigrants in mass numbers arrived from a society to which they could continually return for cultural reinforcement by the mere turn of a dial or by the briefest land journey. As prophesized by economist, Philip Martin (1985): If the immigration status quo persists, the U.S. will develop a more unequal society with troublesome separations . . . the California work force will be mostly immigrants or their descendants . . . These working immigrants, mostly nonwhite, will be supporting mostly white pensioners with their payroll contributions. Is American society resilient enough to handle the resulting tensions?
In short, the objective fact of comparative advantage regarding international trade, i.e., free versus fair trade, is on balance, good for average Americans according to most economists. What moves the American public is a very different position on the topic of immigration. Geoffrey Garrett, president of the Pacific Council on International Policy and professor at the University of Southern California, states that there are two fundamental realities about the views of average Americans on the subject of immigration. First, the typical American believes that creating a path to legal status for people who entered the country illegally contravenes the country’s core values of justice and fairness. Second, they believe that Latino immigrants are undermining the American dream (Garrett, 2007). In the context of post 9/11, Americans feel insecure about their lives and immigration is the human face of what they worry most about – terrorism and globalization. Tougher immigration rules and an increase in enforcement of them serves the need for a quick, tangible answer to their fears (Garrett, 2007).
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS This chapter has presented a review of what is currently known regarding undocumented immigrant students in the United States, situated within a
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historical and a global context. Clearly, undocumented immigration is a heated issue, and the debate becomes even more heated when it relates to children and schools. Emotion and personal opinions aside, an economic perspective is important within this debate, as it can shed light on the exact costs and benefits of educating these children. Unfortunately, the data available to perform such an analysis is limited. There is a clear need for further research related to the education of undocumented students. More precise estimates as to the actual numbers of these students currently in schools are necessary to accurately estimate their effects on the education system. From an economic perspective, cost data must be analyzed so as to provide more useful breakdowns of the costs these students place on educational systems. It is crucial that data on the benefits of educating these students is estimated so that a realistic cost–benefit analysis can be performed. From an educational standpoint, educators must carefully consider how best to address the issues and challenges that confront these students. Systems must be designed so that the costs do not outweigh the benefits of educating them nor do they impinge on the education of other students. Legally, school-aged undocumented immigrants cannot be denied an education; this battle has been won at a federal level. The challenge now is to focus on the condition of those students who successfully complete primary and secondary educations and aspire to further study. Much work remains to be done in defining the options available to these students, and in analyzing the cost–benefits of enabling them to continue their studies and become more fully productive members of the country in which they reside. Several clear recommendations can be made based on the available literature related to undocumented immigrant students. Firstly, it is important to note that any policy recommendations related to immigration must be assessed critically as many are proposed not on the basis of sound fact, but are instead based on emotional reactions to the issue. Secondly, immigration is a complicated issue with diverse facets and stakeholders. Thirdly, reforms that target any of the diverse issues related to immigration will have ripple effects on others; any reform in the educational arena will not be isolated but will affect reforms in other aspects of immigration. This is important to note because education reforms are thus tied also to public opinion, and it is largely public opinion that dictates what reforms will be accepted. Lastly, it is recommended that a legal avenue be created which would allow qualified undocumented students attain legal status; the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (‘‘DREAM’’) and the Student
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Adjustment Acts are such reforms that are currently under consideration. Legal reform is recommended as the only avenue through which American society can truly benefit from the public education it is already providing to these students and as the only route through which these students can hope to become fully productive members of the country in which they live. Without some legal reform, U.S. citizens will continue to spend their tax dollars on education for individuals from whom they arguably will never have the opportunity to see a return. There are millions of undocumented immigrant children in the U.S. today, and the number is increasing daily. They are not ‘‘going home’’ but rather are here to stay. These are facts that are not under dispute. The Supreme Court has mandated that we provide these students with a free K12 education like any other. Beyond that, the futures of these students currently remain tied to the decision their parents made when they brought them here. The key determination to be made is whether educating these students further and allowing them the opportunity to become legal, fully productive members of society is worth not only the economic cost, but also the philosophical cost of providing a legal avenue to higher education for those who arrive here illegally. Conversely, one could approach the issue with the question: what is the cost of not educating these children? As Justice Burger wrote, ‘‘[a]part from compassionate considerations, the long-range costs of excluding any children from the public schools may well outweigh the costs of educating them’’ (Plyler v. Doe dissenting opinion, 1982). The same may hold true for higher education. Based on available information and data about providing illegals access to publicly funded education, it was reported in this chapter that analysts approach the issue from the perspective of the costs associated with such provisions. Emotion, culture, and xenophobia aside, it is interesting to note that aside from Justice Brennan, no one seems to view the issue from the point of costs associated with NOT educating this particular group. There is general agreement that the fiscal impact of immigration (legal or illegal) depends largely on the education level of the immigrants in question. Immigrants with a lot of education pay more in taxes than they use in services, while those with little education tend to have low incomes, pay relatively little in taxes and often use a higher percentage of public services. In the case of illegal aliens, the vast majority have little education, and this is the key reason they create fiscal costs, according to conservative groups such as the Federation of American Immigration Reform. While such groups believe the costs associated with illegal immigration in areas like public education, are difficult to avoid if illegals are allowed to stay, we have a
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utilitarian obligation to provide such benefits to offset the egregious costs to society for not providing such services – cost such as increased use of other public services and an increase in crime. Camarota (2006a, 2006b, p. 2) states: ‘‘as a matter of policy, either we enforce the law and make the illegals go home or stop complaining about the costs.’’ Why not do the right thing which is all the above rather than either/or – secure the borders, enforce immigration law, and stop complaining about the costs? ‘‘We’re a better country than to punish children for what their parents did.’’7 Based on the discussion of cost–benefit analysis, specific research questions still need to be addressed. First, is there empirical evidence associated with educational input and educational access or attainment of undocumented students? Second, what are the cost ingredients? Third, how much are the total costs and benefits? Fourth, what are the cost–benefits ratio and their implications for policy making? Through these questions, we can begin to close the research gap.
NOTES 1. Antonovich, Michael D. – L.A. County Supervisor, 5th Dist. Prepared remarks February 1994 http://www.fdrs.org/immigration_quotations.html 2. Stewart, David W. (March 1993). Immigration and Education: The Crisis and the Opportunities. http://www.fairus.org/site/PageServer?pagename ¼ research_ researche535 3. Unless otherwise noted, material for this section is derived from and available at: http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/FTrials/conlaw/plyler.html 4. See U.S. Department of Education, The Student Guide: Financial Aid from the U.S. Department of Education which requires proof of U.S. citizenship or eligible noncitizens, i.e., certain legal permanent residents, for purposes of receiving federal financial aid. 5. Dream Act, S. 1545, 108th Congress (2003); Student Adjustment Act of 2003, H.R. 1684, 108th Congress (2003); Preserving Educational Opportunities for Immigrant Children Act of 2003, H.R. 84, 108th Congress (2003); Educational Excellence for All Learners Act of 2003, S. 8, 108th Congress (2003). These Acts have passed their respective committees, but are all part of other, larger pieces of legislation and thus, are continuously being reintroduced. 6. Turner’s contribution to American history was to argue that the frontier past best explained the distinctive history of the United States. He most cogently articulated this idea in ‘‘The Significance of the Frontier in American History,’’ which he first delivered to a gathering of historians in 1893 at Chicago. Although almost totally ignored at the time, Turner’s lecture eventually gained such wide distribution and influence that it has been labeled as the single most influential piece of writing in the history of American history.
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7. Presidential candidate, Mr. Huckabee during November, 2007, Republican presidential debate (Hebel, 2007).
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This chapter would not have been possible without the support and comments of individuals, such as: Drs. Simona Popa and Kristen Betts. In particular, gratitude goes to Maggie Hadinger for her invaluable assistance with researching and contributing to the economic cost–benefit analysis.
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Riordan, C. (2004). Equality and achievement (2nd ed.). New Jersey: Pearson Education. Robertson, S. (2007): Globalization, Education Governance and Citizenship Regimes: New Democratic Deficits and Social Injustices. Research Paper. University of Bristol: Centre for Globalization, Education and Societies. Rumbaut, R. (1996). The new Californians: Assessing the educational progress of children of immigrants. CPS Brief, 8(3)San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. 1 (1973). Schmidley, D. (2003). The foreign-born population in the United States: March 2002. Current Population Reports, P20–539. Washington, DC: U.S. Census Bureau. Sifuentes, E. (2006). Researchers disagree on illegal immigrant cost-benefit analysis (Available at: http://www.nctimes.com). Smith, J., & Edmonston, B. (Eds). (1997). The new Americans: Economic, demographic, and fiscal effects of immigration. Panel on the Demographic and Economic Impacts of Immigration, Committee on Population, and Committee on National Statistics. Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. National Research Council. Washington, DC. Stein, An. (2004). Tuition bill would hurt Maryland students. Baltimore Sun. Available at: http:// www.fairus.org/Media/Media.cfm?ID-412&c ¼ 35 Stevenson, A. (2004). Dreaming of an equal future for immigrant children: Federal and state initiatives to improve undocumented students’ access to postsecondary education. Arizona Law Review, 46(15), 551–554. Sua´rez-Orozco, C. (2000). Identities under siege: Immigration stress and social mirroring among the children of immigrants. In: A. Robben & M. Sua´rez-Orozco (Eds), Cultures under siege: Social violence and trauma. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 10 June 2007 from http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/immigration/pdf/siege.pdf Sua´rez-Orozco, C., & Sua´rez-Orozco, M. (1995). Transformations: Immigration, family life, and achievement motivation among Latino adolescents. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. Sua´rez-Orozco, C., & Sua´rez-Orozco, M. (2001). Children of immigration. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Sua´rez-Orozco, C., & Sua´rez-Orozco, M. (2006). Moving stories: The educational pathways of immigrant youth. Invited Address to the Ask with Education Forum (in conjunction with The Achievement Gap Initiative) Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. Sutherland, H. (2003). Plyler vs. Doe: The solution (Available at: http://www.vdare.com/ sutherland/the_solution.htm). United Nations, Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs. (2002). International Migration, 2002. New York. Retrieved 25 May 2007 from http:// www.un.org/esa/population/publications/ittmig2002/press-release-eng.htm United States General Accounting Office (GAO). (2004). Illegal alien schoolchildren: Issues in estimating state-by-state costs. Report to the Chairman, Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives. Retrieved 20 May 2007 from http://www.migrationinformation.org/Feature/print.cfm?ID ¼ 396 United States Immigrant and Naturalization Service (U.S. INS). (1999). Annual Report 1999, Washington, DC. Zuckerbrod, N. (2007). Illegal students await immigration plan (Retrieved 3 June 2007 from http:// news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070603/ap_on_go_co/immigration_students). Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
THE EFFECTS OF THE NEO-LIBERAL AGENDA ON EDUCATION IN SOME AFRICAN COUNTRIES Birgit Brock-Utne INTRODUCTION Through political decisions – in the North mostly willed decisions, in the South decisions forced on them by monetary institutions in the North – governments have dismantled national controls with capital movements, profits and foreign investments. By this willed or enforced political choice – the consequences of which has seldom been spelled out to the electorates – political leaders have removed those legal and administrative tools which might have protected local economic and social systems. Directed by Western interests the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have used and continue to use their creditor powers to pressure first the poor debtor countries of the South and then the collapsing members of the former Soviet Union to turn their own battered economies into the same kind of unrestricted markets. Last but not the least the World Trade Organization (WTO) has become a vehicle for assuring that practically the whole world is opened for the unhindered operations of private capital. This ideology,
Power, Voice and the Public Good: Schooling and Education in Global Societies Advances in Education in Diverse Communities: Research Policy and Praxis, Volume 6, 91–116 Copyright r 2008 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited All rights of reproduction in any form reserved ISSN: 1479-358X/doi:10.1016/S1479-358X(08)06004-X
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which I here term globalization, leads to a democratic deficit, increases income differences and forces new groups into poverty. Using their power within institutions like the WTO, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank the capitalist countries of the North have been able to pressure the debt-ridden countries of the South into various types of structural adjustment policies denoting a weakening of the state and the encouragement of market-driven forces. The adoption of such policies has been put up as a conditionality when the developing countries have had to ask for a rescheduling of their debt. Within the education sector this ideology leads to building down public education, to privatization of schooling, liberalization of the text-book market and to strengthening of English, the language of globalization. In this chapter examples of the effects of the so-called cost-sharing and privatization policies within education in Africa will be given. Examples will mostly be taken from Tanzania, Ghana, Ethiopia and Uganda. We shall note how the privatization policies go hand-in-hand with the strengthening of English in these countries.
PRIVATIZATION OF EDUCATION AND COST-SHARING Anyone interested in studying the pressure put on African countries to follow the neo-liberal agenda entailing reduced government spending, privatization and liberalization has to study the World Bank (1988) document called Education Policies for Sub-Saharan Africa (EPSSA). Here concepts like cost-sharing (having the poor pay for an education which was earlier provided by the state) and diversification of education (opening up for market-driven forces and privatization) are key-concepts (Brock-Utne, 2000). The document follows the structural policies of the World Bank. The neo-liberal agenda outlined here has since that time been followed up in all other important policy documents whether called Education for All (EFA), Fast Track Initiative (FTI) or Poverty-Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP). The EFA principles have been worked out in two large donor-initiated international conferences, one in Jomtien in Thailand in 1990 (Brock-Utne, 2000) and the other one in Dakar, Senegal in 2000. The aim seems to have been to have donors and developing countries invest more in primary education. In 2002 the World Bank launched the FTI to help countries reach certain targets when it came to the EFA policies (Vestbø, 2006).
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Neither the EFA declarations nor the document around FTI pay any attention to the language in which children are to be educated, a point to which I shall return. In September 1999, the World Bank announced that governments hoping to receive loans, development assistance or reduction of their debt had to develop PRSPs. The blueprint given for writing these PRSP is held within the same neo-liberal ideology which one finds in the structural adjustment programs. Norway has demanded of Tanzania and Mozambique, which are the main partner countries of Norway in Africa that they write PRSPs and participate in the harmonized PRSP processes (Hole, Jones, & Klyve, 2005). A group of Swedish NGOs has made a criticism of the PRSP strategy called: Reducing poverty or repeating mistakes?1 The group criticizes the neo-liberal ideology of the PRSP leading to cuts in government expenditure, liberalization and privatization. Apart from this criticism, the Swedish critics also comment the language which is being used in the local hearings on the poverty-reduction strategies. They maintain that a democratic participation can be ruled out if the deliberations around PRSP take place in a language people do not normally use. In countries like Nicaragua and Cambodia the PRSPs were first written in English, in spite of the fact that that language is not even the official language of the governments. In Cambodia this resulted in the plans being analyzed and discussed among foreign consultants while most Cambodians (including the program officers in the Ministries) were totally unable to understand the documents, let alone discuss them. In EPSSA the World Bank voices the opinion that a revitalization of education in Africa and a selective expansion (which to them primarily means increased enrollment of primary school pupils and a restoration of ‘‘quality in education’’) cannot take place without major structural adjustments in the way education has been financed in most African countries. These adjustments represented, when they were introduced, major breaks with the policies of most African countries. These countries have wanted to look at education as a social service and a right for all people and have wanted to use education to eliminate regional and class differences instead of creating or increasing such differences. In line with neo-liberal thinking the authors of EPSSA advocate the establishment of more private schools at the primary and secondary levels, a policy which creates a dual school – system, in which the powerful elites have their children in private schools where classes are small, teachers have good salaries and there is plenty of instructional materials while the public, governmentfinanced schools continue to be poorly financed and overcrowded, teachers poorly paid and learning material in great demand.
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The policy called by the innocent name ‘‘cost-sharing,’’ under which parents/families are required to pay fees when their children are in school, will have many of the same undesirable effects as the creation of private schooling. This fact is partly acknowledged in EPSSA but the introduction of the policy is still advocated: ‘‘It is probably inevitable that parents’ contribution to the costs of primary education, and particularly secondary education, will increase, despite very real concerns about the impact of this on overall equity and efficiency’’ (World Bank, 1988, p. 95). Why is it ‘‘probably inevitable’’? Is there anything the powerful industrialized countries of the North, with all their wealth and international agencies like the World Bank and the IMF, could do to prevent the pessimistic trend away from a policy of equity to one of survival of the fittest? The countries of the North could cancel all debts, could allow the developing countries to protect their own markets and create more equal and fair terms of trade.2 The cost-sharing policy entails the use of fees, having parents pay for instructional materials and university students pay their own living expenses, and a shift from boarding schools to day-schools. Such measures are likely to increase social inequities, regional inequalities and inequalities between sexes. The World Bank seems to be aware of this fact and offers the following suggestion: Governments can reduce the private costs of girls’ education relative to boys’ by, for example, providing girls with free books and other instructional materials, charging them with lower tuition fees, or recovering less of the cost of boarding and welfare services from girls’ families than from boys’. (World Bank, 1988, p. 85)
It can be done, but will it be done, especially when governments are being urged/forced to cut back on public expenditures as part of structural adjustment programs? When the World Bank advocates a shift from boarding schools to day-schools, it argues that living expenses should be carried by parents. It is said that these expenses do not belong to the education sector since they are expenses which would have had to be met by the students or their parents had they not gone to school. Yes, but in that case the students would have been working instead! This argument is not taken into account. A study in Tanzania by George Malekela (1983) has shown that students, and especially girls, do much better in boarding school than in day-schools. When in boarding school they have more time to study since they do not have to do so many household chores. They have light so they can study at night and have enough food to eat. Schooling will always have to be paid for and is never ‘‘free.’’ The question is: Who should pay for the education? If schooling is ‘‘free’’ for
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students, all taxpayers pay for schooling. Those who earn most, and often have the fewest school children, pay the most.3 Free schooling becomes an equity measure and a way of redistributing a society’s resources from the richer to the poorer. The reintroduction of school fees and so-called costsharing measures mean that the poor parents, who often have many children, have to bear a disproportionate share of the burden of their education. Often they will not be able to do so, and greater inequities will occur, both because some children will not be able to attend school and because the resources available in school will vary greatly depending on local community wealth levels. An example from Tanzania illustrates what happens with equity between social classes and between boys and girls when school fees are reintroduced. The pressure on the Tanzanian government by the IMF/the World Bank and bilateral donors to reintroduce school fees, liberalize the text-book sector and open up for private primary schools started in the mid-1980s.
EFFECTS OF THE REINTRODUCTION OF SCHOOL FEES IN TANZANIA During the colonial period the issue of school fees was one of the issues in Tanzania around which mass discontent was mobilized against the colonial authorities. To provide equal access to secondary schooling in Tanzania, school fees were abolished in 1964. Primary school fees remained until 1973 as they were considered minimal compared to secondary school fees. They were, however, abolished in 1973 (Galabawa, 1990). The abolition of school fees was one of the measures to ensure the legitimacy of the post-colonial state. Universal access to education is being undermined by the reintroduction of school fees. On the advice of the World Bank and the IMF primary school fees were restored in Tanzania in 1984 as a development levy.4 Tuition fees were introduced at the secondary level in 1985 (Samoff & Sumra, 1992). The reintroduction of school fees in Tanzania has been received as an extremely unpopular measure by the Tanzanian population. The heated debates in Parliament and the pronounced discontent of parents and students at the raising of the secondary school fees is an indication of such discontent. Difficulty in payment of school fees is a gender issue as well as a class issue. Suleman Sumra and Naomi Katunzi (1991) found that the
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reintroduction of school fees in secondary schools affected girls more than boys, and girls from the middle and lower classes much more than girls from the upper classes. The table below shows the results for children from less well-to-do homes.5 Students from:
Middle class families Lower class families
Percentage of Students Reporting Difficulties in Paying School Fees Girls
Boys
20.6 53
12.1 30.3
Source: Sumra and Katunzi (1991).
If students come to school without fees having been paid, they are sent home. In Handeni Secondary School, of the students not reporting during the first week, 68% were girls, and of those who were sent away, 80% were girls (Sumra & Katunzi, 1991, p. 27). As one girl stated: I have been sent home three times, twice this year. Last year I was sent away once. This year when I went to collect money, my father informed me that the money was spent to pay my mother’s hospital bill. My brother was given the fees first and I was asked to wait till my father could sell his coffee again. (quoted in Sumra & Katunzi, 1991, p. 27)
While students are looking for school fees, the lessons continue at school. Here is an excerpt from an interview with another secondary school student in Tanzania. I remain behind my colleagues because I waste lot of time going back home to collect school fees. Teachers are unwilling to offer compensatory classes. I copy notes from my friends without understanding what they mean. (Sumra & Katunzi, 1991, p. 27)
The nice words in the World Declaration on EFA (WDEFA, 1990) about ‘‘promoting equal opportunities in all aspects of the lives’’ of girls and women (here especially pertaining to education) are of little value if the reintroduction of school fees forces parents to choose whether the little money available will be used for educating a boy or a girl. The hope expressed in the Jomtien conference on EFA by the year 2000 could not be achieved when schooling was combined with so-called
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cost-sharing measures and the use of school fees. The delegation of the responsibility for funding to the communities, the so-called decentralization will often mean that poor communities will not be able to fund much education for their children. In an analysis of national and regional enrollment trends in primary education in Tanzania, Suleman Sumra (1994), then the director of the Bureau of Educational Research and Evaluation (BERE) at the University of Dar es Salaam, showed how the delegation of responsibilities for primary education to the Ministry of Local Government (MLG) had created serious problems. Most district councils simply do not have resources to adequately deal with the rapidly expanding demands for primary education in the country. On the basis of his research, he drew the conclusion that the responsibility for providing quality basic education should rest with the central government. The market philosophy associated with structural adjustment, under the powerful auspices of the IMF and the World Bank, led to the introduction of user-fees for schools in most adjusting countries. An analysis of a sample of World Bank loans showed that introducing or raising various educational charges was a conditionality of about one-third of World Bank Education Sector loans (Stevenson, 1991). Primary school fees were introduced in Malawi, Zaire, Mali and Nigeria, in each case followed by reduced school attendance (Stewart, 1996). Pressure on the Tanzanian government to liberalize primary education led to the Education Amendment Act no. 10 of 1995 (URT, 1995). This act paved the way for the establishment of private primary schools. Prior to this amendment, all non-government schools had been required to provide technical education. This had automatically excluded the establishment of private primary schools. The Education and Training Policy of 1995 stipulated that all levels of education were open to private actors.
Cost-Sharing and Privatization of the University Sector in Africa When I in the late 1980s discussed with my colleagues6 in Tanzania, Zambia and Malawi the suggestion put forward in the EPSSA of having students pay part of the expenses for university studies, I found that opinions varied. Some said that some time in the future students should have to pay their living expenses while studying, for instance, by getting student loans which they would have to pay back. EPSSA advocates the use of loan schemes. Such schemes, however, have been tried in many places in Sub-Saharan Africa but these schemes have run up against enormous problems, including
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the high cost of getting former students to repay the loans (Maliyamkono, 1987, p. 7). Keith Watson (1996) points to the fact that student loans have been notoriously difficult to recoup because of administrative inefficiency and mentions that while Sweden has a loss rate of 30%, Kenya has a staggering 103% loss rate (his figures are taken from the World Bank, 1995, p. 108). I fully agree with Keith Watson’s analysis of cost-sharing schemes advocated by the World Bank. He concludes: ‘‘By encouraging fee paying as a contribution at least for secondary and tertiary levels the Bank is actually favoring the better off ’’ (Watson, 1996, p. 55).7 Even though opinions were divided when I discussed cost-sharing measures with colleagues at the Universities of Zambia, Malawi and Dar es Salaam and discussions were heated both among students, university teachers and administrators, they all seem to agree on one point: their right to decide their educational policies themselves through their own internal debates. For instance they felt that it was very humiliating when the University of Malawi was forced by the World Bank in 1987 to reduce the book allowance given to students – as a condition for receiving World Bank loans to the primary school sector.8 In an evaluation of the outcomes of the 1990 EFA conference in Jomtien from an African perspective, Aime´ Damiba (1991, p. 11), then the program specialist in education and planning in UNESCOs regional office in Dakar, Senegal concluded: We must avoid the danger of limiting ourselves to basic education and neglecting high level manpower training and research. It is not possible to solve the problems of Education for All without a national pool of expertise and without an indigenous capacity for research.
Yet many officials of third world countries interpreted the outcomes of the Jomtien conference as a wish from the donor community to limit their own renewed effort within the education sector to primary education and to tell developing countries to do the same. On hindsight we can see that their interpretation, unfortunately, was correct.9 Four years after the Jomtien conference the World Bank (1994) published the policy paper Higher Education: The Lessons of Experience. It is worth mentioning that of the 152 bibliographic references mentioned in the back of the 1994 World Bank paper only 32 (21%) are not World Bank publications or publications of Bank staff. This fact leads one to question whose experience is meant by the subtitle ‘‘The Lessons of Experience’’? The World Bank is writing about their experience or rather
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their policy for Higher Education in developing countries. Fernando Reimers (1995) is struck by the fact that even UNESCOs 1993 policy paper Strategies for Change and Development in Higher Education is not mentioned as a publication from which to draw lessons of experience. Nor are any of the many important publications from the Eastern and Southern Africa University Research Project (ESAURP), written by African university people. I have elsewhere analyzed the 1994 World Bank paper on higher education and found that it is not a paper in defense of the higher education sector (Brock-Utne, 2003). On the contrary, it follows up the strong signals given in the EPSSA report of 1988. The proposed stagnation of higher education, which can be found in the EPSSA paper, is also a prominent feature of the higher education paper of 1994. The safeguards that people from the South thought they had managed to get into the Jomtien declaration do not seem to have had much effect on the World Bank’s position in 1994. In the EPSSA study the focus on higher education was principally on the public university sector, whereas in 1994 one of the main themes was that there should be diversification of higher education with attention to the whole range of private sector and non-university institutions. The neo-liberal agenda is even stronger in the 1994 paper than in the 1988 paper. Akilagpa Sawyerr (2002), the Secretary General of the Association of African Universities and former Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, voices a similar concern. He notes that the underfunding of the African universities along with the market-driven globalization and the neo-liberal agenda put in place in the mid-1980s have seriously affected the independent and critical research at the African universities. It is worth mentioning that at a meeting with African vice-chancellors in Harare in 1986, the World Bank argued that higher education in Africa was a luxury. Most African countries were, according to the World Bank, better off closing universities at home and training graduates overseas. Recognizing that its call for a closure of universities was politically unsustainable, the Bank subsequently modified its agenda, calling for universities in Africa to be trimmed and restructured to produce only those skills which the ‘‘market’’ demands. Such was its agenda for university restructuring in, for instance, Nigeria, in the late 1980s (Mamdani, 1993). Isahaku Sadique (1995), through his analysis of the World Bank’s involvement in the university sector in Nigeria, concludes that the World Bank still sees university education for Africans as a luxury. He also shows how the Bank obliged the National University Commission (NUC) ‘‘to reallocate
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resources in order to shift emphasis from arts and humanities to science, engineering, and accountancy’’ (Sadique, 1995, p. 130). In the immediate post-independence years, the small numbers enrolled in Africa’s universities tended to be drawn from different social classes and all parts of the country. Sawyerr (2002) notes that while it was never a case of equitable representation from all parts and segments, the source of supply was sufficiently broad for secondary schools and universities to play a role in establishing the beginnings of a truly national elite, an elite with some representation from the different segments of society.10 He refers to recent studies which suggest that, despite explicit policy and much rhetoric on equitable access to education at all levels, the sources of recruitment into university have become even narrower during the last decade.11
INCREASED SUPPORT TO THE UNIVERSITY SECTOR IN AFRICA FROM A NON-APOLOGETIC BANK Within the last few years the specific problems of African higher education have begun to engage serious attention, both within Africa and within the donor community. The external agencies have done some re-thinking and now acknowledge the importance of higher education within the educational sector as a whole, recognize that the rate of return analysis partly responsible for the emphasis on primary education was inappropriately used and pay some attention to the ‘‘public good’’ contribution of higher education. The World Bank remains the World Bank, and it rarely apologizes or acknowledges a mistake,12 but two documents in this millennium show a shift in emphasis. The authors of the first publication, the one called Higher Education in Developing Countries: Peril and Promise, are members of the Task Force on Higher Education and Society (World Bank, 2000). The Task force is a body of experts from 13 countries convened by the World Bank and UNESCO to explore the future of higher education in the developing world. The second publication is called: Constructing Knowledge – Challenges for Tertiary Education (World Bank, 2002). After having pressured developing countries as well as the donor community for at least a decade to cut down on higher education and give priority to primary education, the World Bank now realizes that higher education is
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essential for the survival of a nation. In the words of Henry Rosovsky, Professor Emeritus, Harvard University and Co-Chair of the Task Force on Higher Education and Society: Higher education is the modern world’s ‘‘basic education,’’ but developing countries are falling further and further behind. It’s time to drive home a new message: higher education is no longer a luxury, it is essential to survival.’’ (World Bank, 2000)
So the new millennium started with new World Bank loans for the development of higher education in Africa. Apart from these new loans agencies have again been encouraged to give aid to tertiary education in Africa. Sawyerr (2002) mentions the agreement in April 2000 of the Presidents of four American Foundations (Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Ford Foundation, the John D and Catherine T MacArthur Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation) to constitute a ‘‘Partnership to Strengthen African Universities.’’ While the World Bank has come to realize that the African universities are essential for the development of Africa, it has, however, not changed its neo-liberal agenda or its belief that growth will reduce poverty. The argument is now that ‘‘strengthening the capacity of tertiary education institutions to respond flexibly to the new demands of knowledge societies will increase their contribution to poverty reduction through the long-term economic effects and the associated welfare benefits that come from sustained growth’’ (World Bank, 2002, p. xxxi). Now also tertiary education is given the job of reducing or alleviating poverty. In the EFA conference in Dakar in 2000 primary education was given that job. I agree with Rosa Maria Torres (2001, p. 10) who after the Dakar conference wrote: The ‘‘poverty alleviation’’ discourse continues to be repeated over and over again, while in this very decade we reached a point where we need to ask ourselves whether the problem is to improve education in order to alleviate poverty or rather to alleviate poverty in order to improve education and, moreover, to make education and learning possible. Trust is still placed in economic growth as the solution to social equity, while what was reaffirmed in this decade is that growth is not enough, wealth is becoming ever more concentrated in a few hands. (Torres, 2001, p. 10)
Rather than economic growth we need a redistribution of resources. Rather than a reliance on the market, we need to formulate and agree on national aims and plan the economy to fit these aims. The so-called Makerere miracle in Uganda, as I illustrate in the following section, shows well what happens to a university in a poor country when it becomes
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governed by the market rather than according to national plans for the development of the country.
THE COSTS OF THE MAKERERE MIRACLE Because of deteriorating terms of trade and high costs of debt servicing the Government of Uganda did not have the funds to cover the demand for higher education. It bought into the solution which comes with the neoliberal agenda: Make education a commodity, sell what can be sold, privatize what can be privatized. The analysis of what happened at Makerere is interesting for two reasons: The restoration of the university that had almost fallen to pieces to a functioning institution and the way this was achieved is looked at as a ‘‘miracle’’ and a success story by the Task Force authors and many donors. Sawyerr (2002 drawing extensively on Musisi & Muwanga, 2001) is sceptical to this miracle and asks at what costs the privatization of Makerere University has been achieved.13 In 1992 the Government of Uganda allowed Makerere University to charge fees for evening courses and special programmes. Taking advantage of this, the Faculties of Law and of Commerce started evening classes exclusively for paying students. In 1995 the University Council allowed Faculties to admit fee-paying students to fill quotas not taken up by government-sponsored students. The result was that from a 1993/1994 enrollment of 3,361, made up of 2,299 government-sponsored and 1,062 private students, the situation metamorphosed to a total enrollment of 14,239, made up of 1,923 government-sponsored and 12,316 private students in 1999/2000 – with no significant increases in the resources available to the university. Through income from student fees and the small profits from commercialized units, added to the considerable donor support (estimated at around $5 million per annum during the period) Makerere University succeeded in reducing its dependence on government subvention. Average staff incomes rose above a ‘‘living wage,’’ facilitating staff retention and, indeed, the return of some academics who had left the university during the difficult days. In respect of programmes, the curriculum was expanded and diversified, mainly in response to demands arising from the economic and social environment. Yet both the housing and learning environment for students and the research environment for the academic staff suffered
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considerably under ‘‘the miracle.’’ The Musisi et al. (2001) study referred to by Sawyerr finds it ‘‘remarkable how little attention has been paid to student welfare compared to that given to their capacity to pay and provide the university with income.’’ The study tells about ‘‘unbearable pressure on space, facilities and staff, as there has been little increase in physical infrastructure,’’ Nor has there been any ‘‘significant’’ increase in building space or the numbers of lecturers – despite the tripling of the student population. Not surprisingly, a report issued by the Makerere University Academic Staff Association found that more than half the registered students in some courses did not attend lectures because of a lack of seats and poor audibility in the lecture halls. Such insufficient facilities and high student-lecturer ratios compromise academic quality.
The study itself concludes If the problem [of insufficient facilities and staff] is not addressed, the large number of students and the resulting decline in standards pose a real danger to the quantitative achievements and innovations in admissions and programming made by Makerere over the last seven years.
Income generated in the new ways goes to benefit the faculties/units that generated it and their staff. Thus, as ‘‘laboratory-based and facility-intensive faculties such as Science and Medicine do not generate as much income as the humanities because there are absolute limits on the number of students that they can accommodate,’’ those ‘‘underachieving’’ faculties have gained little from the improved financial situation of the university. Sawyerr (2002, p. 56) laments: Not only does this result in severe imbalances in the distribution of ‘‘earned’’ revenue, it also means that the allocation of the new revenues among university activities no longer corresponds to university or national priorities, but follows the logic of the market! Is this relative under-funding of science and technology what Makerere wishes, or Uganda needs?
THE STRENGTHENING OF ENGLISH – A BY-PRODUCT OF GLOBALIZATION When discussing how the University Eduardo Modale in Mozambique has become a university of the elite I mentioned that Portuguese, the language of privilege in Mozambique, was the parental tongue of almost 70% of UEM students. This compares to a figure of 9% in the general population. This
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trend can also be noticed in the so-called anglophone Africa where English is the language of privilege. In 1967 Kiswahili became the medium of instruction throughout the primary school system in Tanzania. But from the adoption of the Education and Training Policy of 1995 there has been an increase in private English medium primary (EMP) schools (Rubagumya, 2003). Of the 85 EMP schools registered in Tanzania by the year 2000, 67 (78.8%) were registered in the last part of the 1990s. This spectacular rise notwithstanding, EMP schools account for a very small proportion (0.5%) of all primary schools in the country, and the number of pupils an even smaller proportion (0.3% of all primary pupils, according to Sumra, Malekela, Katabaro, & Kapinga, 2000). They have, however, an impact out of proportion with the number of pupils attending them because it is to these schools the powerful send their children. Many of the more well-to-do parents in Tanzania are dissatisfied with the poorly resourced public education system. According to Rubagumya (2003, p. 150) they thus ‘‘vote with their feet’’ by taking their children from the public Kiswahili medium system to the private, English medium system. This dissatisfaction stems from the belief that the quality of education in public schools has declined tremendously. Part of the ‘‘litmus test’’ for this decline, it is believed, is that children cannot speak English by the time they complete Standard seven (7) and consequently find it difficult to follow lessons when they go to secondary school where the medium of instruction is English. Many parents hold the erroneous belief that having English as the language of instruction is the best way to learn English.
The private schools are expensive and cater only for the children of the elite. They have a much better teacher/pupil ratio than the public schools, the teachers are better paid and the schools are well resourced with good reading material. It is a disadvantage for the children in these schools to have English as the language of instruction, but because of good support from their homes, often extra English lessons at school and tutoring after school they manage somehow. This fact gives parents of pupils in public schools the false impression that it is the fact that the pupils in private schools study in English which makes their education better than the one provided in public schools. Those who establish EMP schools are motivated by an ‘‘appetite’’ by parents for EMP schools, and the possibility of earning an income. One owner (quoted in Sumra et al., 2000, p. 29) was blunt and honest as to the reason why he established an EMP school; and he
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summarizes neatly the three ingredients found in the establishment of EMP schools: service, willingness to pay, profit. The reason for starting the school is to make profit. I provide service for which there is a big demand. As the quality of education has got poor, parents are demanding quality English medium education for their children. They are willing to pay for this service. I am not a philanthropist and this is not a charitable organization. I am here to provide quality education and parents are willing to pay for it. I am making ten times more money now than I was getting as a secondary school teacher.
Rubagumya (2003) claims that while it is true that some EMP schools are providing quality education, others are unfortunately just taking advantage of parents’ demand for EMP schools to make money, and in the process they short-change the parents. He has in his study of these new private primary schools in Tanzania found that the majority of teachers in EMP schools have more or less the same qualifications as their colleagues in Kiswahili medium primary schools. He found that their English proficiency leaves much to be desired. To expect them to teach through the medium of English effectively is unrealistic, to say the least. The use of English as a language of instruction is more likely to be a barrier to learning of subjects like science, maths, social science, history, etc. Fredua-Kwarteng and Ahia (2004) mention that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded a study to investigate the differences, if any, in the academic performance between private and public elementary schools in Ghana. Private elementary schools in Ghana are solely funded by their owners for the purpose of making a profit. They are also owner-controlled. The owners of private elementary schools can be individuals or church organizations. Private elementary schools are called various names such as preparatory, international or experimental schools. The private schools use English as the medium of instruction from grade 1 while the government schools, at the time of the study, were using local languages for the first three grades. Most of the private schools are located in regional urban centers such as Accra, Kumasi, Koforidua and Cape Coast, where there is a good proportion of the elite or Western educated class. However, recently the number of private elementary schools in Ghana has increased exponentially. Some have sprung up in small towns, which, hitherto were dominated by public elementary schools. Fredua-Kwarteng and Ahia see the market economy policies of the government and deterioration in conditions in public elementary schools as responsible for this trend.
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The USAIDs study used three main methodologies in generating data for analysis: standardized testing, interviews and observations. Standardized tests in mathematics and English language were administered to a random sample of both private and public elementary school students in Ghana. The study reports that at level three or primary three, private elementary school students had a mean score of 48% in English compared with those in public elementary schools that had 34%. With regards to mathematics achievement at the same level, however, the mean score for public elementary schools was 58% and 41% for private elementary schools. In a way the last result is quite remarkable as the public schools recruit children from the poor, lower class strata of the society. The difference in favor of the public schools is likely to come from the fact that children there have been taught through the mother tongue during the first years of schooling and were taking their exam in the local language. The COPE (Complementary Opportunity for Primary Education) program in Uganda caters for children who have either dropped out of school very early or never went to school. The teaching goes on for only three hours a day in order for the children to be able to participate in other activities and chores after school. Some of the children at the COPE centers are bread-winners in their homes. In the area I visited some years ago there were many child-headed households (Brock-Utne, 1997). Their parents and other grown-up relatives have died of AIDS. The communities build the school buildings and pay the salaries of the teachers. The pupils are expected to pay 1,000 Ugandan shillings (U.S.$1) per term in school fees (there are three terms in a year). Even though this fee is very low, we were told at Kabaari COPE Center that the school fees constituted a reason for children dropping out. Seven pupils were not attending school the day we were there and we were told that the reason was that they had not paid school fees. The pupils are also expected to buy their own exercise books. At the same time, the revenue generated for schooling is quite limited. For example, the salaries the COPE instructors get are so low (30,000 Ugandan shillings per month, or U.S. $30) that they cannot live from them. Quite often their salaries are not paid on time, and the instructors can go months without any salary at all. Donors pay the COPE schools for the training of instructors and for the teaching materials including the instructors’ manuals. Developing countries like Uganda have been forced by the IMF to subject all larger contracts to a system of international competitive bidding. In line with this, a policy of international competitive bidding was undertaken for organizing instructor training and for developing textbooks and instructor manuals for COPE schools in Uganda. The winner of the tender was an American firm,
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Creative Associates International, Inc., based in Washington, DC, (across the street from the World Bank) even though the Curriculum Center in Uganda had also put in a bid. This American firm seems to have neglected the language policy of the country. In a Government White Paper in Uganda the following language policy is laid down: (a) In rural areas the medium of instruction from P.1 to P.4 will be the relevant local languages; and from P.5 to P.8 English will be the medium of instruction. (b) In the urban areas the medium of instruction will be English throughout the primary cycle. (c) Kiswahili and English will be taught as compulsory subjects to all children throughout the primary cycle, both in rural and urban areas. Emphasis in terms of allocations of time and in the provision of instructional materials, facilities and teachers will, however, be gradually placed on Kiswahili as the language possessing greater capacity for uniting Ugandans and for assisting rapid social development. (d) The relevant area language will also be taught as a subject in primary school; this applies to both rural and urban areas (Government of Uganda, 1992, p. 19). The district Bushenyi that I visited in August 1997 is a rural district where one would have expected the language of instruction to be the local language. Yet the Instructor’s Guide to COPE instructors states: The COPE curriculum follows the official government language policy. In the first year, use the local language for all subjects except English. In English lessons use English only. In the second and third years, use English for all subjects except mother tongue. Obviously there must be some overlap, but you must be using English only by term two year two. (Elphick, 1995, p. 17, emphasis in original)
As we see the Instructor’s Guide does not follow the official government language policy since that policy advocates use of the local language as medium of instruction up to P.4 in rural areas, which are the areas where the COPE schools are mostly located. The same Instructor’s Guide further argues that: since there is extremely limited exposure to English in the environment of the average COPE child, it is absolutely essential that, when the time comes for using English as the medium of instruction, English should be used for all subjects. (emphasis mine).
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One recognizes that pupils often can have problems understanding various subjects when the medium of instruction is English. One recommendation for solving this problem is by: teaching in English and forcing pupils into a situation where they cannot survive without learning it . . . after learning has been introduced in the local language, the teacher must teach in English only, and preferably use English for all activities within the learning centre. (ibid, p. 17, emphasis in original)
The US-based firm does not seem to realize that the ‘‘extremely limited exposure to English in the environment of the average COPE child’’ makes the use of English as a language of instruction an effective barrier to learning for the average COPE child. By insisting on the use of English only in the non-formal COPE schools, the firm argues against the use of code-mixing or even codeswitching, the most effective strategy used by African teachers, who have to teach through a language neither they themselves nor their students know well. The teachers at the COPE centers are called instructors and not teachers to differentiate them from the regular teachers in primary school. They do not have initial teacher training. They normally have secondary school O-levels14 and then receive training through the program. The initial training is three weeks. After that there is in-service training twice a month, once through a week-end and once including some more days. This training is supposed to be a training in more learner-centered instruction than the one which has normally been given in the regular primary schools. In Bushenyi district there are ten COPE centers, scattered far apart-some take four hour travel time from Bushenyi center to reach. I visited the two centers, Kabaari and Itendero. I was told that at each center about 80 pupils, aged 8–14, who had never gone to school or had dropped out very early, were enrolled in the centers when they first opened in November 1995. The pupils were divided into two classes, one for ages 8–11 and one for ages 11–14. They spent three years in the COPE schools with three hours a day of teaching. After those three years they were supposed to have learned as much as primary school pupils do in five years and to be able to enter Form 6 in primary school. This was rather unrealistic. The drop-out rate has been high, so that the average number of pupils in the centers when I visited them was about 50. Among reasons for the high drop-out rate from the COPE centers the following may be mentioned: The centers do not teach vocational skills, even though this was a strong wish of the parents as well as the students. This type of teaching is said to be costly, the instructors do not have the skills involved, and there is no money for the training materials the pupils would need and there are no
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workshops in the vicinity. But some instructors manage to get around this. The instructor at Kabaari told me that he had attended a technical school after O-levels at secondary school and was a bricklayer and a baker. He was going to teach the pupils brick-laying and baking of bread in his own home. As mentioned teaching is in English, and the textbooks are all written in English, even for the first grade and even though it is official government policy that the language of instruction in the first three – four grades should be the mother tongue.15 I was informed by George Ouma-Mumbe, education officer at the National COPE Focal Point, Ministry of Education in Kampala, that at least the first year of COPE would use the mother tongue as the language of instruction. This, however, is not what I found in Bushenyi. Some COPE pupils after the introduction of free UPE (universal primary education) left COPE to join the regular primary school. Here again the teaching was not in the mother tongue, but children were taught some practical and vocational skills which were highly appreciated both by them and their parents. Article 3.5 of the Education and Training Policy of Ethiopia issued in April 1994 recognizes the pedagogical advantage of mother tongue education and mandates that primary education should be conducted in the local languages of the area (Haileselassie, 2001). Until the early 1990s primary education in Ethiopia was conducted in Amharic with little or no attention being paid to other ethnic languages. Since then several other ethnic languages including Tigrigna (most important language in Eritrea) have been introduced in the school system. Ethiopia is divided into ten regions. Gambella is the region closest to Sudan. In Gambella, English is being used as the language of instruction from grade 5. The fact that three regions, namely Tigray, Amhara and Oromiya, have used their mother tongues as the language of instruction for all of the eight years of primary schooling while six of the seven other regions use mother tongue only for six years and one region, Gambella, only for four years makes Ethiopia an interesting case to study. How well do students who use mother tongues as language of instruction for four, for six or for eight years of primary school perform in science and technology subjects like mathematics, biology and chemistry? How well do students who use a foreign language – in this case English – as language of instruction from grade 5 or grade 7 perform in the same subjects? A study made by the Government of Ethiopia with the assistance of US-aid is revealing.
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Table 1.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Mathematics, Biology and Chemistry Mean Achievement Scores in 8th Grade by Language of Instruction.
Region
Language of Instruction
Sample Number
Maths (%)
Biology (%)
Chemistry (%)
Tigray Amhara Oromiya Hareri AddisAbaba Benshangul DireDawa SNNP Afer Gambella
Tigrinya Amharic Oromifa English English English English English English English
390 580 598 372 548 268 377 1235 394 400
45 44 40 40 39 36 37 36 36 27
56 61 56 48 44 43 41 43 39 37
47 45 45 43 40 41 39 36 36 33
Total
5163
Source: MoE/NOE (2001) (in Mekonnen, 2005).
Table 1 shows that students whose LoI is their mother tongue have scored higher in the three subjects mentioned above than students whose LoI is English, which is a foreign language. Mekonnen (2005) shows through the use of t-tests and the statistical program ANOVA that there is a significant difference in the performance between the students taught in their mother tongue and those students being taught through a foreign language. The difference is significant at the significance level po.001. He concludes: In other words, students of the seven regional states who are using English as a LoI for the UPE are disadvantaged in terms of their mathematics, biology and chemistry mean achievement scores when compared to the students of the three regional states who are using their respective mother tongues as languages of instruction in the entire primary education.
In fact, the students scoring the lowest in these subjects, so important for the development of science and technology, are the students from Gambella, the region where they start using English as the language of instruction as early as fifth grade! How do students perform in English in the ten regions? Mekonnen calculated the average English achievement score of all the regions and found it to be 39%. Of the three regions which are using mother tongues as LoI in the entire elementary education (1–8), only students from the regional state of Amhara (34%) scored below the average English achievement score. Students in the other two regions, Tigray and Oromiya,
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scored equal to the average or 39%. Out of the seven regions which are using English, three regions Hareri, Addis Ababa, Benshangul scored above the average (45%, 46%, and 40%, respectively). Both in Hareri and Addis Ababa children are more exposed to English on a daily basis than in most other regions. One region, DireDawa scored equal to the average (39%), and three other regions SNNP, Afar and Gambella scored below the average (37%, 34% and 36%, respectively). It is interesting to note that Gambella, the region among the ten which starts using English as the language of instruction at the earliest stage, already in grade 5, is the region where students have the next lowest score in English! On the basis of the results above it is strange to read the conclusion and the following recommendations made by the Minister of Education in association with US AID: Schools in areas where English is the primary language of instruction for grade 8 don’t have as high a level of achievement, even in the English language, as schools in areas that use the major languages. Special effort needs to be devoted to strengthening the English language skills of teachers. (MoE/NOE, 2001, p. 102, in Mekonnen, 2005, emphasis added)
This conclusion is most surprising since the logical recommendation would be a switch to the use of mother tongue as the language of instruction in all ten regions and not only in Tigray, Amhara and Oromiya. It is not the lack of English language skills among the teachers that is the main problem but the fact that teachers are forced to teach in a language students do not understand. Students learn better when they understand what the teacher is saying. Here is another strange conclusion from the same report: With the exception of English, the Regions display a similar pattern of achievement across regions – Tigray, Amhara, Oromiya, and Hareri attaining the highest scores, while Gambella and Afar regions have the lowest scores. Performance on English achievement appears to be supported by the use of English as the instructional language. (MoE/NOE, 2001, p. 10, in Mekonnen, 2005, emphasis added)
This statement, however, is not true. If one looks at the results in Table 2, one sees that students from Gambella, the region which starts the earliest with the use of English as the LoI, actually have lower test scores in English than the students in Tigriniya and Oromifa who have their mother tongues as instructional languages all through the eight years of primary school. The students from Tigriniya and Oromifa do not use English as an instructional language at all but they learn it as a foreign language. The results reported clearly show that the use of English as a language of instruction does not have a statistically significant effect on the students’ English mean
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Table 2.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
English Achievement in Grade 8 by Regions.
Region
Language of Instruction
Sample Number
English Achievement Score (%)
Tigray Amhara Ormya Hareri AddisAbaba Benshangul DireDawa SNNP Afar Gambella
Mother tongue-Tigrinya Mother tongue-Amharic Mother tongue-Oromifa Foreign Language-English Foreign Language-English Foreign Language-English Foreign Language-English Foreign Language-English Foreign Language-English Foreign Language-English
390 580 599 372 548 268 377 1235 394 400
39 34 39 45 46 40 39 37 34 36
Source: MoE/NOE (2001) (in Mekonnen, 2005).
achievement scores. The Ethiopian situation obviously shows that the use of familiar languages helps children to learn and perform better in schools.
CONCLUSION This chapter illustrates, through examples taken from Africa, how the neoliberal agenda and the emphasis on the market have led to policies like costsharing and privatization, the consequences of which have been greater disparities between poor and rich. The elite sends their children to wellresourced schools. The rich parents can afford to pay school fees and private tuition. Pressure on the Tanzanian government to liberalize primary education led to the Education Amendment Act of 1995 which paved the way for the establishment of private primary schools. These schools also became English medium schools – an illustration of how privatization has strengthened the use of the ex-colonial language English in the so-called anglophone Africa (where only 5% of the population are fluent speakers of English). The competitive bidding forced on Uganda led to instructional material being worked out by an American firm with a total disrespect for the language policy of the country. The example from Ethiopia shows how much better children do in school when they can use a familiar language as the language of instruction. It also shows how the Ministry of Education, under donor pressure, has distorted the results. The market forces and the neo-liberal agenda seem to be promoted both by donors and the African elites to the detriment of the African masses.
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NOTES 1. The criticism was found on www.jubel.org/pdf/PRSP%20Rapport%20.eng.pdf-, last accessed on 22 October 2005. 2. These were the wishes voiced by the South (the less industrialized, mostly formerly colonized countries) at the 1990 EFA conference in Thailand (Brock-Utne, 2000). 3. How much more the well-to-do tax payers pay depends of course on how progressive the tax system of a country is. 4. To be fair to the World Bank, we should remark that the World Bank seems able to learn from its mistakes (but without admitting that they have been mistaken and only after much harm has been done in poor countries). The 1995 Review states that no fees should normally be charged at primary level (World Bank, 1995). This is reiterated by Burnett and Patrinos (1996). 5. Their sample consisted of 235 secondary school girls and 84 secondary school boys drawn from three locations, one in Dar es Salaam, one in Kilimanjaro and one in Handeni. 6. From 1987 until 1992 I was working as a professor at the University of Dar es Salaam. In the beginning of this period I was asked by NORAD to make an evaluation of EPSSA and I went to the University in Zomba in Malawi in the fall of 1987 and arranged a seminar with my colleagues at the University of Dar es Salaam to discuss the EPSSA paper on the 28th of January 1988. I later went to the University of Zambia to discuss the EPSSA paper with leading scholars and the university administration there. 7. Others argue that those students whose parents are better off should have to pay their own cost of travel, books and maybe even living expenses while studying. This presupposes a system where the earning power of the parents is assessed and one could argue that such a system could rather be used to tax such people more heavily than is now the case. 8. Personal communication from the then Vice Chancellor of the University in Zomba in a discussion with me on the EPSSA in the fall of 1987. 9. Sawyerr (2002) mentions that the neo-liberal ideology of the World Bank was reinforced by the argument that the rates of return to basic education were so much higher than returns to university education that efficiency required that the former should attract the bulk of public resources. ‘‘This ‘‘rate of return’’ argument was strongly pressed both as policy advice to African governments and as conditionalities for funding. In addition, it influenced external donors into turning away from the support of higher education in favor of basic education. The 1980s and early 1990s witnessed a turning away of the state and most external donors from support for the universities, resulting in the under-resourcing and general deterioration of the university sector in Africa’’ (Sawyerr, 2002, p. 42). 10. Obvious exceptions would be situations like apartheid South Africa, where access to education was deliberately discriminatory or others where subtle cultural or religious conditions created gender, ethnic and other barriers. 11. Sawyerr (2002) notes that while indications of this can be found in virtually all recent studies of higher education access in Africa, some of the most dramatic evidence is provided by recent reports on enrolment in Ghana, Mozambique and Uganda. Using the educational level of parents as an indicator of socio-economic
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origin of students and relying on survey data, Mario et al. (2001 – here taken from Sawyerr, 2002) found that 70% of the fathers of students at Universidade Eduardo Mondlane (UEM) had secondary education or higher, compared to fewer than 3% in the general population. The figures for mothers of students were 50% as against less than 1% in the general population. Using parental tongue as an indicator revealed that Portuguese, the language of privilege in Mozambique, was the parental tongue of almost 70% of UEM students, and the means of family communication for over 60%. This compares to a figure of 9% in the general population. More specifically, the survey showed that students from more privileged backgrounds were disproportionately represented in courses of higher prestige and potential wealth (law, medicine, etc.). 12. The furthest it will go in apologizing is the following sentence taken from the executive summary of the Constructing Knowledge Societies report: ‘‘There is a perception that the Bank has not been fully responsive to the growing demand by clients for tertiary education’’ (World Bank, 2002, p. xviii). A perception indeed! It is much more. It is a well-documented fact as shown above. 13. The following account is built on Sawyerr (2002). 14. O-level stands for Ordinary level, an exam taken after four years of secondary schooling. Two more years are required to take A-level exams qualifying for university entrance. The system of O-levels and A-levels is inherited directly from the British system of secondary education. 15. These are Luo for the northern region, Runyakitara for the western region, Luganda for the central region, Itesot for the eastern region, and Lugbar for the northwestern region.
REFERENCES Brock-Utne, B. (1997). Brief field-notes from a brief field-visit to Uganda. 25–27 August Memo to the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Delivered 8 September. Brock-Utne, B. (2000). Whose education for all? Recolonizing the African mind? (350 pp. Reprinted in 2006 by africanabooks). New York: Falmer Press. (www.africanabooks.org). Brock-Utne, B. (2003). Formulating higher education policies in Africa – the pressure from external forces and the neoliberal agenda. Higher Education in Africa, 1(1), 24–56. Burnett, N., & Patrinos, H. A. (1996). Response to critiques of priorities and strategies for education. International Journal of Educational Development, 16(3), 273–276. Damiba, A. (1991). The world conference on education for all and Africa’s expectations. UNESCO Africa (March), 8–11. Elphick, D. (1995). The instructor’s guide to COPE. Washington, DC: Creative Associates International Incorporated. Fredua-Kwarteng, Y., & Ahia, F. (2004). Reckless abandon: Education divide in Ghana. Feature article. Ghana News, 25 (April) 2005. Galabawa, J. (1990). Implementing educational policies in Tanzania. World Bank Discussion Papers. Africa Technical Department Series. No. 86. The World Bank, Washington, DC. Government of Uganda. (1992). Government white paper: Education for national integration and development. Kampala: Government of Uganda.
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Haileselassie, T. (2001). The cultural foundation of education in Ethiopia. In: D. Wartenberg & W. Mayrhofer (Eds), Education in Ethiopia (pp. 9–15). Hamburg: Verlag Dr. Kovac. Hole, V., Jones, J. Y., & Klyve, C. R. (2005). Worldbankification of Norwegian development assistance. A report by IGNIS and the Development Fund, November. IGNIS and the Development Fund, Oslo. Malekela, G. (1983). Access to secondary education in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Tanzanian experiment. Ph.D. Thesis. University of Chicago, Chicago. Maliyamkono, T. L. (1987). Comments on the world bank document on ‘‘Financing Education in Developing Countries’’ a World Bank Publication (University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Stenciled. 13 pp.). Mamdani, M. (1993). University crisis and reform: A reflection on the African experience. Review of African Political Economy, 58, 7–19. Mekonnen, J. (2005). Multilingualism in Ethiopia. Socio-cultural and pedagogical implications of mother tongue education in a multilingual and multiethnic society. Unpublished master thesis. Institute for Educational Research, University of Oslo, Norway. MoE (Ministry of Education)/NOE (National Organization for Examinations). (2001). Ethiopian national baseline assessment on grade eight students’ achievement. Study made in association with the Project BESO(USAID), Addis Ababa, February. Musisi, N. B., & Muwanga, N. (2001). Makerere university in transition, 1993–2000: Opportunities and challenges. Unpublished, Kampala. Reimers, F. (1995). Higher education: The lessons of experience. Book review. Comparative Education Review, 39(2), 245–247. Rubagumya, C. (2003). English medium primary schools in Tanzania: A new ‘‘linguistic market’’ in education? In: B. Brock-Utne, Z. Desai & M. Qorro (Eds), The Language of Instruction in Tanzania and South Africa (LOITASA) (pp. 149–170). Dar es Salaam: E & D Publishers. Sadique, I. (1995). The image of the World Bank within Nigerian universities. In: B. Brock-Utne (Ed.), States or markets? Neo-liberal solutions in the educational policies of Sub-Saharan Africa. Proceedings from a seminar. Rapport Nr. 3. (pp. 108–135). Oslo: Institute for Educational Research. Samoff, J., & Sumra, S. (1992). From lighting a torch on Kilimanjaro to living in a shanty town: Education and financial crisis in Tanzania. Paris: UNESCO. Sawyerr, A. (2002). Challenges facing African universities. Selected Issues. Unpublished study presented at the 2002 ASA (African Studies Association) conference, Washington, DC, November (65 pp.). Stevenson, G. (1991). Adjustment lending and the education sector: The bank’s experience. Washingon, DC: World Bank. Stewart, F. (1996). Globalisation and education. International Journal of Educational Development, 16(4), 327–333. Sumra, S. (1994). An analysis of national and regional enrolment trends in primary education in Tanzania. Report submitted to UNICEF, Dar es Salaam, September. Sumra, S., & Katunzi, N. (1991). The struggle for education: School fees and girls education in Tanzania. WED Report. (University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania 5, 68 pp.). Sumra, S., Malekela, G., Katabaro, J., & Kapinga, D. (2000). Legal and institutional framework for the management of non-governmental initiatives in education reforms: The Tanzanian case study. A Research Report, University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Torres, R. M. (2001). What happened at the world education forum? Adult Education and Development, 56, 1–14.
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URT (United Republic of Tanzania). (1995). Education and training policy. Ministry of Education and Culture. Vestbø, K. (2006). Verdensbanken og Fast Track Initiativet for a˚ na˚ ma˚let Utdanning for Alle – illusjonen om eierskap. [The World Bank and the Fast Track Initiative to reach the aim of Education for All – the illusion of ownership]. In: B. Brock-Utne & L. Bøyesen (Eds), A˚ greie seg i utdanningssystemet i nord og sør. Innføring i flerkulturell og komparativ pedagogikk, utdanning og utvikling [To cope in the education system in the north and the south Introduction to multicultural and comparative education, education and development] (pp. 281–286). Bergen: Fagbokforlaget. Watson, K. (1996). Banking on key reforms for educational development: A critique of the World Bank Review. Mediterranean Journal of Educational Studies, 1(1), 43–61. WDEFA. (1990). World declaration on education for all. New York, April. World Bank. (1988). Education policies for sub-saharan Africa: adjustment, revitalization and expansion. Report No. 6934: Document of the World Bank. World Bank, Washington, DC. World Bank. (1994). Higher education. The lessons of experience. Washington, DC: World Bank. World Bank. (1995). Priorities and strategies for education. Washington, DC: A World Bank Review. World Bank. (2000). Higher education in developing countries: Peril and promise. Washington, DC: World Bank Global Joint Task Force. World Bank. (2002). Constructing knowledge societies: New challenges for tertiary. Washington, DC: World Bank.
SCHOOLS AS MARKETS: BILKING THE YOUNG AND POWERLESS Judith Brooks-Buck The expansion of business opportunities to include youth and young adult markets has steadily increased overtime.1 Getting the message to young people had been a formidable challenge for some businesses. As protective barriers become more obscure through the absence of regulation, no ground is sacred. Covert strategies for attracting young buyers have been augmented by specifically targeted advertisements; and gaining the greatest exposure to products, using a variant of external economies of scale, is critical to potential sales. American schools daily house the most concentrated audience of youth and young adults, and corporations take full advantage of the opportunity to engage the youth school market.2 Reasons for the aggressive approaches to youth markets vary and systems archetypes, like economic globalization3 income, race, and social status play a key role in exacerbating the problem.4 For the first time in the nation’s recent history, American imports have surpassed exports and the booming American dollar is losing status. Two opposing matters simultaneously cause and diminish concern. While U.S. citizens living in the 50 states have lost jobs; U.S. companies with an increased labor force in other countries are often importing their own outsourced goods.5 Coupled with the devalued dollar in many world markets, some forecast doom for an American economy based on ‘‘artificial economics’’ or paying for debt with debt.6 Emphasis has been placed on competition as a catalyst for innovation, and the lack of popularity of Power, Voice and the Public Good: Schooling and Education in Global Societies Advances in Education in Diverse Communities: Research Policy and Praxis, Volume 6, 117–147 Copyright r 2008 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited All rights of reproduction in any form reserved ISSN: 1479-358X/doi:10.1016/S1479-358X(08)06005-1
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American policies throughout the world has forced every flaw in America’s economic, social, educational, and political fabric to be called into question. With business leadership forging the way, public service entities that rely on the generation of tax revenue from an active labor force for survival have been shuffled, sifted and shifted to private industry in an effort to turn a profit. Appeals to the young, the old, and all groups in between are a normal part of the income generating process, and commercialism in every venue has been expanded to unprecedented levels. Public service providers, impacted by the declining worth of the U.S. dollar, have been forced to meet the need for reduced priced work with increased priced innovations. However, the bedrock of American democracy, the public school, has been impacted the most aggressively by businesses working with schools, unions and politicians to impact policies governing schools, and school administrations. American educational institutions that were previously protected are facing tremendous challenges as the search for cost cutting measures guides everything from goods and services for schools to instructional practices in schools. This chapter examines the intended and unintended consequences of marketing to schools and the most unsophisticated consumers; youth and young adults. The youngest Americans have been the unwitting participants in business schemes designed to sustain America’s corporate edge in the global market. Unfortunately, the bilking of the young in a captive setting has grown to unprecedented levels and has moved on to become federal law. The chapter is divided into four sections. Initially the problem of commercialism must be contextualized by discussing theories, perspectives and/or practices, and the history that informs the research. Included in this section are topics that link poverty and commercialism; lack of concern for children and youth; and the apathy associated with resolution of the problem. In the second section, an overview of the U.S. policies on commercialism in American Educational Institutions is presented and linked to business influence. The third section explores the intended and unintended consequences of unfettered commercialism for youth and young adults, and the pronounced repercussions for children of color. In summary, I argue that the deleterious effects of commercialism on America’s youth and young adults far outweigh the immediate monetary gains that drive current practices. I further indicate that the systems archetypes that are pervasive in the implementation of seemingly harmless policies have an exponentially negative impact on the poor and underrepresented. For the purpose of this research commercialism is defined as the ‘‘ . . . ubiquitous
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product marketing that leads to the preoccupation with undue consumption . . . to the detriment of oneself and society at large’’.7
THE PROBLEM, THE CONTEXT, AND THE APATHY In recent years, about one in five American children-some 12 to 14 million-have lived in families in which cash income failed to exceed official poverty thresholds. Another onefifth live in families whose incomes were no more than twice the poverty threshold.8 Today’s economically based reorganization of the U.S. society is reshaping family structure through distinctive racial patterns. Families mainly headed by women have become permanent in all racial categories, with the disproportionate effects of change more visible among racial ethnics.9
The Problem Children of working parents, both married and single are disproportionately affected by shifts in available jobs, work schedules, lack of benefits, and the demise of other former union protections. Companies seeking the lowestcost structures are outsourcing a large share of unskilled positions, usually filled by the poor, to countries with cheap and unorganized labor; and few environmental restrictions.10 Corporate greed and minimal educational levels support low wage, no benefit shift workers, who serve at the pleasure of employers. As a result, the children of the working poor spend more time alone, or with televisions as babysitters. For poor children, the scenario is enhanced for commercial entities.11 The Children’s Defense Fund (2006) determined that:12 Nearly seven million children are left home alone each week; The typical American child watches 28 h of television a week and by the age of 18 will have seen 16,000 simulated murders and 200,000 acts of violence; 99 percent of American homes have at least one television; 53 percent of children ages 2–18 have a TV in their bedroom, which allows for unsupervised viewing; The Center for Media and Public Affairs reports that TV viewers and moviegoers are exposed to scenes of serious violence every 4 min; a majority of the most violent TV series and films are industry-rated as acceptable for teens; and even the most serious violence is often portrayed as harmless or justified. Commercial television for children is 50–60 times
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more violent than prime-time programs for adults, and some cartoons average over 80 violent acts per hour; and Teenagers spend between 4 and 5 h a day listening to music and watching music videos, and they name listening to music as their preferred nonschool activity. Music videos average more than one violent scene per minute – more than twice the level of either feature films or television The impact of the media on children, adults, and schools is undeniable. If the multiple dynamics of violence, and sex were not enough, media companies working in tandem with interest groups and businesses to advertise products have pushed the advertising envelope from the White House to the Board Room and all points in between. In the midst of sex, violence, music, and sophisticated animations, children and parents are exposed to commercial advertising that promises anything from health, good looks, and popularity to more recent claims that average students will become better students by simply attending after school commercial tutoring programs.13 The products and services are packaged to attract children with trendy slogans, age similar peers, music videos, and popular dance movements.14 In 2004, the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) estimated that at least ‘‘40 percent of children are left alone at some point in time’’ (p. 40).15 While the Children’s Defense Fund (2006) estimates may be more or less the same, the effects on the age groups are critical. Exposure to commercials promoting the use of specific sugar-filled soft drinks, cereals, clothing items, and commercial educational products reach children every 15 min per hour-long program. The human desire to have material things equal to ones peers is a normal desire for individuals. Children led to believe that material things will change the environment in which they live view the acquisition of material gains as a mechanism to move from one social echelon to the next. AACAP (2006)16 also found that the younger the child, the greater the impact of the current commercial packaging of specific products in videos and short films. Marketing professor James McNeal notes, ‘‘Kids are the most unsophisticated of all consumers; they have the least and therefore want the most. Consequently, they are in the perfect position to be targeted’’.17 Children attempting to ‘‘boost their images of self-hood’’ create a fertile venue for the mental creation of self-actualization through material gains.18 Gerrig and Zimbardo (2005) assert that conflict occurs when the feeling that ‘‘certain obligations or conditions must be met in order to gain approval’’ interferes with the human drive toward self-actualization.19
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The Context Ransby indicates that ‘‘In the presidential election year 1996, as rhetoric about international terrorism heightened, the two major U.S. political parties united in a campaign of terror against poor and working class people, especially poor black and brown people – a campaign consistent with shifting economic needs of American capitalism’’.20 The unemployed and under employed at that time were thrust into a work force that was neither prepared nor interested in the plight of the poor and working class. The objective for American capitalists was and is to get rich at any cost. The preceding decade was bereft with similar shifts in what Phillips21 suggests initiated the self-serving behavior that embodied the late 1980s, and 1990s. With American capitalism as the catalyst for political actions, deregulation took on new meaning, and any entity with the need to spend money was exposed to profit making in new and different ways. Public Schools had many needs and billions of dollars set aside to meet most of the needs, and capitalists devised ways to access the funds.
The Apathy The Government Accounting Office (GAO, 2000) found that 19 states had laws governing marketing to children in schools. In 14 of the 19 states, the laws ‘‘were not comprehensive and pertain only to some types of activities’’ (p. 12).22 In the absence of regulation states have created a number of unrelated policies. The specious notion that pervades media representations of activities suggests that all is well. In truth, the market is extending and polluting the critical aspects of child health and welfare. Further, the GAO (2000) report examined product sales, direct advertising, indirect advertising, and market research. The array of business opportunities that provide goods and services to businesses and schools varies considerably. Table 1 details the categories that formed the GAO foci. Table 2 illustrates the variance in state developed practices, policies, and procedures. Tables 1 and 2 illustrate the loosely coupled policies and statutes that guide the practice of advertising to American youth. Larson (2002) suggests the possibility that there can be some type of beneficial relationship maintained between public schools and businesses. Teachers and administrators, according to Larson (2002) must closely monitor student in-school
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Table 1.
Categories of Commercial Activities.
Activities Product sales Product sales benefiting a district, school, or student activity
Cash or credit rebate programs
Fundraising activities
Market research Surveys or polls Internet panels Internet tracking Direct advertising Advertising in schools, in school facilities, and on school buses
Advertisements in school publications
Examples
Exclusionary contracts or other arrangements between district consortia, school districts, or schools and bottlers to sell soft drinks in schools or on grounds Contracts or other arrangements between districts or schools and fast food companies to sell food in the schools or on school grounds Contracts or other arrangements between districts or schools and companies providing school pictures, yearbooks, class rings, caps and gowns, or gym uniforms Programs that award cash or equipment to schools in proportion to the value of store receipts or coupons collected by the schools Credit or shopping card programs that award a percentage of the amount of customer chargers to a school designated by the customer Internet shopping programs that donate a percentage of a customer’s charges to a designated school Short-term sales of candy, magazines, gift wrap, cookie dough, concession items, and the like by parents students, or both to benefit a specific student population or club Student questionnaires or taste tests Use of the Internet to poll students’ responses to computer-delivered questions Tracking students’ Internet behavior and responses to questions on one or more websites Billboards and signs in school corridors, sports facilities, or buses Product displays Corporate logos or brand names on school equipment, such as marquees, message boards, scoreboards, and backboards Ads, corporate logos, or brand names on posters, book covers, and student assignment books Ads in sports programs, yearbooks, school newspapers, and school calendars
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Table 1. (Continued ) Activities Media-based advertising
Samples Indirect advertising Corporate-sponsored educational materials
Corporate-sponsored teacher training
Corporate-sponsored contests and activities Corporate grants or gifts
Examples Televised ads aired on Channel One or commercial stations Computer-delivered advertisements by ZapMe! and commercial search engines Ads in commercial newspapers or magazines Free snack food or personal hygiene products Dental hygiene units that provide toothpaste and toothbrush samples and display brand names Materials on issues associated with particular industries that are developed by those industries, such as ecology units produced by the oil companies and safety units produced by insurance companies Materials that promote industrial goals, such as energy conservation materials proposed by power companies and nutritional information produced by dairy or meat associations Training by computer software companies on the use of hardware or software systems they sell Training by companies on general subjects, such as management techniques or creativity McDonald’s poster contest, Pizza Hut’s Book-it Program, Duracell Battery Company’s invention contest Corporate gifts to schools that generate commercial benefits to the donor
Source: GAO/HEHS-00-156 (2000, p. 8).
exposure; and negotiate services that reflect community needs and values. The author posits that teachers and administrators should guide students: (1) On the Internet to insure that personal information is never compromised; (2) In the selection of appropriate sites for research; (3) Avoid designated contracts for goods and services; (4) Make nutritious snacks, fruit drinks, and water available for children; and (5) Prepare and implement policies that provide ample allowances for corporate partnerships with necessary parameters.
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Table 2. State
Statute/ Regulation
Arizona
Statute
California
Statute
Regulation
Illinois
Product Sales
Advertising Direct
Advertising Indirect
Permits advertising on school buses under certain restrictions Allows school boards to Allows school boards to Prohibits state and negotiate contracts negotiate contracts granting local schools from granting exclusive rights to exclusive advertising rights adopting sell carbonated beverages and the dissemination of ads instructional under certain restrictions electronically under certain materials that restrictions provide unnecessary exposure to brand names, products, or company logos Allows minors under 16 to engage in door-to-door sales under certain restrictions Permits school boards to set Permits school boards to set Permits school boards policies regarding policies regarding to set policies advertising advertising regarding advertising Requires all Requires all solicitations to Requires all solicitations be approved by the to be approved by the solicitations to be superintendent superintendent approved by the superintendent
Market Research
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Florida
State Statues and Regulations Targeting Commercial Activities in Schools.
Louisiana
Statute
Maine
Statute
Maryland
Statute
Minnesota
Statute
Mississippi
Statute
Nevada
Statute
New Mexico Statute and Regulation New York Regulation
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Permits student editors to determine advertising content in student publications Permits donor decals on school buses to acknowledge donations of cellular telephone services Permits school districts to Permits school districts to Permits school Permits school raise money for their raise money for their districts to raise districts to raise benefit benefit money for their money for their benefit benefit Permits advertising on school bus shelters under certain restrictions Permits advertising on school buses under certain restrictions Authorizes school boards to offer protective textbook covers to commercial entities for advertising Permits advertising on and in school buses Permits advertising on and in school buses Prohibits commercial Prohibits commercial activities Prohibits commercial Prohibits activities on school on school premises but activities on school commercial premises but permits permits commercial premises but activities on commercial sponsorships sponsorships of school permits commercial school premises of school activities activities sponsorships of but permits school activities commercial sponsorships of school activities
Schools as Markets: Bilking the Young and Powerless
Kansas
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Table 2. (Continued ) State
Statute/ Regulation
North Carolina
Statute
North Dakota
Statute
Rhode Island Statute
Statute and Regulation
Texas
Regulation
Virginia
Regulation
Advertising Direct
Requires that materials presented during the school day relate to the curricula
Requires school boards to approve fundraising involving students Prohibits teachers from engaging in commercial activity unless activity is authorized by the state department of education
Source: GAO/HEHS-00-156 (2000, p. 12).
Advertising Indirect
Market Research
Permits school boards to adopt books containing commercial advertising
Prohibits teachers from engaging Prohibits teachers Prohibits teachers in commercial activity unless from engaging in from engaging in commercial activity commercial activity is authorized by the state department of education unless activity is activity unless authorized by the activity is state department of authorized by the education state department of education Requires schools to adopt policies regulating school bus advertising and restricts the size, location, and appearance of school bus advertisements Permits commercially sponsored high school athletic programs Prohibits advertising on and in school buses
JUDITH BROOKS-BUCK
Tennessee
Product Sales
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Finally, Larson (2002) notes that: Many foundations and organizations do not require ‘‘the commercial quid pro quo’’ (Fege and Hagelshaw). Schools might, moreover, consider fund development, ‘‘an approach long practiced by colleges and universities . . . but seldom attempted by elementary and middle schools,’’ write Stephens and others (2000). They explain planned giving, grants, and creative fundraising, and provide resources that can help principals locate funding sources.23
While some of the policy suggestions seem reasonable and relatively easy to implement, others may be disproportionately impacted by poverty and culture. Nutritious snacks are much more costly than junk food, and much less accessible in poor communities. Children accustomed to certain foods may not choose nutritious alternatives if other options are available. Principals working in the neediest communities negotiate with vendors for needed supplies, and rarely have the luxury of turning down offers to provide instructional materials and technology (Kaufman, 1999).
COMMERCIALISM AND CHANGING EDUCATIONAL POLICIES The discourse on commercialism and children is so intermingled with schools that the link between school policy and sales to youth and young adults must necessarily be included. Change usually occurs simultaneously in multiple venues, and the rise of commercialism in public schools was and is no exception. While promoting the development of the educational leader/Chief Executive Officer (CEO) (policies associated with the Deming Total Quality Management philosophy or TQM), specific elements of Deming’s trademark 14 points for management were adapted for schools. Table 3 below shows a comparison of Deming’s points and the pervasive wave of school improvement principles that dominated the 1980s and 1990s (Deming, 1986). Initially, emphasis was placed on public school shortcomings. Reformist researchers skillfully targeted perceived negative aspects of public school activity. John Chubb and Terry Moe (1990), economists/political scientists, dubbed public schools wasteful and ineffective, and instead suggested various, management changes, school choice options, and private alternatives. Table 4 is an exemplar of some of the 1990 Chubb and Moe ideas. The Chubb and Moe (1990)24 research purported to change the outcomes of public school students with changes in bureaucratic regulations, and along with other historians, economists, and politicians, the data from the
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Table 3.
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Comparison of Deming’s Points and the Pervasive Wave of School Improvement Principles.
Deming 1. Create a plan; publish the aims and purposes of the organization 2. Learn and adopt the new philosophy of quality 3. Understand the purpose of inspection; stop depending on inspection 4. Stop awarding business based on price alone
5. Improve the system constantly
6. Institute training
7. Teach and institute leadership 8. Drive out fear, create trust, and create a climate for innovation. 9. Optimize the efforts of teams, groups, and staff areas 10. Eliminate exhortations, and targets for the work force; provide methods of achievement 11. Eliminate numerical quotas for the work force 12. Remove barriers that rob people of pride for workmanship 13. Encourage education and selfimprovement for everyone
14. Make action to accomplish the transformation, make it everyone’s job
American Adaptation 1. Write and post the vision; develop a mission statement and outline indicators of progress 2. Impending paradigm shifts were projected 3. Frequent observations and regular evaluation
4. School expenditures were called into question and perceived areas of waste were eliminated. Unskilled labor was contracted to private industry, and employees were dismissed, or turned over to private companies 5. Regular reviews by outside consultants became the norm and ‘‘Curriculum Audits’’ (contractors examine every aspect of the teaching/learning process and analyze all expenditures and services in a school district) became popular 6. Specialized professional development for teachers, and administrators and school district staff. 7. Professional development for building and central office administrators 8. Emphasis on collaboration and consultation 9. Same as #8 10. Merit pay and other pay for performance
11. Working with minimal staff 12. Initiated more awards, i.e. national, state, and local teacher of the year awards, etc. 13. Offer monetary and intrinsic rewards for coursework; and initiated stringent sanctions against teachers who fail to meet new accreditation status 14. Development and implementation of new standards
Source: Quality and Quality Management Forum, http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/ management/Pr-Sa/Quality-and-Total-Quality-Management.html
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Table 4.
Predicted Effects of Bureaucratic Influence and other Factors on School Organization, Public Schools.
Predicted Percentile of Organizational Effectiveness if Determinant is at Mean of Determinant of school organization
Student size Student tenth grade achievement Student behavior problems Parent socioeconomic status Parent–school contacts School board influence Disciplinary constraint Bureaucratic influence (a) Administrative constraint (b) Personnel constraint (c) Total (administrative plus personnel constraint)
Lowest quartile
Highest quartile
Predicted percentile change
27.6 27.7 70.4 25.8 40.3 38.9 32.5
84.7 64.8 31.1 73.5 52.8 57.6 65.9
57.1 37.1 39.3 47.7 12.5 18.7 33.4
56.8 74.5 85.6
39.5 17.2 54.3
20.2 17.3 68.4
Source: John Chubb and Terry Moe (1990, p. 276).
researchers were used to support reform efforts, and opened the door for several individuals outside of education to shape policy.25 Since public school records are opened to public scrutiny before approval by school boards, the target (budgets and programs) could be easily accessed and publicly attacked. Additionally, few people in America have no experience with public schools and all must support public education through taxation. Given the circumstances, many individuals feel some sense of authority on the subject McNergney and McNergney (2004) term, the people’s profession.26 Because of America’s open access to public schools, it (public education) has always been a hot topic for politicians and private citizens, and the emphasis today bares a great resemblance to political activity in the past.27 Although the beginnings of commercial advertising in schools can be traced back to 1890 when a paint company developed a flyer to handout in art classes, supporters and opponents alike have increased their visibility with great intensity.28 America’s educational policy reform efforts must be understood in the context of the inextricable links to the political, social, and economic frameworks in which they are developed and implemented.29 Karier (1986)30 and Kennedy (1995)31 note that Progressive Era reforms can be linked to the concept of mandatory schooling for children, the establishment of the American welfare system, and the anti-child labor
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movements of the early 20th century. Vocational Programs of the 1930s and 1940s can be linked to the social, economic, and political upheaval, brought on by the influx of new immigrants, pre and post World War II needs, and the demands for war materials and weapons. The failure of the United States to beat the Russians into outer space can be linked to the enhanced emphasis on math and science in the 1950s and 1960s (Karier, 1986). The Civil Rights Movement and the War on Poverty resulted in desegregation of the public schools, and the passage of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. The Education of All Handicapped Children Act of 1975, now known as the 2004 Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA), added one of the most costly initiatives to the public education funding during the Ford Administration. Linked to Civil Rights for persons with disabilities, Berliner and Biddle (1997)32 found that special needs programs consumed more than 30 percent of new educational monies. The salience of the expenditures is evident when inferences are made to increased public school funding. As the cost of public school increased, criticism of public schools by some researchers increased as well.33 A resurgence of conservative politics and reform movements spanned the 20th and now the 21st centuries with interest groups ranging from parents to legislators, and business leaders to Presidents. Former conservative republican, John Dean indicates, in his book Conservatives without Conscience, that a new brand of conservativism has emerged that even moderate conservatives refuse to embrace.34 The type of conservatism that on the surface embraces the positive elements of American public school policy, uses partisan legislation to intentionally line the pockets of individuals who have no interest whatsoever in the well-being of children.35 Reform efforts in the United States are influenced by so many variables that cannot be explained by a single dynamic, but are manifested by some element of the Realpolitik (or politics as an exercise of power among individuals and groups) Cibulka (1995).36 The two dimensions of the phenomenon are ideological hegemony, and pluralist and ideological bargaining. While ideological hegemony, the constant in Social Darwinism, is clearly evidenced in the recent policy reform efforts in American public education, the implementation of some educational reforms with bipartisan efforts must be credited to pluralist and ideological bargaining. The latter, ideological bargaining, coupled with media representations, can be easily conceptualized when considering the enactment and re-authorization of current public education reform legislation.
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The latest reforms for public schools actually began following the release of a report titled, A Nation at Risk (1983). The report was touted by media, as a scathing critique of American Public Schools, and the suggestion that American children were far behind international peers was promulgated. Spinning the argument to fit economic conditions is not new, although the results of the selling of America and American industries during the Reagan Era presented new challenges and served to reduce Middle American resources (Phillips, 1991).37 Shifting the argument away from the actual effects of global marketing, unemployment, and poverty in America; and manipulating new initiatives to fit lost jobs and wages, proved positive for President Reagan and his successors. The Reagan strategies not only opened doors to school material resources for businesses, but also opened the education market to non-traditional teachers who come from the ranks of the unemployed or under employed college educated middle class. In the 1980s, ‘‘the emergence of organized representation of citizen interests and the counter mobilization of business injected many new conflictual issues into legislative deliberations’’.38 Pro business support from the Reagan and Bush administrations aided business interests attempting to access multiple policy venues at a phenomenal rate, including education. With the advent of Reagonomics and the massive corporate tax cuts proposed in 1981, observers expected that revenue would be greatly reduced for public services. Reduced tax revenue coupled with the notion of outsourcing as a means of streamlining budgets required different approaches for recurring public service needs.39 Contractors from the business community could take over jobs in every area of public service. Since the largest budget item for school systems was (and still is) employee salaries, the new practices were favorably considered.40 For example, normal school service activities like meals could be relegated to catering companies; thus reducing the need for school systems to maintain large cafeteria staffs. Maintenance services could be provided by cleaning companies so that the number of custodial employees could be reduced. These reductions allowed school systems to eliminate salaries, retirement, insurance expenditures, and the accompanying union negotiations.41 Some suggested cuts also came with the notion of bargaining with vendors for traditional school services used by teachers and students. The process that had begun by offering teachers and administrators small gifts with logos attached expanded to unprecedented levels. During the decentralization process which actually did trickle down before, during, and after Reagonomics, soft drink vendors, grocers, software companies and others established contracts with individual schools and school systems,
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to provide profits directly to school administrators from their products in the form of technology, audiovisual materials, workbooks, and cash. In 2001, the federal legislation titled, No Child Left Behind, added the new dimension of private tutoring, private schooling at public expense, and school takeovers by for profit companies, if students did not perform at acceptable levels on standardized tests.42 As the business stronghold on schools increased, funding for schools consistently failed to provide educational necessities. School leaders, began to implement large-scale income generating activities. Partnerships with businesses were and are mandatory, not just for small gifts, but for learning materials and for programs. The sale of candy, small gifts, and other items increased, and the purchase of supplies, part-time specialists, and/or artists in residence became commonplace. If getting the lights on the football field required accepting the display board that also displayed Coca Cola, no questions were asked. School leaders in desperate need of funds to bring minimal goods and services to schools lost the will to be concerned about the health and welfare of children.
INTENDED AND UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES OF UNFETTERED COMMERCIALISM Marketing to young people is profitable, and with the notion of profit at the forefront of policy implementation, the billions of dollars associated with preying on youth seem less significant. Sullivan (2001) found that In recent decades, school budget crunches have driven many school districts to look for creative ways to fund their needs, and corporations have been quick to respond with dazzling deal-making. America’s kids are a large and growing market; pre-teen children spend about $15 billion per year and influence their parents to spend another $160 billion; teenagers spend about $57 billion of their own allowance and talk mom and dad into spending another $36 billion. The situation was summed up in a 1995 interview with James U. McNeal, president of McNeal & Kids Youth Marketing Consultants: kids are ‘‘the big spending superstars in the consumer constellation’’. (p. 1)43
The phenomenal revenue to be gained from marketing to children appears to be too fiscally attractive to be regulated consistently by state law. The old strands of commercialism in schools (i.e., candy sales, food courts, soft drinks), were later augmented with fast food courts replacing public school cafeterias, parties hosted by fast food companies, and the like. All were and are directly linked to vanishing public funds and escalating costs. Unfortunately, the fundraisers support what the Centers for Disease
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Control (CDC) determined to be a marked increase in childhood obesity (Anderson, Kirsten Butcher, & Levine, 2003).44 Tables 5 and 6 capture the degree of weight gain by youth and young adults aged 2–19. Though children and youth aged 2–19 years weigh in as young and heavy, and the media is flooded with information that upholds the devastating effects of childhood obesity; commercial efforts to increase the levels of less than nutritious foods into the diets of children persists. From the 1980s to the 1990s, obesity rates in children nearly tripled.45 The lack of concern for youth and young adults suggest that the young have become expendable. Baecher (1999) noted that the process of advertising any products to children was expanded to a captive audience, as students required to watch educational television programs on Channel One, were also required to watch commercials.46 Chris Whittle, owner of Whittle Communications and creator of Channel One, acknowledged that the idea of opening the market to direct sales to children served as the impetus for Channel One.47 With growth comes diversity and the GAO (2000) acknowledges that little if any, enforcement of policies preventing direct sales marketing to children exists. Table 5. Males Average Body Mass Index (BMI) and Fraction Obese (1971–2000). 1971–1974
Ages 2–19 Ages 2–5 Ages 6–11 Ages 12–19
1976–1980
1988–1994
1999–2000
BMI
Obese
BMI
Obese
BMI
Obese
BMI
Obese
18.62 (3.86) 15.96 (1.41) 16.74 (2.61) 21.14 (3.81)
0.053 (0.224) 0.047 (0.213) 0.045 (0.208) 0.061 (0.24)
18.83 (3.84) 15.87 (1.38) 17.04 (2.83) 21.16 (3.64)
0.055 (0.229) 0.045 (0.208) 0.072 (0.259) 0.048 (0.214)
19.19 (4.55) 16.06 (1.70) 17.68 (3.30) 22.12 (4.76)
0.104 (0.305) 0.060 (0.238) 0.120 (0.325) 0.115 (0.32)
19.66 (4.91) 16.21 (1.61) 17.94 (3.37) 22.82 (5.19)
0.138 (0.345) 0.103 (0.305) 0.152 (0.359) 0.144 (0.351)
Notes: Standard deviations are in parentheses. We use the term ‘‘obese’’ to refer to children with BMIs above an age-sex-specific cutoff. This cutoff roughly corresponds to the 95th percentile of the age-sex-specific BMI distribution in National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) data from the 1960s and early 1970s. Children with BMIs above this cutoff are usually termed ‘‘overweight’’ in the medical literature, while ‘‘obese’’ is used for adults. We use ‘‘obese’’ for both groups. Adults are termed ‘‘obese’’ if their BMI is 30 or above. The data include 2–19 year olds for the children. Authors’ calculations based on data from the NHANES. Source: Anderson, et al. (2003, p. 35).
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Table 6.
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Female Average Body Mass Index (BMI) and Fraction Obese (1971–2000). 1971–1974
Ages 2–19 Ages 2–5 Ages 6–11 Ages 12–19
1976–1980
1988–1994
1999–2000
BMI
Obese
BMI
Obese
BMI
Obese
BMI
Obese
18.64 (4.11) 15.66 (1.53) 16.79 (2.66) 21.23 (4.15)
0.051 (0.221) 0.05 (0.218) 0.038 (0.191) 0.061 (0.24)
18.94 (4.15) 15.69 (1.49) 17.1 (3.16) 21.33 (3.95)
0.056 (0.023) 0.052 (0.221) 0.066 (0.249) 0.051 (0.22)
19.39 (4.43) 16.08 (1.94) 17.86 (3.70) 22.42 (4.75)
0.97 (0.296) 0.085 (0.279) 0.109 (0.312) 0.093 (0.291)
19.97 (5.30) 16.05 (1.99) 18.07 (3.85) 23.39 (5.30)
0.141 (0.348) 0.11 (0.313) 0.145 (0.353) 0.153 (0.36)
Notes and Source same as given in Table 5.
Policy reform initiatives were left without restrictions and the mutant form of commercialism that has resulted has been exacerbated in the absence of regulations. In fact, without any formal training in education, Mr. Whittle expanded his operations and redirected his focus. Whittle now serves as CEO of the Edison Schools, a for-profit company that has taken over the operation of public schools in several states.48
Poverty, Commercialism and Targeting Youth and Young Adults of Color Over the past decade, advertisers have increasingly targeted the purchasing power of minorities, especially African American teens. Linda Spear, president of Motion Financial II, an African American mortgage brokerage firm, stated that the products usually targeted to them are far beyond their financial means. ‘‘Our teens see their favorite celebrities endorsing an expensive and usually depreciating product, then feel if they don’t have it, they will be looked down upon by their peers, and this is wrong,’’ she said. It is this type of consumer behavior and thinking that will cause negative long-term effects on their future ability to purchase high-priced items and investment property. When African American teens become adults, they continue to place themselves in debt with trendy overpriced items that create a false sense of self-worth, because this is the pattern that they have established over the years.49
The reasons for the behavior that Spear describes may be linked to a cacophony of circumstances that children of color are forced to vet on an ongoing basis. In America, children of color may be exposed to undue criticism, low expectations, physical isolation, and verbal and/or physical attacks as normal circumstances. The perpetrators show no visible remorse
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for the behavior, and the children of color have few options for fair resolution. The much advertised academic achievement gap between children of color and their white peers also adds a degree of angst to the process of getting the most out of education, and gaining a positive sense of self-worth. Children of color and the families from which they come are more likely than white peers to function in settings that are substandard. Clinical Psychologist Beverly Daniel-Tatum (1997) indicates that: ‘‘Simply as a function of being socialized in Eurocentric culture, some Black children may begin to value the role models, lifestyles, and images of beauty represented by the dominant group . . . ’’ (p. 55).50 The children see themselves as inferior. The impact of the type of media exposure to which Dr. Daniel-Tatum refers is magnified for unsophisticated child consumers, but is more pronounced among children of color and the poor. Poor children who constantly view images of the rich and happy are not aware of the fact that what is viewed as realistic is simply a mirage designed to promote the illusion of prosperity and superiority. Psychologist Margaret Beale Spencer (2007), in replicating the famous Clark and Clark experiments of the 1950s, found that in 1989, the results were consistent with the initial experiments. African American preschool children viewed their sub-Saharan African physical features as unattractive and inferior, and chose white dolls as superior to dolls of color in multiple trials. Dr. Beale Spencer (2007) asserted that as graduate students replicated the experiments in 2007, the white supremacy notion is still pervasive among young African American children. Further, Dr. Beale Spencer (2007) suggests careful scrutiny should be applied when public images promote the supremacy of Europeans, and devalue the salience of negative images of black people on black children.51 The vestiges of slavery and the continued pressures associated with living in a society that vacillates on issues of race and class, make African Americans as a social group particularly vulnerable to the notion of selfhood through ownership of commercial materials.52 Limited visions of opportunity through socially acceptable means of acquiring goods and services, coupled with a lack of supervision, also enhance the possibility of participation in illegal activity. While younger children are easily attracted to the colorful and musical commercials that entice them to request sugary cereals, soft drinks, toys and some special items of clothing, psychologist Na’im Akbar (1991) calls attention to the fact that young adults: . . . emancipated boys are still basically materialists. These boys define their power by the amount of materials they are able to acquire . . . They find themselves manipulated by
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the constant change of fashions. In fact the fashion industry is perpetuated by keeping boys changing their wardrobes . . . (p. 11)53
Akbar (1991), Bell (1992), Daniel-Tatum (1997), and LaPoint (2003) also assert that racism and classism in America have such an impact on the psyche that individuals will remain in a constant state of angst when consumer goods do not fill the void left by poor self awareness. Psychologists Gerrig and Zimbardo (2005) maintain that stressors, which may include low self-esteem, can become so great in the lives of individuals that physical and mental illness can result. Children of color and the poor who are left to daily mediate race and class interactions often find themselves unable to cope with stressors using socially acceptable strategies. LaPoint (2004b) notes that the salience of commercialism in schools is undeniable; and cites reports of black and Latino males assaulting and killing one another for ‘‘high-priced, celebrity endorsed, sneakers, jackets, and other items’’.54 The inability to cope with stressors in a positive way may lead to other consequences as well. Baecher (1999) maintains that, children are three markets in one: they buy and spend; they have an enormous influence on what their parents buy; and they’re a future market, so instilling brand loyalty today while they are young and impressionable can pay off for years and years to come.55 Unfortunately for children of color and the poor, the enhanced nature of the poor self-image makes the influence of these sources more desirable, and the consequences more intense. Angry outbursts, abuse, bullying, and crimes like the ones noted earlier affect school performance. Children associate self-image with designer clothing, cellular telephones, and videogames. The desires are so pronounced that tasks in school pale in comparison to the significance of acquiring the aforementioned ego boosters. Additionally, . . . Youth of color and low-income youth generally listen to the radio and watch more ‘screen entertainment’ – television, videos, and movies . . . primarily because (a) children have less access to high quality supplemental education programs after school and on weekends; (b) the radio and screen entertainment are more available and less costly for children and families; (c) the high proportion of single parent families for many children and youth which suggests that these youth may have large amounts of unsupervised time; and (d) commercial programming and advertising that is filled with entertainers and celebrities, generally filled with the same ethnic group, ‘low-income looking’ persons and surroundings. (LaPoint, 2004b, p. 2)56
LaPoint’s (2004b) comments imply that marketing to children of color has distinct trademarks. Being ‘‘like Mike’’ (Michael Jordan) may mean that the
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male students need a diamond earring, Hanes Underwear, or expensive footwear. Advertisers sell the image and assume no responsibility for the outcomes. In a study published in the Journal of Negro Education, LaPoint surveyed 343 middle school students in a U.S. Northeastern city regarding opinions about clothing and uniforms. Eighty-six percent of the students were African American and the remaining 14 percent were Hispanic Americans. Fifty-four percent of students surveyed felt that clothing affected general behavior at school; 72 percent believed that clothing influenced social status; and 84.4 percent indicated that students were teased because of the clothing that they wore (Fig. 1). Seventh and eighth graders also believed that clothing and appearance could be linked to tardiness, poor academic performance, and breaking other school rules. Variances in responses were most often associated with grade placement (e.g. sixth and eighth graders might express different opinions); and parental influence, religious beliefs, gender, and national origin.
84.4 72
90 80 54
70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Clothing influenced general behavior
Fig. 1.
Clothing influenced social status Students were teased because of the clothing worn
Survey of Student Dress and Behavior in Public Schools.
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Dill, Zinn, and Patton (1999) and LaPoint (2004a) suggest that children of color living in poverty are extremely susceptible to the corporate notion of ‘‘capture and target’’ (LaPoint, 2004b, p. 1).57 Time spent viewing commercials in and out of school; the time spent alone without the supervision of adults; and the vulnerabilities of poor children also support the influence of media. Reporter, Alec MacGillis (2004) of the Baltimore Sun found that ‘‘for companies selling education software, the poorer a place is the better’’.58 Children and the individuals responsible for them fall prey to some of the most unscrupulous business practices.
CONCLUSIONS The symbiotic relationships that exist between unfunded and under funded public schools and the businesses that partner with them, require careful scrutiny. The statutes and regulations regarding advertising allow for the introduction of multifaceted schemes aimed at the least powerful. Some advocates believe that what has been done to structure advertising has missed opportunities to examine cable television advertisement coming to students through Channel One (Baecher, 1999). Furthermore, failure to regulate Internet exposure to advertising opens a new and easy opportunity to expose students to pop-ups, junk mail, and even Internet predators. By the year 2000, California was the only state that mentioned electronic media in its advertising regulations. In order for schools to sustain current services, and introduce newly mandated federal standards, unfunded programs continue to draw from previously funded programs. Coupled with added fuel costs; additional staff associated with smaller class sizes; testing supplies and added costs associated with ancillary industries that directly impact the daily operation of schools; boards and superintendents were and still are forced to make hard decisions regarding the life and viability of programs. Art, music, physical education, and other programs have been seriously impacted while deference has been shown to basic skills instruction (Darling-Hammond, 2004; Wood, 2004). The political power plays aimed at pushing specific themes in public education downplay the role of research-based results. The 2007 PDK/ Gallop Poll reports that the majority of Americans are in favor of funding public education. Poll results for the last four years have indicated that Americans (parents and citizens without children) believe that the ‘‘Biggest Problem’’ in public schools is funding. It would follow then that remedying
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the funding crisis by making public education a budget priority would at least begin to resolve the ‘‘Biggest Problem’’. In a democratic society, educating the populous would appear to be an unspoken priority. Unfortunately, the opposite appears to be the path most often taken. The fate of the children who must attend American public schools has been determined by the flow of money. Maintaining the status quo is a confounding theme that has served as an effective catalyst for sustaining positions of power in America. Full funding for American public education that all Americans may access, could immediately resolve the some of the issues examined herein, reducing the need for business partnerships. Suggesting that those who work with under funded schools ‘‘pull themselves up by their bootstraps’’ with greedy corporate partners speaks volumes toward understanding political intentions. The legislation that governs American public schools supports such notions by taking monies away from the lowest performing schools, and denying the salience of factors other than teaching and test scores that influence student achievement. Further, the legislation’s requirements support the turnover of educational resources to failing and or untested commercial programs and glosses over poor results. Unabated commercialism of this kind can only produce repeat failures.
Moving from Sales to Service Hoff (2006) found that business interests continue to move even further into uncharted territories by pushing for the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 to be reauthorized. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Business Roundtable, and other business groups are laying the groundwork to have their voices heard in the process . . . to protect the nearly 5-year old education law from major changes . . . While corporate America has long supported national education initiatives, many observers say that business leaders are now more prominent and focused on specific details than ever before. Although business leaders supported efforts to set national education goals in the late 1980s . . . they weren’t as involved as they are now in advocating specific policy initiatives. Before Congress passed the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001, business leaders had not been big players in the reauthorizations of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the Great Society era legislation that was most recently revised by the NCLB law. (Hoff, 2006, pp. 1–2)59
The impetus for the increasing presence of corporate America in the formerly protected industries of public education, and higher education
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(primarily, in teacher education) remains questionable. Although the stated goals consistently mirror themes from the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, and the 1980s (e.g., increased competition, and the growing need for students to pursue degree programs in mathematics, science, engineering, and technology); the history of big business involvement since No Child Left Behind has been expanded to a point where limitless revenue has exacerbated sound judgment. Marketing of the educational products resulted in one prominent African American, Armstrong Williams, having to return $240,000.00 of government funds, because the Bush Administration hired him to market the legislation to other African Americans (Toppo, 2005). Hoff (2006) also found that Sandy Kress, a former Bush aide who assisted in negotiating the law, now a lawyer in Austin, Texas, has been hired by business interests to lobby for the reauthorization. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills, which includes technology and education companies such as Microsoft Corp., Pearson Education, and LeapFrog Schoolhouse Inc., wants assessments that can assure that students have gained more than basic academic knowledge during their school careers. The Tucson, Arizona-based group also counts non-profits such as the National Education Association, the American Federation of Teachers, and the American Association of School Librarians among its members. (Hoff, 2006, p. 2)
The objectives of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills’ appear to be more consistent with the idea of the development of engineers, scientists and mathematicians, and technologically adept college graduates. Current practices and testing requirements in No Child Left Behind focus on basic skills only; diminishing the possibility of adding more engineers, scientists, mathematicians, and technologically adept professionals to the current market. Additionally, the under funded federal mandate has resulted in multi-million dollar expenditures for school districts throughout the nation. Data analysts and other ancillary personnel have been hired to implement the various facets of the law. Schools have been closed; states have been penalized; businesses have increased revenue; and a new and more complex system of busing has resulted since school choice options have been exercised. Unfortunately, Wood (2004), Darling-Hammond (2004), and Kozol (2005) note that more children are dropping out of schools, receiving lower test scores; and the illusive achievement gap remains illusive. Monies set aside for businesses have increased; and politicians who continue to tout the merits of the revolutionary changes in schooling have moved further ahead. According to the 2007 Phi Delta Kappan/Gallop60 poll, the opposite is true. A sad epitaph seems destined to result. Most often noted gaps in
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performance by race continue to gain full media coverage, while the gaps that exist on economic levels are just as pronounced, but downplayed. Deregulation and the use of public schools as corporate shopping malls, show no evidence of progress toward closing the gap between American public school haves and have-nots. Unfortunately, obese children with numerous physical ailments; troubled children without the latest fad clothing and gadgets; dropouts and push outs; are in the ranks of the millions of American children left behind. In contrast, corporations that flood the youth and young adult markets continue to record billions of dollars in profit.61 ‘‘One view of the well-adjusted person has been detailed by Abraham Maslow. People who are well adjusted attempt to actualize’’ themselves; that is, they live in a way that they believe is best for their own growth and fulfillment regardless of what others may think (Morris, 1993, p. 536).62 Commercialism impedes the self-actualization process in youth and young adults. American public schools have been placed on the business auction block without restrictions. The deregulation of services and instruction for public school children will have long-term negative results. While all children are impacted by commercialism, Akbar, (1991), Edwards (1999), Cecile Andrews (1999), LaPoint (2003, 2004b), and others suggest that the pronounced impact of commercialism on children of color and the poor is embellished when coupled with issues of esteem. ‘‘Commercialism trivializes, undermines, and degrades one of the primary reasons for education: introducing students to the greatness and nobility of the human spirit – including their own. Commercialism reduces the human quest for transcendence into a desire for more stuff’’ (Andrews, 1999, p. 28).63
NOTES 1. Alex Molnar (2003a-09-23). School Commercialism, Student Health, and the Pressure to Do More with Less. Efforts by corporations to use schools to promote their points of view, address public relations or political problems, or sell products and services is not new. Over the past decade; however, it appears that corporations have dramatically increased marketing directed at children in schools (p. 2), http:// webmail.att.net/wmc/n/wm/44CC100100036DBE00004EeB2160466648050CAOD 2. Ibid. 3. Frank Brown (2007). Funding Urban Schools. Globalization has its own language and phases. It uses terms such as outsourcing, which allows my software to connect to your software, so that the information may be disaggregated and moved to any place in the world (p. 24).
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4. Scott Thompson (2003). Systems theorists suggest that mechanisms known as systems archetypes, ‘‘or counterproductive organizational behaviors that are repeated in diverse contexts’’ undermine even the most well-intentioned policies. 5. Daniel Armstrong (2000). The trade deficit is actually the product of a robust U.S. economy, driven by consumer demand for affordable imported goods. Moreover, nearly half of all imports are actually goods made overseas by American companies: 46 percent in 1999, according to the Foreign Trade Division of the U.S. Census Bureau. Available at http://www.mindfully.org/Indstry/S-Appetite-ForImports.htm. Retrieved on December 21, 2007. 6. Robert McHugh (2007) in No Way Out: A 50% Dollar Devaluation argues that ‘‘artificial economics . . . focus on building an economy where debt – not income – pays for goods and services’’. Devalued dollars allow for a cheaper way to pay off debt . . . ‘‘Debt does not rise as the dollar devalues. It is a contracted amount in former dollar value . . . Thus, if we suddenly hand several hundred thousand dollars to each and every household, a dollar will become worth 50 cents in real terms, but in debt terms, it will still be worth a dollar, and folks will have more of them.’’ http:// www.financialsense.com/fsu/editorials/mchugh/2007/0114.html 7. Center for the Study of Commercialism as quoted in Molnar (2003a, p. 2). 8. Guo et al. quoted in Brooks-Gunn and Duncan (1997, p. 55). 9. Dill, Zinn, and Patton in Ransby (1999, p. 274). 10. Kathleen Madigan, Commentary: Outsourcing Jobs: Is It Bad? August 25, 2003. 11. Phoenix.gov. 12. Children’s Defense Fund (2006). Media Violence Basics. From movies to music to television to the Internet, children and teens spend an ever-increasing amount of time engaged in one form of media or another. Whether through advertising, news, or primary entertainment, children are constantly bombarded with harmful messages and violent images . . . The motion picture, music recording, and electronic games industries have set their sights on marketing products to children under age 17 – products that their own rating systems deem inappropriate for children. http://campaign.childrensdefense.org/education/mediaviolence/basics.aspx 13. Sylvan Learning Centers (2007). Commercials. 14. American Academy of Child of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. (2004). 15. Ibid. 16. Ibid. 17. Alex Molnar, ASU Education Policy Studies Laboratory (2003, September 23). School Commercialism, Student Health and the Pressure To Do. 18. Velma LaPoint (2003). 19. Gerrig and Zimbardo (2005). The drive for self-actualization at times comes into conflict with the need for approval from the self and others, especially when the person feels that certain obligations or conditions must be met in order to gain approval. 20. Barbara Ransby (1999). The Black Poor and the Politics of Expendability, p. 321. 21. Kevin Phillips (1991). The Politics of the Rich and Poor: Wealth and the American Electorate in the Reagan Aftermath. Organized labor and people in small towns and rural areas were seriously hurt by deregulation, p. 98.
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22. General Accounting Office (2000). Commercial Activities in schools. GO/ HEHS-00-156. [Online]. Available at worldcatlibraries.org/wcpa/ow/5b5de0ec361daa75a19afeb4-da09e526.html 23. Larson, Kirstin (2002). Commercialism in Schools. Clearinghouse on Educational Policy and Management. 24. John Chubb and Terry Moe (1990). Politics, Markets & America’s Schools. 25. David J. Hoff (2006, October 18). Big Business Going to Bat for NCLB. 26. McNergney and McNergney (2004). Foundations of Education: The Challenge of Professional Practice. 27. Clarence Karier (1986). The Individual, Society and Education: A History of American Educational Ideas. 28. General Accounting Office Report (2000). Commercial Activities in Schools. 29. Ibid. 30. Clarence Karier (1986). The Individual, Society and Education: A History of American Educational Ideas. 31. Kerry J. Kennedy (1995). An analysis of the policy contexts of recent curriculum reform efforts in Australia, Great Britain and the United States. 32. Berliner and Biddle (1997). The Myth of Public School Costs. 33. Ibid. 34. John Dean (2006). Conservatives without a Conscience. 35. Wood (2004) and Darling-Hammond (2004). Many Children Left Behind: How the No Child Left Behind Act Is Damaging Our Children and Our Schools. 36. James Cibulka (1995). The evolution of education reform in the United States: Policy ideas or Realpolitik? 37. Phillips, K. (1991). Politics of the Rich and Poor: Wealth and the American electorate in the Reagan aftermath. 38. Walker, Aberbach, and Baumgardner (1991, p. 134). 39. Phillips (1991), Hill, Pierce, and Guthrie (1997), and Ranney (1999). 40. McNergney and McNergney (2004). Foundations in American Education: the Challenge of Professional Practice; and Phillips, K. (1991). Politics of the Rich and Poor: Wealth and the American electorate in the Reagan aftermath. 41. Ranney, David (1999), and Hill et al. (1999). 42. Molnar (2001, 2003b), and Hess (2006). 43. Morris Sullivan (August/September, 2001). Education on the Auction Block: Teaching Kids to Consume. 44. Patricia Anderson, Kirsten Butcher, and Phillip B. Levine (2003). Economic perspectives on Childhood Obesity. 45. Ibid. 46. Charlotte Baecher, Speaker. Annual Meeting of PTA Representatives from the State of New York. Consumers Union. 47. Chris Whittle, Interview with Frontline (2003). 48. Ibid. 49. Spending Habits of African American Teens May Harm Future Purchasing Power. The Black Informant (2003). http://www.blackenergy.com/Article59.phtml 50. Daniel-Tatum, Beverly (1997). ‘‘Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?’’ And Other Conversations About Race.
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51. Margaret Beale Spencer (2007). Distinguished Scholar. Brown Lecture Series of the American Educational Research Association. 52. Anderson (1988), Akbar (1991), and LaPoint (2004a). 53. Akbar, Na’im (1991). Visions for Black Men. 54. LaPoint, V. (2004b). Commercialism’s Continuing Challenge to Youth of Color and Low -Income Youth. 55. Ibid. 56. LaPoint (2004b, p. 2). 57. Ibid. 58. MacGillis (September, 2004). Poor Schools, Rich Targets, Baltimore Sun Newspaper. 59. David J. Hoff (2006, October 18). Big Business Going to Bat for NCLB: Competitiveness Is Cited as Reason to Retain Law. 60. Op Cit. 61. Gallop Poll. (2007) The 39th annual phi delta kappan/ gallup poll of the public’s attitude toward the public schools. 62. Charles Morris (1993, p. 536). Psychology: An Introduction. 63. Cecile Andrews (1999, p. 28). Schools and Commercialism. Seeds and Circles Newsletter.
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LaPoint, V. (2004a). Commercialism in the lives of children of color: Change, challenge, and confrontation. Journal of Negro Education, 70, 351–367. LaPoint, V. (2004b). Commercialism’s continuing challenge to youth of color and low-income youth. [Online]. Available at http//www.commercialismexploitation.com/events/velmalapoint.htm Larson, K. (2002). Commercialism in schools: Clearinghouse on educational policy and management. Oregon: University of Oregon. MacGillis, A. (2004). Poor schools, rich targets. Baltimore Sun Newspaper. September, [Online]. Available at http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/education/bal-software,1,2904249.storygallery?coll=bal-home-utility Madigan, K. (2003). Commentary: Outsourcing jobs: Is it bad? Business Week. August 23. Available at http://www.businesweek.com/print/magazine/content/03_34/b3846027.htm? chan=mz. Retrieved on 12/21/2007. McHugh, R. (2007). No way out: A 50% dollar devaluation. January, [Online]. Available at http://www.fianancialsense.com/fsu/editorials/mchuhh/2007/0114.html McNergney, R. F., & McNergney, J. M. (2004). Foundations of education: The challenge of professional practice (4th ed.). Boston: Pearson Education, Inc. Molnar, A. (2001). Calculating the benefits and the costs of for-profit public education. Education Policy Analysis Archives. [Online]. Available at http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v9nl15.html Molnar, A. (2003a). School commercialism, student health, and the pressure to do more with less. Education Policy Analysis Archives. [Online]. Available at http://webamail.att.net/ wmc/n/wm/44CC100100036DBE00004E5B2160466648050C9A0D Molnar, A. (2003b). The commercial assault on children and the school environment. ASCD Annual Conference. [Online]. Available at http://www.simulconference.com/ASCD/ 2003/scs/2274c.shtml Morris, C. G. (1993). Psychology: An introduction. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Phillips, K. (1991). The politics of the rich and poor: Wealth and the American electorate in the Reagan aftermath. New York: HarperPerennial. Ranney, D. C. (1999). Class, race, gender, and poverty. In: L. Kushnick & J. Jennings (Eds), A new introduction to poverty: The role of race, power and politics. New York: New York University Press. Ransby, B. (1999). The black poor and the politics of expendability. In: L. Kushnick & J. Jennings (Eds), A new introduction to poverty: The role of race, power and politics. New York: New York University Press. Spencer, M. B. (2007). Distinguished scholar. Washington, DC: Brown Lecture Series of the American Educational Research Association. Sullivan, M. (2001). Education on the auction block: Teaching kids to consume. Impact Press. August/September, [Online]. Available at http://impactpress.com/articles/augsep01/ educationms80901.html Sylvan Learning Centers. (2007). Television commercial. National Broadcasting Company (NBC). [Online]. Available at http://tutoring.sylvanlearning.com The Black Informant. (2003). Spending habits of African American teens may harm future purchasing. [Online]. Available at http://www.blackenergy.com/Article59.phtml Thompson. (2003). Children get left behind when high stakes are confused with high leverage. No child left. Available at http://nochildleft.com/2003/mar03leverage.html
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Toppo, G. (2005). Education department paid commentator to promote law. USA Today. 0106-2005, [Online]. Available at http://usatoday.printhis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action= cpt&title=USATODAY.comþ-þE Walker, J. L., Aberbach, J. L., & Baumgardner, F. R. (1991). Introduction. Mobilizing interest groups in America: Patrons, professions and social movements. Ann Harbor: The University of Michigan Press. Wood, G. (2004). A view from the field: NCLB’s effect on classrooms and schools. In: D. Meier & G. Wood (Eds), Many children left behind: How the No Child Left Behind Act is damaging our children and our schools. Boston: Beacon Press.
WHAT TO TEACH OUR GLOBAL CITIZENS: APPLYING TRANSNATIONAL CIVICS FRAMEWORKS IN FOUR POST-COMMUNIST STATES Alison Price-Rom INTRODUCTION The recent trend in globalization has had a positive impact on international education, in that it has compelled many societies to transcend national boundaries in an effort to exchange knowledge and expertize in teaching, curriculum and education policy. The practice of cultural borrowing and lending, in which one country adopts or borrows policies and practices from another, is a significant feature of international education, and has been accelerated by these globalizing trends. According to Tilly, internationalization of ‘‘capital, trade, industrial organization, communications, political institutions, science, disease, atmospheric pollution, vindictive violence, and organized crime has been producing a net movement toward globalization since the middle of the twentieth century’’ (Tilly, 2004, p. 13). In the area of international education, an intensification in international communication and cooperation has had a positive impact on educational research,
Power, Voice and the Public Good: Schooling and Education in Global Societies Advances in Education in Diverse Communities: Research Policy and Praxis, Volume 6, 149–170 Copyright r 2008 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited All rights of reproduction in any form reserved ISSN: 1479-358X/doi:10.1016/S1479-358X(08)06006-3
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planning and policy development (Schriewer & Martinez, 2004), and may, as some have argued, brought about a convergence of patterns in the organization of education across national boundaries. Nevertheless, globalization in education carries with it the potential to undermine developing and transitional societies in their efforts to maintain indigenous approaches to educating future citizens – a potential that may contribute to the ‘‘clash of localities’’ that is inherent in the globalization process, in which local tradition is frequently at odds with international trends (Mitter, 2001). A measured approach to transnational projects in education development will ensure that the process of cultural borrowing does not lead to the inadvertent export of ideas and values that are at variance with a given country’s social, political and historical context, while simultaneously allowing for knowledge transfer across borders. Cultural borrowing is a necessary element in the transfer process, as it may provide the transitioning society with a model in the form of a curriculum, set of standards, or practices. However, as Dewey points out in Democracy and Education, any model or ‘‘ideal’’ must be adapted to meet the needs of the local context: We cannot set up, out of our heads, something we regard as an ideal society. We must base our conception upon societies which actually exist, in order to have any assurance that our ideal is a practicable one. But, as we have just seen, the ideal cannot simply repeat the traits which are actually found. The problem is to extract the desirable traits of forms of community life which actually exist, and employ them to criticize undesirable features and suggest improvement. (Dewey, 1997, p. 45)
Within the process of globalization of education, perhaps no area is more affected by the ‘‘clash of localities’’ than that of education for democratic citizenship, and this process is most acutely felt by those nations and regions that have recently overthrown or removed authoritarian regimes in favor of transitional governments, many of which may be in the process of becoming representative democracies. This chapter seeks to examine approaches to citizenship education in four such societies – the four post-communist nations of Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan – and will use as its measure the outcomes of a civics and citizenship education exchange program for teachers from those countries. The study will examine practices, theories and concepts in citizenship education that these teachers acquired during their course of study in the United States. An analysis of the variance in teacher responses within and across the four countries to questions about U.S.-acquired theories and instructional practices will demonstrate the way in which the educational, social and political contexts of these countries shape the cross-cultural transfer of citizenship education
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theory and practice. The study will further discuss the process of transferring approaches to civics education from one country to another in general, and will discuss the implications that arise when one country (namely the United States) exports its own approaches to teaching citizenship education to other countries that do not share the same historical, social and political background.
THE DEBATE OVER GLOBAL DEMOCRACY VS. LOCAL CONTEXT The discussion will begin with an evaluation of different theories vis-a-vis the development of democratic governments, and theories regarding how citizenship should be taught within that context. This will be followed by an examination of global trends toward democracy building in general, and the movement (or lack thereof) to establish democracies in Central Asia and Eastern Europe after the collapse of the Soviet Union. A number of specialists in the fields of citizenship education and political science contend that the world is inexorably moving in the direction of global democracy, based on the recent trends in this direction at the end of the 20th century, in which authoritarian governments in Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, South America and South Africa were toppled and replaced by governments which, in many cases, are now well on their way to establishing representative democracies with free and fair elections. On the eve of the Soviet Union’s break-up, in his controversial article ‘‘The End of History,’’ Francis Fukuyama (1989), maintained that already by the end of the 20th century, liberal democracy remained the only viable form of government left in the world: What we may be witnessing is not just the end of the Cold War, or the passing of a particular period of post-war history, but the end of history as such: that is, the end point of mankind’s ideological evolution and the universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government. (Fukuyama, 1989, p. 2)
Whether or not Fukuyama’s statement holds true today is debatable. However, it is clear that more governments that aspire to democracy have emerged since 1989, thereby causing a greater need to educate citizens to function successfully within the framework of representative government. Civics education specialist John Patrick, in his recent paper ‘‘Teaching Democracy Globally, Internationally, and Comparatively: The 21st-Century Civic Mission of Schools,’’ (2003) contends that the increasing globalization
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of democracy calls for a more global approach to teaching citizenship. Patrick looks forward to the 21st century as an ‘‘age of global democracy in which there will be coexistence and tension between international and national or state-centered conceptions of democracy.’’ As a result of this process, Patrick envisions the ‘‘slow but steady rise to prominence of transnational conceptions and institutions of democracy,’’ and calls for the improvement of current curricular frameworks so that they ultimately fall in line with ‘‘globally accepted and internationally transcendent principles and processes of democracy’’ (Patrick, 2003). Patrick contends that there is a common, minimal world standard for democracy that should be taught – a benchmark against which students may evaluate types of government across the globe, and their progress toward the gold standard of democracy (Patrick, 1999). Like Fukuyama, Patrick is optimistic about the future of world-wide democracy, and calls for the development of a global approach to the teaching of citizens within such a model: ‘‘In this century, by contrast with the past, we may reasonably speculate that education for citizenship in a democracy will, with each decade, become everywhere more global, international, and comparative in curricular content and processes of teaching and learning’’ (Patrick, 2003, p. 2).
EDUCATION FOR DEMOCRATIC CITIZENSHIP AND ITS PLACE WITHIN THE NATION STATE Perhaps the best way to examine the goals and objectives of civic and citizenship education within a given society is to establish the purpose of education in general, and of citizenship education in particular, within that society. Many scholars agree that the role of education and citizenship education within a society is, to quote Isaac Kandel, to ‘‘equip the individual with the knowledge and skills necessary to understand the society in which he lives, and develop a critical attitude which will enable him with freedom and discrimination to modify and adapt the social conditions around him to his own needs’’ (Rust & Laumann, 2001, p. 29). Thus, citizenship education is designed to prepare individuals to live in a society which allows choice, and seems to give individuals considerable power over their own lives. John Dewey’s conception of the role and mission of education in the democratic state was the creation of a ‘‘voluntary disposition and interest,’’
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and the promotion of ‘‘personal initiative and adaptability’’ among its citizenry. Dewey’s assumption was that education should be understood as an undeniable base for freedom, including freedom of political participation and decision-making. Thus, if education were to serve the state in a democracy, it was destined to develop citizens who functioned well within the framework of a representative system, with its demand for decisionmaking skills and understanding of rights as well as responsibilities. His notion of democracy and education presupposes a de-centralized system of education, in which citizenship skills are acquired through practical experiences in the schools, such as participatory student government and community service. Thus, from Dewey’s perspective, democracy and education go hand in hand (Mitter, 2001). Whether democracy or autocracy, the nation state has always needed formally educated and trained, loyal subjects or citizens who are able to contribute to the economic welfare and socio-political stability of the state (Mitter, 2001). This goal might be true of any form of government, but is most clearly applicable to one with a centralized, hierarchical system of education. In the context of the Soviet Union, education became a tool for helping to form and shape the citizenry to share and believe in the communist ideal, and further its political goals by charging the schools with developing the people’s commitment to communism and loyalty to the Soviet government. Thus, a good part of the history and social studies curriculum in the Soviet schools included Marxist/Leninist ideology at its core, while extra-curricular programs, such as the Young Pioneers movement, taught patriotism and love for the motherland (Bereday, 1960). After the collapse of the Soviet system in 1991, the teaching of Marxism/Leninism and patriotism was abandoned, creating a void to be filled by content that would prepare youth in the Former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe for citizenship within what many hoped would become representative democracies. Whether the ideas of Dewey and others who see a strong link between education and democracy can be transferred to fill the void left by Marxism/ Leninism in post-communist societies remains to be seen. Although Dewey himself was sympathetic to the Soviet system, and in many respects admired the Soviet schools, it is clear that his approach to teaching citizenship has no place in an authoritarian state, and would never have served the purposes of the Soviet government. What, if any, form of citizenship education can fill the void, and to what extent can it be drawn from western traditions of education for participatory democracies?
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STUDIES IN CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION Given the variation in educational goals across societies, perhaps the best way to ensure that international civic education projects are successful in the transfer of citizenship education theories and practices from established to developing democracies, is to bear in mind the historical antecedents of post-communist and other transitional societies when developing content and methods of instruction for citizenship education in the Former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. In an international comparison of civic and citizenship education for the International Review of Curriculum and Assessment Frameworks, David Kerr (1999) points out that socio-political context is instrumental in influencing the aims of citizenship education from one country to another. He maintains that the contested nature of the citizenship concept itself leads to a broad range of interpretations, and a variety of ways in which citizenship education can be defined and approached. According to Kerr, participants in an invitational seminar on citizenship education agreed that although approaches and programs could be transferred from one country to another, such programs would only succeed if they took into consideration the unique historical, cultural and social traditions of the new context. He further contends that a number of newly established democratic countries represented at the seminar (such as Hungary and Korea), experienced problems when they tried to introduce ideas and practices from more established democratic countries into their schools. He cites five different factors which influence the definition of and approaches to citizenship education in the 16 countries involved in the project, including historical tradition, geographical position, socio-political structure, economic system and global trends. These, in turn, influence the nature of the government and system of education in each country, and ultimately determine the definition and approach to citizenship education, as well as the size of the gap between policy and practice. In contrast to what Kerr writes, the findings of the IEA study, Citizenship and Education in Twenty-eight Countries (2001), demonstrated that there is basic agreement across democratic societies regarding important topics in civic education. The IEA study examined what young people aged 14 in the participating countries understand about democracy, and how young people today are being prepared to participate in democratic societies. Yet the variation in civic understanding among the survey’s subjects underscores the effect of each country’s educational and political context on what students ultimately learn regarding the practice of citizenship, and suggests
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that a universal model for teaching democratic citizenship must nevertheless be adapted to local conditions. Examination of a transnational civic education curriculum development project in three transitional democracies provides additional proof that local context can influence the goals and objectives of civic education curricula. In a comparative analysis of three citizenship education curriculum development projects, Gregory E. Hamot (1999) asserts that partnerships between the United States and post-communist countries ‘‘test the universality of democratic philosophical preferences and pedagogical traditions.’’ He asks whether Western traditions of democracy lend themselves to the individual needs of newly developing democracies in Eastern Europe, asserting at one point that ‘‘the notion of liberal democracy so dear to United States citizens is not necessarily central to Eastern and Central European interpretations of democracy,’’ and that ‘‘The new socio-political context in these countries, as reflected in their constitutions, includes a communitarian interpretation of democracy . . . ’’ (Hamot, 1999, p. 173). Through an examination of projects in Bulgaria, Armenia and the Czech Republic, Hamot noted that each country’s differing socio-political and historical context caused it to adapt different components of what they experienced in the United States in terms of civic education content and methods. For example, the Bulgarian curriculum was singularly different from those of Armenia and the Czech Republic, despite the fact that Armenia, and not Bulgaria, had been part of the USSR, and would presumably have been the exception. According to Hamot, the more repressive government of Bulgaria left its citizens devoid of the ability to make decisions for themselves after the fall of communism, and as a result, the Bulgarian curriculum placed greater emphasis on the development of critical thinking skills and civic dispositions in order to facilitate the development of participatory skills and habits of mind among young people. The Czech Republic, on the other hand, had a history of democratic government, and had already developed its own civic education curriculum after the ‘‘Velvet Revolution’’ which put the Czechs ahead in terms of their understanding of education for democratic citizenship. Clearly, the development of a transnational citizenship education framework may mean the extraction of what is relevant in terms of local context from norms that are ostensibly universal. For example, do all developing democracies need to strive for free market economies, as John Patrick contends, or can formerly socialist nations successfully combine democratic government with a regulated economy? Are the values and philosophical beliefs of democracy purely Western concepts that cannot, as Samuel P. Huntington contends, be transferred to all societies
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(Bahmueller, 1999)? In Huntington’s argument, the possibility of transferring theories and practices for teaching democratic citizenship to authoritarian regimes or even transitional democracies seems indefensible.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND ON PARTICIPATING COUNTRIES The debate over the feasibility of transferring citizenship education theories and practices from established to developing democracies (or as in the case of Uzbekistan, to countries that are not true democracies) will be discussed in relation to data taken from a survey of participants in the Partners in Education exchange program, in order to determine the applicability of U.S.-based models of citizenship education to the contexts of Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. Before discussing the teacher education program, some background on the recent political history of these countries is necessary. The four countries represented in this study were among 15 republics that formed the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics between 1917 and 1991. Although not one of these countries had a prior tradition of representative government, the break-up of the Former Soviet Union was remarkably peaceful, and was heralded by Gorbachev’s Perestroika movement, which was essentially an attempt to bring about limited democratic reform. In the government of Boris Yeltsin, who became Russia’s president after the collapse, the democratization process was continued from above with the development of free press and freedom of speech and religion, multiple political parties, increasingly open elections and general decentralization of the political system, planned economy and the system of education. However, since the election of Putin in 2000, the Russian government has taken control of the press, has stifled the opposition parties, and has taken away elections of regional officials. In recent months, the Russian government’s call for development of a ‘‘Patriotism’’ curriculum to discourage coups and demonstrations against the government, and to block the influence of the West, is yet another manifestation of Russia’s retreat to a more authoritarian and xenophobic government. In the remaining former Soviet republics, the communist elites in most countries also remained in power well after 1991, and public elections were no indication that democracy was in place. The post-communist elections of Niyazov in Turkmenistan, Karimov in Uzbekistan and Lukashenko
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in Belarus in the early to mid-1990s brought particularly repressive governments to power. Only recently in Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan and Georgia have peaceful, popular uprisings ousted former communist elites in favor of democratically elected governments. Of the four countries discussed in this study, Uzbekistan remains the most authoritarian regime, whose recent attack on demonstrators in its own Andijan province belies the government’s fear of following in the footsteps of Ukraine, Georgia and its neighbor, Kyrgyzstan. Against this backdrop, between 1997 and early 2005, the Educational and Cultural Affairs branch of the United States Department of State funded an exchange program which brought teachers to the United States from postcommunist countries to study civics and citizenship education. To what degree are the aspects of citizenship education that participating teachers brought back from their training in the United States appropriate for and relevant to the social and political contexts of these four countries, and how have the participating teachers adapted the models and theories of instruction acquired in the U.S. to their classroom instruction back home? What characterizes the civic education these teachers have learned about during their time in the United States, and does it represent a balanced, transnational approach to teaching about citizenship in terms of its use of knowledge, skills and dispositions? Finally, to what degree is it possible for teachers from more oppressive regimes such as Uzbekistan, to make use of education for democratic citizenship, and how have the teachers from this country been able use methods and content for teaching about citizenship in their classrooms to date?
DESCRIPTION OF THE PARTNERS IN EDUCATION PROGRAM The Partners in Education teacher exchange was begun in 1998 and lasted through the summer of 2005, was funded by the United States Department of State, and administered by a U.S.-based non-profit, American Councils for International Education. The teachers were selected for participation in the program for knowledge of English and prior involvement in civic and citizenship education or social studies education. The teacher participants were divided into groups of seven to eight teachers each by country, and traveled to the United States to take part in internships in Washington, DC and at schools and universities throughout the U.S. Because the United
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States has a highly decentralized system of education, and because the six-week internships took place in regions all across the U.S., the Eurasian teachers encountered diverse approaches to teaching citizenship within the U.S. education system, from Iowa to California and Alabama. During their internships, the visiting teachers spent at least three weeks in American public schools working with one or more American mentor teachers, and spent an equivalent amount of time attending civic and social studies education seminars at a university. In addition, they observed university level classes in social studies and citizenship education, and attended faculty, PTA and student council meetings. Outside of their time in the schools, the Eurasian teachers visited civic centers, volunteer organizations, city council meetings, social services and other organizations that are representative of civil society in the United States. Both the Eurasian and American teachers who participated in the program developed long-term partnerships and continued exchanges between faculty and students. In addition, some of the participants developed curricula and training materials in citizenship education after their return home, and trained students and teachers alike in their implementation. In the program’s later years, development of civic and citizenship education teacher training modules for teachers at home became a program requirement, as did a week-long, follow-on training in citizenship education content and methods.
RESEARCH METHODS AND FINDINGS This inquiry will make use of data from an alumni survey of teachers who participated in the program between 1998 and 2001. In addition, the agendas and materials from the follow-on trainings in citizenship education, and other curricula that teachers developed for use in their classrooms back home will be reviewed. In all, N=186 teachers responded to the alumni survey. Ninety-three participants came from Russia, 64 from Ukraine, 20 from Uzbekistan and 9 from Kyrgyzstan. Of these, 39% of the respondents had taken part in the exchange in the fall of 2000. Because the program required that participating teachers speak English, often more than half of program participants were English teachers. In the survey, 52% of the respondents were English teachers, while social studies teachers comprised 29% of the total. Of the remaining teachers, 15% taught both English and social studies, while 4% taught other subjects, such as environmental studies, law or economics. Because of the difficulty of finding social studies
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teachers with strong English language skills, the program frequently recruited English teachers with an interest in citizenship education to participate in the program. Of the participating teachers surveyed, 45% had taught a separate course in civics prior to participating in the exchange program. Three open-ended questions from the survey asked the teachers to list concepts, theories, teaching methods, activities or findings that they learned about while in the U.S., and that they have since incorporated into their instruction at home. Through an examination of teachers’ responses to these questions, a series of codes was developed to track the different methods and content in citizenship education that teachers used both within and outside their classrooms (see Table 1). These codes were then grouped into four categories: code category A, for democratic classroom or democratic schooling; category B for civics and government knowledge; category C for civic skills (cognitive and participatory); and category D for civic dispositions (attitudes and habits of mind). The first category (category A) is drawn from a finding from the IEA study of civics education (Torney-Purta, Lehmann, Oswald, & Schulz, 2001), which concluded that students’ perceptions that their classrooms or schools are open to discussion and debate is positively correlated with civic knowledge and intentions to vote. The IEA survey further noted that teacher-directed instruction and civic knowledge tended to dominate civic education across the board, and stressed the importance of active and interactive teaching methods for the teaching of civics and citizenship education. Thus, responses coded as category ‘‘A’’ document how frequently teachers in the study make mention of democratic classroom or democratic schooling practices and interactive methods of instruction, such as cooperative learning, student-centered instruction, discussion and the project method, as significant practices they acquired during their internship program in the United States, and adapted for regular classroom use at schools in their home country. The three remaining categories (B, C and D) are loosely drawn from John Patrick’s framework for civic education (2003). Category B contains codes that relate to knowledge of government and civics, such as the study of constitutionalism, the history of democracy in other states, rights and responsibilities of citizenship and rule of law. Category C relates to the use of cognitive and participatory skills, such as critical thinking, problem solving, analysis of issues, the ability to influence policy decisions and the ability to interact with others to promote the common good. Category D, the fourth and final category, concerns the promotion of civic attitudes or ‘‘habits of mind,’’ such as volunteerism, recognizing the equal worth of
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Table 1.
Codes for Open-Ended Questions.
Code category
Description
A. Democratic classroom
a. Mention of democratic classroom or school b. Group/cooperative learning c. Authentic/portfolio assessment d. Inter-active instructional methods e. Project method f. Individualized or differentiated instruction g. Student-centered instruction h. Multi-cultural education i. Disabled student programs j. Parental involvement k. Service learning l. Electives m. Student self-government
B. Civics and government knowledge
a. Constitutionalism b. Government structure c. Voting, participation d. History of democracy in other states e. Rights and responsibilities of citizenship f. Civil society/rule of law g. Market economy h. Civil rights
C. Cognitive and participatory skills
a. Debate/discussion b. Critical thinking c. Decision making/problem solving d. Conflict resolution e. Leadership f. Analysis of issues, platforms, press and media
D. Civic dispositions
a. Volunteerism, community service b. Tolerance c. Patriotism d. Individual responsibility e. Respecting rights and opinions of others f. Character/values g. Active and responsible citizenship
each individual, tolerance and understanding of rights and responsibility toward society as a whole. Teachers’ references to teaching tolerance and multi-culturalism, support for human rights and community service fall into this category as well.
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ACROSS COUNTRY ANALYSIS After the open-ended responses to the survey were coded, a frequency count of the codes revealed that most responses fell in the categories of democratic classroom or school (category A) and cognitive and participatory skills (category C). In all, respondents made mention of democratic classroom and schooling practices 331 times (category A), mentioned civic skills (category C) 204 times, civic knowledge 130 times (category B) and civic dispositions (category D) 61 times (see Fig. 1). Across groups and within category A, teachers most often referred to cooperative learning, or group learning as an instructional method they currently use in their classrooms. In category B, for civic knowledge, knowledge of civil or human rights appeared most frequently across countries, while in category C, for cognitive and participatory skills, teachers mentioned debate, discussion skills and critical thinking as the U.S.-acquired civic skill they most frequently use in their classrooms at home. Finally, in the area of civic dispositions (category D), community service (promoting the general welfare or common good of the community) proved to be the most frequent response. The most significant issue that arises from the analysis of codes across countries is the emphasis on classroom teaching methods and skills over civic knowledge and dispositions. Given the tendency of both Soviet and
350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 A. Democratic School
Fig. 1.
B. Civic Knowledge
C. Civic Skills
D. Civic Dispositions
Across Countries Codes Analysis
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post-Soviet schools to emphasize knowledge over processes, it is likely that teachers from Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan found that what was novel to them from their U.S. experience, and could be readily transferred from the U.S. to the Eurasian classroom, was teaching methodology for civic education, rather than knowledge of institutions and practices of democratic government. A few individuals brought up study of their constitution as a new content area they learned about while in the U.S. Yet the majority of teachers borrowed general interactive methods of instruction that might be applied to any content area within or outside of the context of teaching about citizenship. For example, a Russian teacher responded that she now made use of ‘‘interactive learning, problem solving instead of traditional teaching and giving lectures.’’ Another teacher commented: ‘‘Now I understand the importance of building democracy in the classroom. When my students choose projects’ topics themselves, they are much more motivated.’’ Clearly, the democratic classroom itself proved most influential in this inquiry, in that the teachers were influenced by instructional methods and processes more than civics content knowledge, such as the structure of government. This finding is significant, given that Kerr (1999) and Hamot (1999) have argued that the U.S. model for citizenship education may be inappropriate for post-communist countries, since the student-centered methodology it requires is at odds with the traditional, teacher-directed classrooms of post-communist states. In this case, teachers seem to welcome more interactive methods as a means of motivating students to learn about citizenship. Student-centered methods also seem to be a less controversial means of introduction of young people to democratic practices through participating in class. It is interesting to note that of all the learner-centered approaches to instruction, cooperative learning proved the most popular. One likely explanation for the interest in cooperative learning may come from communist countries’ communitarian tradition, with their emphasis on the collective in both education and general socialization. Although Soviet educators by no means relied on cooperative learning, they nevertheless made use of group forces and the priorities and needs of the group over the individual in motivating student behavior (Bronfenbrenner, 1970). The focus on the success of the group as a whole in the cooperative learning and project method could easily appeal to a group of teachers, most of whom (60%) had been teaching for more than 16 years, and most likely received training under the Soviet system. The lack of emphasis on civic dispositions is also of interest in this inquiry. There was little mention of either volunteerism or community
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service in the teachers’ responses. The lack of interest in these areas may again stem from a Soviet past, where most volunteering was done under duress, and where patriotism meant membership in the Communist Party. This is in keeping with Hamot’s (1999) finding, which demonstrates that Eastern European curriculum developers showed little interest in incorporating community service or volunteerism into their curriculum. Clearly, the task of re-learning volunteerism in post-communist states must be undertaken in combination with responsibilities and rights of citizenship, before it can be understood as an important part of civil society and democracy building.
WITHIN COUNTRY ANALYSIS Responses within the participating countries demonstrate that differing socio-political order and current political developments may influence which instructional practices, theories and concepts teachers selected for use in their classrooms at home. In Kyrgyzstan, the codes that appeared most frequently were in the civic skills category, with particular emphasis on critical thinking, yet there was surprisingly little emphasis on democratic classroom practices. Although small in number, a greater percentage of Kyrgyz teachers made mention of civic knowledge than did other teachers, while among the Uzbek teachers there were few comments in the civic dispositions category, and many comments that fell into the democratic classroom category. The Russians said more about democratic classroom practices and schooling than any of the other groups, with 50% of their responses in category A. Even more remarkable was their repeated reference to the use of the project method, or comments that illustrated that the project method was most popular. Both Ukrainian and, especially, Kyrgyz teachers showed an interest in teaching civic skills – i.e., those areas that might lead students to become more actively involved in making change within society. Finally, the Ukrainians said more than anyone about civic dispositions, with particular emphasis on teaching tolerance. In the case of teachers from Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan, in which post-communist governments were recently overthrown by popular uprising, there appears to be a greater emphasis on teaching active skills of participatory citizenship. Among all the Central Asian governments, Kyrgyzstan is considered by some to be capable of evolution into a liberal democracy (Waugh, 2003), while Ukraine’s peaceful demonstrations against rigged elections in the fall of 2004 brought down the
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Kuchma regime, and called for a new election, in which the opposition candidate won the presidency. In Russia there is a strong civic education movement in the schools, and although the government does not advocate a unified approach to teaching citizenship (Froumin, 2003), it has nevertheless thrived in a variety of forms since 1991. In recent years, the Russian government has increasingly put a stop to independent political parties and appears to be leading the country away from the path towards democratization, and thus it is not surprising that instructional practices that emphasize politically neutral methods, such as the project method and cooperative learning, are popular among teachers. Finally, in Uzbekistan, given the government’s long history of human rights violations and increasing repression of civil society, it is clear that teaching skills that would promote social or political change would not prove popular, and that teachers would seek out more neutral approaches to teaching about citizenship Fig. 2.
50% 45%
Kyrgyzstan
Russia
Ukraine
Uzbekistan
40% 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% A. Democratic School B. Civic Knowledge
Fig. 2.
C. Civic Skills
Within Country Codes Analysis
D. Civic Dispositions
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CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION WORKSHOPS An examination of civic education workshop materials and agendas, which were written by teachers who had participated in the Partners in Education program in 2003/2004, also provide important insights into the civic and citizenship education practices of teachers from these regions. The Eurasian teachers developed agendas for civic and citizenship education workshops they conducted for teachers in their home countries. The workshops were intended to synthesize what teachers learned while on program in the United States, and subsequently adapted to local conditions in their home countries. In the summer of 2004, 21 Ukrainian teachers returned to their regions from the U.S. to give workshops to history and social studies teachers in the Kharkiv, Poltava and Kyiv regions. In their workshop design, the seven teachers in the Kyiv workshop used innovative approaches to training the teacher trainees in the use of interactive classroom methods. This included examination of a variety of civic and citizenship education programs, the opportunity for trainees to survey citizens in the community about constitution day and a visit to the Ukrainian Rada, or parliament. The Kharkiv group included critical thinking skills, student and teacher selfgovernment, school justice and diversity, creating a student council constitution and a lesson on anti-trafficking as part of their workshop. The week-long workshop also gave considerable time to teaching government, in the form of presentations on the role of the constitution in establishing a state, voter education and elections and, most significantly, violations and irregularities during elections. Finally, the group from Poltava made a concerted effort to apply John Patrick’s global framework for citizenship education to the workshop. Their workshop included lessons about democratic society, use of core democratic values, such as patriotism, equality, justice and diversity, critical thinking and one lesson on the constitution. Lesson titles and topics included ‘‘How to find the way to a democratic country,’’ ‘‘Rights and freedoms of citizens of the Ukraine and U.S.’’ and ‘‘Power, authority and the content of government, and human rights.’’ In short, the lessons and training sessions developed by the teachers in the Ukrainian groups showed a mix of topics ranging from methods to study of the constitution, rights and even elections and voting. In the Council of Europe’s report on Education for Democratic Citizenship (Froumin, 2003), Ukraine does not have a national conception of civic education, although it is taught in the schools as either a separate subject, integrated into other subjects or through extra-curricular activities.
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Despite the report’s contention that in Ukraine there is fragmentation and a lack of coordination between education sectors providing for citizenship education, and the need to better define citizenship education and approaches to it, the training workshops developed by the Ukrainian teachers seemed to indicate great awareness of civic responsibility and engagement. The Ukrainian workshops are remarkable in that they took place just prior to the events of October 2004, in which the peaceful demonstrations of hundreds of Ukrainians showed how well aware they had become of their ability as citizens to criticize government policy, and affect a dramatic change in their government. The Kyrgyz teachers’ workshop agenda demonstrated a more politicized approach to teaching citizenship, and began with lessons on ideology, fascism, communism and liberalism. The teachers also discussed human rights, children’s rights and demonstrated a UNO role-play project. Lessons in the content knowledge area included the ‘‘Role of the Constitution in Establishing a State,’’ ‘‘Conceptions of State Power’’ and the ‘‘Specific Authority of Presidents of Three Countries,’’ and may have been indicative of Kyrgyz citizens’ increased disillusionment with the country’s political situation and the corruption of the Kyrgyz president. There also seemed to be more emphasis on cultural diversity in the Kyrgyz workshops, including one lesson entitled ‘‘Cultural Diversity is the Necessity of Real Democracy,’’ another on ‘‘Ways to Stop Conflicts based on Cultural Diversity,’’ and ‘‘National and International Documents which Guarantee Cultural Diversity,’’ and a lesson that compared affirmative action in Kyrgyzstan and the U.S. Because Kyrgyzstan is ethnically divided among Kyrgyz, Uzbeks and Russians, the teachers’ focus on diversity issues is not surprising. Like the Kyrgyz teachers in the survey, this group tended to devote less time to methods of instruction for civic education, and more time to political issues, in which issues of presidential authority and inter-ethnic conflict played a prominent role. The Uzbek teachers’ workshop agenda was surprisingly open about its discussions of civic education and human rights, which is all the more significant, given the controversial nature of those topics in Uzbekistan, and the fact that the workshop was attended by the regional school superintendent and the head of the regional academic lyceum. The primary focus of the workshop tended to be individual rights and responsibilities, rule of law and respect for diversity, plus the need to develop skills for civic participation, including ‘‘Affective Methods that Promote the Civic Virtue of Students.’’ The main theme of the workshop was ‘‘Teaching Democratic Process using a Student Action Club Model,’’ and workshop participants were expected to develop a team project that incorporated skills from the areas listed above for
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presentation at the workshop’s end. The model ‘‘student action club’’ presentation was a lesson on the environment, and seemed to steer away from more politicized topics such as human rights and elections. Other workshop topics included a discussion of the ‘‘History of Democracy in Uzbekistan,’’ ‘‘Universal Concepts and Principles of Democracy,’’ rule of law and its role within a democracy and, ironically, the role of the Uzbek constitution in protecting human rights. In contrast to the other country workshops, there was less emphasis on comparisons of different political systems, on issues of presidential power or election fraud. In short, the Uzbek workshop emphasized an approach to teaching that was more akin to community service in its development of the ‘‘student action club’’ model based on the environment, while lessons on the constitution did not appear to address the realities of the human rights situation in Uzbekistan. Although civic education is taught in Uzbekistan’s public schools, the content of the courses tends to promote supremacy of the law, patriotism and citizens’ obligation towards their country (Blua, 2002). There is more of an attempt to create obedient subjects of the state, and there is little emphasis on critical thinking skills, and on the development of young people’s awareness of their individual rights and responsibilities. Outside attempts to alter civic education in Uzbekistan, also seem to have come to a stop. International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) attempted to develop a civic education curriculum similar to the one that was so well received in Kyrgyzstan, but ended their activities in Uzbekistan in 2001. In 2004 the Open Society Institute in Uzbekistan, which promoted its Reading and Writing for Critical Thinking project, was closed in 2004, and the Partners in Education program ended in early 2005. Currently, the government of Uzbekistan has systematically forced the closure of other international NGOs that promote civil society development. Nations in Transit 2000 lists a ranking of democracies in Eastern and Central Europe, which ranks nations starting with ‘‘consolidated democracies’’ as the most democratic, ‘‘transitional governments’’ as those nations on the road to reform and ‘‘consolidated autocracies’’ as the least democratic. In that ranking, none of the four countries participating in this study falls within the ‘‘consolidated democracies’’ category, which lists Poland and Lithuania in first and second place, respectively, as nations that have successfully undertaken democratic reform and are no longer in the transitional phase. In the ‘‘transitional governments’’ category, Ukraine is listed as number 9, Russia as number 10, and Kyrgyzstan as number 11, while Uzbekistan is number 1 among the ‘‘consolidated autocracies’’ before Belarus and Turkmenistan. In light of this, it makes sense that teachers from two of the higher ranking transitional democracies, Kyrgyzstan and
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Ukraine, should place more emphasis on building participatory skills, and on questioning electoral processes and presidential authority. Russia’s situation has clearly changed since 2000, and at this point might well fall behind Kyrgyzstan in ranking as a transitional government. Uzbekistan, on the other hand, has little hope of moving beyond its current status as an authoritarian regime, run by a president who has manipulated the constitution and elections to extend his term in office (Waugh, 2003). Recent events in Uzbekistan have made it clear that the kind of political activism that has taken place in Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan will not be tolerated in Uzbekistan. In the survey above, the Uzbek teachers carefully confined their understanding of democracy to the classroom, and to ways in which they could ensure rights for their students within the context of the school. To quote some of the respondents from Uzbekistan: ‘‘As I taught in the U.S., I create a democratic society in my classroom and school,’’ ‘‘The students’ responsibility is for their studies’’ and ‘‘Free choice of subject learning’’ were the approaches the Uzbek teachers had taken to citizenship education in their schools at home. In the workshops, similarly, there was greater emphasis on student action clubs and community service, and less on critical thinking skills, political activism or critical thinking skills vis-a-vis the Uzbek constitution.
CONCLUSION In the end, the Partners in Education program’s outcomes tended to favor democratic classroom practices and skills of citizenship over civic knowledge and dispositions. What does this say in light of the debates on universality of democracy, and the ultimate importance of teaching democratic citizenship? It has been established that differences between pedagogic traditions and programs cannot be easily or successfully transported from one country to another. The power of teachers in determining the learning environment in schools is noted by research, and yet teachers are themselves influenced by the cultural traditions and norms in their home country. As David Kerr (1999) points out, this process can lead to a gap in some countries between teachers and students, and between teachers and the prevailing civic culture, especially where ‘‘significant and rapid change in policy is attempted.’’ Thus, it is all the more significant that these program participants show such enthusiasm for interactive approaches to instruction, such as debate, cooperative learning and the use of the project method. Clearly program participants adopted classroom practices that show a marked turn away from
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teacher-directed, knowledge-based instruction, and the addition of more student-centered classrooms. Ideally, these practices should lead to the development of the classroom environment that proved in the IEA study (2001) to be a predictor of civic knowledge and future voting and participation in civic life. However, it is not clear how often teachers participating in the program are able to implement the more student-centered methods in their classroom practice, given the still centralized structure of their educational systems, in which curriculum is centrally mandated. Methods of instruction in and of themselves (even if they are democratic in nature) are not enough to impart the basic knowledge needed to compare and contrast democracies globally and internationally, and to measure them against a common set of principles inherent in democratic government. Nor are they enough to prepare citizens for participation within their native land’s social and political context. Although the debate as to which democratic principles are transferable and universal and may form the core of citizenship education on an international level has not been resolved, it is clear that many of the core concepts of democracy that teachers from Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan emphasized in particular, are those same skills that have helped foster the transition to democracies in those nations, such the concepts of fair and openly contested elections and human rights, and participatory skills which will enable citizens to understand their rights and find successful means to effect change. In such contexts, the notion of Dewey and others that education in a democracy best serves the state by preparing citizens for participation is taken one step further. In the case of Kyrgyzstan and, in particular, Ukraine, education for democratic citizenship may have helped prepare citizens in furthering the cause of democracy, in being able to evaluate corruption in their own governments, and find a peaceful means of bringing about change within society. The successful establishment of representative governments in both Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan will depend in part on teachers and schools that continue to foster democratic classroom practices, in particular critical thinking and decisionmaking skills, and participatory practices among young people.
REFERENCES Bahmueller, C. F. (1999). A cooperative international project to develop and disseminate a framework on education for democratic citizenship: Introduction and rationale. In: C. F. Bahmueller & J. J. Patrick (Eds), Principles and practices of education for democratic citizenship (pp. 163–186). Bloomington, IN: ERIC Clearinghouse for Social Studies/Social Science Education.
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Bereday, G. (1960). The changing Soviet school. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Blua, A. (2002). Central Asia: Challenges to civic education remain. [On-line]. Available at www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav101402_pr.shtml Bronfenbrenner, U. (1970). Two worlds of childhood: U.S. and U.S.S.R.. New York: Russel Sage Foundation. Dewey, J. (1997). Education and democracy. [On-line]. Available at http://teacher.zjnu.cn/ eduxin/file/democracy%20and%20education.pdf Froumin, I. (2003). Education for democratic citizenship activities: 2001–2004. Paper presented at the All-European study on policies for education for democratic citizenship (EDC) – Regional Study. Eastern Europe region held in Strasbourg, France. Fukuyama, F. (1989). The end of History. In: O. Harries (Ed.), The National Interest (pp. 3–18). Washington, DC: National Affairs, Inc. Hamot, G. E. (1999). Guiding principles for cross-cultural curriculum projects in citizenship education reform. In: C. F. Bahmueller & J. J. Patrick (Eds), Principles and practices of education for democratic citizenship (pp. 163–186). Bloomington, IN: ERIC Clearinghouse for Social Studies/Social Science Education. Kerr, D. (1999). Citizenship education: An international comparison. [On-line]. Available at www.inca.org.uk/pdf/citizenship_no_intro.pdf Mitter, W. (2001). Education for democratic citizenship in Central and Eastern Europe in the mirror of globalization and transformation. In: L. Limage (Ed.), Democratizing education and educating democratic citizens: International and historical perspectives (pp. 25–47). New York: RoutledgeFalmer. Patrick, J. J. (1999). Concepts at the core of education for democratic citizenship. In: C. F. Bahmueller & J. J. Patrick (Eds), Principles and practices of education for democratic citizenship (pp. 163–186). Bloomington, IN: ERIC Clearinghouse for Social Studies/Social Science Education. Patrick, J. J. (2003). Teaching democracy globally, internationally, and comparatively: The 21st-century civic mission of schools. Paper presented to the 3rd annual R. Freeman Butts Institute on Civic Learning in Teacher Education, Indianapolis, Indiana and to the Civitas Latin America Leaders Seminar in Santo Domingo, Republica Dominicana. Rust, V. D., & Laumann, L. (2001). The democratic politics of theory in comparative education. In: L. Limage (Ed.), Democratizing education and educating democratic citizens: International and historical perspectives (pp. 25–47). New York: Routledge Falmer. Schriewer, J., & Martinez, C. (2004). Constructions of internationality in education. In: G. Steiner-Khamsi (Ed.), The global politics of educational borrowing and lending (pp. 29–53). New York, NY: Teachers College Press. Tilly, C. (2004). Past, present, and future globalizations. In: G. Steiner-Khamsi (Ed.), The global politics of educational borrowing and lending (pp. 13–28). New York, NY: Teachers College Press. Torney-Purta, J., Lehmann, R., Oswald, H., & Schulz, W. (2001). Citizenship and education in twenty-eight countries: Civic knowledge and engagement at age fourteen. Amsterdam, The Netherlands: The International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement. Waugh, D. C. (2003). The authoritarian politics of Central Asia. In: D. Bragaw (Ed.), The democratic process: Promises and challenges (pp. 37–53). New York, NY: American Forum for Global Education.
SCHOOLING AND EDUCATION FOR THE SAN (JU|’HOANSI) IN NAMIBIA: BETWEEN A ROCK OF COLONIALISM AND THE HARD PLACE OF GLOBALIZATION Rodney K. Hopson and Jennifer Hays In short, when we speak of history of educational thought and practice, what we have actually mean in the past has been the history of Western educational thought and practice, and the effect of our meaning has been in essence, to dismiss, or at the very least to delegitimatize, the many alternatives to the Western tradition that have developed, evolved, and thrived elsewhere. (Reagan, 2005, p. 3)
INTRODUCTION AND PROBLEM STATEMENT For indigenous peoples around the world, schooling and education are fraught with extreme challenges within the current realities of globalization. Indigenous knowledge, perspectives, and pedagogy in Africa, Asia, and the Americas are rarely included in books and courses that deal with history and philosophy of education, and there is widespread belief that non-Western and indigenous educational traditions and realities are not comparable to Western educational traditions and have little to offer discussions about Power, Voice and the Public Good: Schooling and Education in Global Societies Advances in Education in Diverse Communities: Research Policy and Praxis, Volume 6, 171–197 Copyright r 2008 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited All rights of reproduction in any form reserved ISSN: 1479-358X/doi:10.1016/S1479-358X(08)06007-5
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education (Reagan, 2005). That is, the larger discourse of educational thought and practice, as Timothy Reagan suggests in the quote preceding this introduction, has been extremely biased in its treatment of anything non-Western; instead simplistic misunderstandings and misrepresentations reify the larger effects of cultural and epistemological ethnocentrism, colonialism, and Western imperialism. Globalization also offers opportunities for indigenous peoples to unite around shared issues, voice their concerns, and promote their interests. Recent interest in hunter-gatherers, foragers (including former foragers), and indigenous people in general has contributed to increasing promotion of their civil, social, political, economic, environment, and cultural rights (Hitchcock, 1994; Hitchcock & Biesele, 2000; Hodgson, 2002; IWGIA, 2004; Maybury-Lewis, 1997). Despite this promising trend, some alarming observations remain at the beginning of the third millennium. The development, transition, and expansion of nation-states, the rising power of multinationals, and the globalized market have created situations in which the lands, labor, and resources are increasingly exploited, yet opportunities – such as access to employment, educational opportunities, and other benefits of development, are not delivered (Biesele & Hitchcock, 2000). One thing that makes these indigenous movements especially interesting to chronicle is the increasing development of local interest groups representing and promoting their own identities and advancing their own agendas alongside Euro-American interests which seek to empower these same marginal and oppressed indigenous groups. Dorothy Hodgson (2002) positions the key themes around representation, recognition, resources, and rights that pervade indigenous rights and identities. In an introduction to a journal feature on the topic, she argues that focusing on these themes serves a twofold purpose: to ‘‘engage and often challenge current theories of culture, power, and difference in sociocultural anthropology’’ and to ‘‘pose important political, ethical, and methodological issues to scholars in all fields of the discipline’’ (p. 1037). Even in presenting these themes, Hodgson recognizes the particular issues that beset indigenous peoples worldwide, including the paradoxes they face in demanding recognition in the same nation-states that have historically treated them as second-class citizens, being forcibly relocated in the name of conservation and tourism, and challenging public images, identities, and representations that have exacerbated Western stereotypes of these indigenous groups. Schooling and education present especially difficult paradoxes. Indigenous peoples worldwide and their systems of knowledge present profound
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challenges to those who seek to transform academic curricula and institutions to honor and privilege indigenous ways of knowing and seeing within the context of cultural hegemony and oppression (Hodgson, 2002; Saugestad, 2001; Semali & Kincheloe, 1999a). For instance, in situating the larger sociocultural and political issues that surround indigeneity and the derived benefits from inclusion of indigenous knowledge in the academy, Ladislaus Semali and Joe Kincheloe (1999b) trace the ‘‘epistemological tyranny’’ that has promoted certain ways of knowing associated with the West for hundreds of years. This Western epistemological tyranny involves undermining other ways of knowing and knowledge production in the curriculum. Like Michael Apple’s (2000) notion of official knowledge, the power struggle and issues that pervade this epistemological tyranny have all to do with whose knowledge is of worth, and who has power to control the subjugated status of the rest. As Semali and Kincheloe (1996b) echo: The power issues here are naked and visible to all who are to look: the power struggle involves who is allowed to proclaim truth and to establish the procedures by which truth is to be established; it also involves who holds the power to determine what knowledge is of most worth and should be included in academic curricula. In this context the notion of indigenous knowledge as ‘‘subjugated knowledge’’ emerges to describe its marginalized relationship to Western epistemological and curricular power. (p. 31).
Defined by norms of Western life, schools act as repositories of information and knowledge and teach processes of skill development that are extremely limited and linear. This chapter focuses on the issues facing one such indigenous group, the Nyae Nyae Ju|’hoansi of northeastern Namibia, and the challenges and hopes they face in the educational sector of a relatively new republic. Layout of the Chapter In the section below, we briefly introduce the problems of schooling and education faced by the San of southern Africa, in particular the Ju |’hoansi in Namibia, highlighting the acute and unique challenges that affect this indigenous group. We suggest that an understanding of the educational difficulties faced by the Ju |’hoansi can be greatly enhanced by contextualizing education for the San in a number of ways, and the bulk of this chapter positions the San within three broader spheres: the historical and global context of indigenous experiences with education worldwide; the particular historical context of southern Africa and Namibia; and, finally, the dynamics of language and educational policy and approaches in the new
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republic of Namibia. In the final section, we look at the Nyae Nyae Village Schools Project as a case study. As we argue in this chapter, the issues that face the San reflect the realities of globalization, the forces of history, the challenges of establishing a multi-lingual nation state and the particular local challenges that surround them as indigenous peoples on the cusp of the social change that engulfs the region.
A Note on Terminology The term indigenous is contested in Africa, as all Africans are indigenous in comparison to incoming colonizers. However, according to the understanding of the term that has been accepted by the United Nations in their recent deliberations and in the adoption of the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the San and Khoe populations are the groups who most fully conform to the definition in the post-colonial context. In this chapter we use the term indigenous when referring to these groups. We recognize, however, that African languages in general are marginalized in comparison to European languages, and when referring to this dynamic we use the terms African languages or local languages.
Focus on the San Ju|’hoansi of Namibia The San1, the feature of this chapter, are the indigenous peoples of southern Africa and the descendants of peoples who once lived throughout the southern part of the continent. Formerly hunters and gatherers, today many eke out an existence as farm laborers or on the outskirts of town. Some, like the Ju|’hoansi of Nyae Nyae, still have some control over part of their traditional territory, and are still able to hunt and gather as part of their subsistence strategy. Today the San number approximately 100,000, and reside primarily in Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, and Angola.2 Table 1 shows a recent sketch of the San population in southern Africa and Table 2 depicts the San population in Namibia.3 Fig. 1 depicts the ethnolinguistic map of Namibia. As noted in the figure, the Ju|’hoansi of Nyae Nyae are illustrated by numeral 6 in the northeastern portion of the country on the border of Botswana to the east, sandwiched between the Kavango groups in the north and the Herero in the south. Like indigenous peoples worldwide, San communities are currently facing drastic social change, extreme marginalization and poverty.4 Even in
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San Population in Southern Africa.
Table 1. Country
Size of Country
Population (July, 2003 Estimate)
Number of San
1,246.700 581,730 824,290 1,221,040 752,610 390,580 5,016,950
10,766,471 1,537,267 1,927,447 42,768,678 10,307,333 12,576,742 78,873,938
3500 47,675 32,000 7,500 300 2,500 93,475
Angola Botswana Namibia South Africa Zambia Zimbabwe Total
Source: IWGIA, 2004 (Need reference assistance on this one: Compiled by Hitchcock data obtained from Suzman, 2001, LAC, WIMSA, Shennels-Albertyn, South Africa, SADC, World Factbook, 2003).
Table 2. Name of Group Hai//om Xwaga Karen !Kung !Xu (!khu, vasekele) Ju|’hoansi Kxoe (Khwe) Naro (Nharo) //Khau-//esi !Xo˜o (Magong) /Nu-//en (Nusan) /Auni Urban groups Total
San Population in Namibia. Location in Namibia
Population
Ovambo, Tsumeb, Grootfontein, Outjo districts (Otjozondjupa region)
11,000
Okavango and Otjozondjupa regions Ovambo, Kavango districts and former West Bushmanland (Tsumkwe constituency West) Eastern Otjozondjupa and Omaheke regions Kwando, West Caprivi Gobabis and Aminuis (Omaheke district) Otjinene and Omaheke regions Aminuis, Gobas, Aranos and Mariental (Omaheke and Hardap regions) Mariental district (Hardap region) Mariental, Koe¨s, Karasburg districts (Hardap, Karas regions) Cities and towns (e.g. Windhoek, Katima Mulilo, Outjo, Otjiwarongo, Gobabis)
1,500 6,000 7,000 6,000 1,000 2,000 2,000 200 200 1,875 38,275
Source: Le Roux, 2000 (Data compiled from Marshall, 1989; Gordon, 1992, p. 7; Hitchcock, 1992, p. 15, Table 4; WIMSA, 1998, from Rein Dekker, Kuru Development Trust – draft research for Ph.D., 1999).
these southern African nation-states that have experienced dramatic changes within the last two decades as new republics striving for democracy and national reconciliation, the San communities are not immune from the historical legacies of racial and social apartheid, division,
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Fig. 1. Ethnolinguistic Map of Namibia. Source: Gordon, R. G., Jr. (Ed.). (2005). Ethnologue: Languages of the World (15th ed.). Dallas, Tex.: SIL International. Online version: http://www.ethnologue.com/
and inequality that have been prevalent for tens and hundreds of years previously. San communities strive to develop the necessary skills for functioning in these new republics with renewed visions of equity and hope imagined through increased literacy, numeracy, and other skills learned at the formal schools. These skills are increasingly necessary for survival, and primarily available through the formal education systems – these institutions, however, remain largely inaccessible for many San communities. The most obvious and commonly noted problem that southern African San populations experience with formal education systems is a very high dropout rate, a low success rate, and ultimately a low (formal) educational attainment rate. The educational picture reflects the general reality of poverty for the San children in Namibia – San communities had the lowest development and the highest human poverty indices.5 James Suzman’s (2002) analysis of minorities in Namibia identifies the situation of the San as a particularly daunting challenge in the fledging republic, and attributes it to significant social discrimination, and a self-perpetuating cycle of poverty and marginalization. Since independence, despite the SWAPO government’s
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attention to issues of equity and access, an abyss of social, educational, and health concerns plague the San community in Namibia. This low educational attainment (and corresponding low key socioeconomic indices) among the San language groups has been attributed to a number of interconnecting factors, including the lack of mother tongue education for most San communities, cultural differences between the home and school, cultural practices (such as hunting trips, or initiation ceremonies) that keep students away from school, frequent abuse at the hands of school authorities and other students, and the alienating experience of boarding schools (see, for example, Kann, Hitchcock, & Mbere, 1990; Kann, 1991; Mendelsohn, Swarts, & Avenstrup, 1995; Le Roux, 2000; Siegru¨hn & Hays, 2001; Nyati-Ramahobo, 2003). Thus far, attempts to address these problems have largely focused their efforts on finding ways to incorporate the San into the mainstream, government school system, which is based on Western education. And, thus far, these efforts have been largely unsuccessful. These indigenous communities therefore find themselves caught between a rock and a hard place. In this chapter, we propose that understanding – and ultimately addressing – this educational conundrum, requires a new perspective and a deeper understanding of the underlying problems faced by San communities vis a vis education. A look at the experiences of indigenous peoples elsewhere provides one important angle.
INDIGENOUS EDUCATION GLOBALLY Since 1948, access to education has been recognized in international documents as a fundamental human right.6 Justification for this is based upon the assumed correlation between education and a host of other ideals for both individuals and social groupings, including democracy, empowerment, and freedom. Education is understood as an inherently ‘‘good’’ thing, and the efforts of governments, international bodies, and NGOs have been largely focused upon providing access to education. However, for indigenous peoples everywhere, formal education has often presented insurmountable challenges. A large body of literature points to several broad historical parallels faced by indigenous children in formal education systems, including the separation of children from their families from a young age while they attend schools (often boarding schools far from their communities) where they are taught foreign systems of knowledge, in a language other than their
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own, by teachers from cultures that are different from, discriminate against, and are dominant to, their own, and who use instruction and disciplinary styles that do not match that of the students’ home life. As the combined result of these above factors and others, indigenous peoples experience overall poor performance in formal education systems, accompanied by high drop-out rates. The high drop-out rate and general lack of access to formal education is the problem that generally receives the most attention. However, indigenous peoples themselves have long recognized that it is the limited educational options available to them that are at the root of the problem. Formal educational institutions have long been associated with colonial domination and the imposition of foreign cultures upon indigenous societies. Kawagley (2001), for example, describes education as one part of the ‘‘cultural blizzard’’ of colonialism that overtook his people, the Yup’ik of Alaska, culminating in the imposition of the Western educational system: When the educational system was put into place, all of our children received a 12-year sentence to learn a foreign language and a foreign way of life . . . there were many things that became obscured so that we could no longer see or fully understand ourselves or our world. (Kawagley, 2001, p. 52)
For many indigenous groups, the introduction of formal education was a key part of colonial domination historically, and continues to be a site of cultural struggle today. AhChee (1996) describes how Australian Aborigines’ rights to educate their children have been ‘‘systematically suppressed’’ in the years since the beginning of colonization, over 200 years ago. Children were taken from families and forced to learn in ‘‘westernstyle’’ education systems. Most aboriginal students understandably ‘‘failed’’ in a system based on a set of values that often directly contradicted their own. A recent shift in Australian education policy emphasizes the special needs of aboriginal students, and they have ‘‘begun to move slowly to more equitable levels of participation and of outcomes in the mainstream [nonindigenous] education system.’’ While this is the goal of the policies – indeed, the stated objective of most efforts focusing on indigenous education worldwide – AhChee does not greet this development with enthusiasm, but says, rather, that this situation contains ‘‘a new problem, which is really the old problem in a new form’’: The mainstream institutions have once again moved to take from us our power to educate in our own ways, in our own knowledge and languages and cultures and law. In short, we are still, but in more sophisticated ways, being denied our fundamental rights as peoples, our right of self determination. (AhChee, 1996)
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While the attention of most efforts is upon increasing the numbers of indigenous students in mainstream systems, from the perspective of many indigenous peoples this ‘‘solution’’ also creates its own problems. Those who succeed by remaining in the formal school systems find themselves in an uneasy position, straddling very different cultures, worldviews, and economic realities. Examples such as those given above are echoed by indigenous communities throughout the world that have had long contact with Western educational systems. For the Ju|’hoansi and others, this contact is relatively recent – yet we can see some of these same patterns emerging.
Education as Colonialism Examining the global responses of indigenous communities to education, we thus begin to get a picture of education not as an entirely benevolent or beneficial endeavor, but as a cornerstone of the colonial process. Osterhammel (1999), for example, describes education, along with religion, as the two most effective ‘‘fields of intercultural contact’’ in which western cultural values were transmitted to the colonized populations. Schools, he notes, were ‘‘the foremost mediators of these cultural values’’ (p. 100). Rovillos (1999) calls formal, western-style education a ‘‘handmaiden of assimilation’’ and describes how such education resulted in the ‘‘virtual obliteration’’ of most of indigenous peoples of their way of life (p. 1). This does not mean the expressed (or even felt) intention was domination; in many cases, the imposition of education was perceived to be something that was necessary in order for the ‘‘natives’’ to survive. Sheehan (1973) describes philanthropists of the late 18th – early 19th century as acting out of a ‘‘deep-seated benevolence, intending for the Indian the best that civilization could offer.’’ Seeing for the Indians no options other than the extremes of annihilation and full incorporation into ‘‘civilized’’ American society, they opted to aggressively pursue the latter (p. 9). This approach, he argues, ‘‘tended to infantilize the Indian and to destroy the integrity of his culture;’’ requiring the total abandonment of the pre-European hunterwarrior culture, the tribal order and the communal ownership of land in order to become ‘‘civilized’’ and to live according to the individualist ideology of the colonizers (p. 10). Sheehan emphasizes that the philanthropists acted primarily out of a conviction that the Indians’ previous way of life was no longer practicable, and that if they did not assimilate, they would be physically demolished by the ‘‘frontiersmen.’’
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However, the task of assimilating the Indians, and other indigenous peoples, through the education system and other social institutions simply did not work. Sheehan notes that, despite profound effects on the tribal order, and a ‘‘noticeable degree of acculturation,’’ Indians still remained recognizable as Indians. Today, some two centuries later, a 2003 report issued by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights titled, A Quiet Crisis: Federal Funding and Unmet Needs in Indian Country, contains the following conclusions: As a group, Native American students are not afforded educational opportunities equal to other American students . . . the cultural histories and practices of Native students are rarely incorporated in the learning environment . . . achievement gaps persist with Native American students scoring lower than any other racial/ethnic group in basic levels of reading, math, and history. Native American students are also less likely to graduate from high school and more likely to drop out in earlier grades. (U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, 2003, p. xi)
Rather than resulting in full incorporation into the western societies that dominate them, Western education systems are often seen by indigenous peoples as having been imposed upon them, and in the process, having robbed them of valuable resources in the form of traditional knowledge and community cohesion. The ‘‘failure’’ of indigenous students and cultures to assimilate can be attributed to a combination of the following factors: general incongruence between the two (or more) cultural systems; resistance to cultural domination; and strategic choices based on economic options and subsistence strategies. Indigenous children bring with them to schooling the foundations of language(s), culture(s), values, skills, and knowledge learned from their home communities. Almost invariably, these learning elements differ significantly from those of the schools, which reflect local dominant cultures and those of European colonizers. The difference between home and school culture is especially profound for communities who still maintain an ethos and social organization associated with hunting and gathering, as do many indigenous groups in the Americas, Asia and Australia, and southern Africa. In addition to language differences, the skills, method of transmission, and social values that accompany a hunting and gathering subsistence strategy are often in direct contradiction to those of more stratified and sedentary societies, including agro-pastoralist, industrialist, or post-industrialist. These include differences in the quality of the knowledge itself (holistic rather than compartmentalized), teaching and learning methods (interactive and demonstrative rather than didactic) and social values that govern learning behavior (co-operative rather than competitive).
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Unfortunately, the skills that indigenous children bring to school with them are almost always devalued, or simply not recognized, in formal schools, which generally privilege academic knowledge and ignore or denigrate traditional skills. Furthermore, because attending such schools often requires children to be separated from the environment in which they learn traditional skills, the transmission of these skills begins to decline. For peoples who have been pushed to the margins of society and who still depend upon such skills for survival, the results of formal education are not empowering, but devastating. In the face of profound incongruence, many indigenous students and their communities have resisted; in part by refusing to participate in an institution that they do not see as serving their needs. Indigenous peoples around the world are claiming, in addition to the right to participate in formal education systems if they so choose, the right not to be assimilated into other cultural systems through the education system, and the right to establish their own systems of education. Increasingly (though slowly and not without setbacks), indigenous peoples are improving access to this right. In many parts of the world such communities are designing educational models that incorporate and respect their language and culture, and provide them with access to the skills they need (Lipka, Mohatt, & the Ciulistet Group, 1998; McCarty, 2002). San communities across southern Africa also express the desire for education closer to their homes, in their own language, and that respects and values their culture. So far, for the vast majority, such education is not available. In northeastern Namibia, however, an innovative education project – the Village Schools Project – has been designed to provide mother tongue education to the Ju|’hoansi, a San language group living in Namibia and Botswana. The global context of indigenous education described in the preceding paragraphs is one important piece of the broader context in which this project is situated; and contributes significantly to understanding the problems it faces. Another critical piece is the historical context of southern Africa, described briefly below.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT: SOUTHERN AFRICA While advances are beginning in other parts of the world to address the educational issues for indigenous peoples as described in the section above, southern African history has resulted in specific challenges in this area.
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Southern Africa’s recent history of apartheid, with its forced separation of people based on language and ethnicity, has had far-reaching effects on attitudes towards ethnolinguistic minority group, on language and education policy, and on educational options in the region. Under apartheid, mother tongue education was used as a tool for separation and oppression. A background understanding of this political and historical context of education and language in the southern African region provides important insight into Namibian current educational policy, and how this affects that San. The issues faced by Namibians and other southern Africans is paralleled by language and education questions throughout Africa, as has been demonstrated by recent conferences. The discussions from these meetings illustrate that current language policy and practice in Africa puts mother tongue speakers of almost all African languages at a severe disadvantage educationally. They also demonstrate, however, that indigenous peoples like the San fare the very worst. Contact between the indigenous San and incoming Bantu groups along the east and west coasts began from approximately 2,000 years ago, with relationships characterized by a range of interactions, including warfare, assimilation, intermarriage, and co-existence. It was the arrival of Europeans, however, that made the most dramatic impact upon San communities. The colonial experience of the San fits into the category that Osterhammel (1999) calls the ‘‘New England type,’’ characterized by ‘‘displacement and even annihilation of the economically dispensable indigenous population’’ (p. 12). South African history is famous for the brutal imposition and maintenance of racial hierarchy in which Whites forcefully dominated the various ethnic groups, both native and imported. However, although the treatment of ‘‘blacks’’ and ‘‘coloreds’’ was abhorrent, what is not always acknowledged is the way in which relations between the ‘‘whites’’ and the San were ‘‘marked by an attitude of hostility and contempt probably not matched in attitudes to Bantu-speaking peoples, even during the worst periods of apartheid’’ (Saugestad, 2004, p. 25). During the apartheid era in which South African peoples were classified into separate groups based on skin color and language, the system of Bantu Education imposed education in the mother tongue and in Afrikaans, at the expense of English. This recent denial of access to the perceived language of opportunity is still present in the memories of many south Africans, and has made southern African governments and citizens understandably wary of educational initiatives that seem to promote ‘‘separate education,’’ or education in one’s mother tongue, at the expense of the dominant language (Hays, 2006).
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However, what separates the debate around Khoe and San languages from other local (Bantu) languages in South African education is the official suppression of the former. While Bantu languages, spoken by the ‘‘Black’’ populations, were promoted, in order to further legitimate the creation of a ‘‘Colored’’ identity, the colonial and apartheid governments favored and actively promoted policies and practices that led to the extinction of Khoe and San languages. They did this through a process of assimilation, largely by using the Afrikaans language as a primary marker of colored identity and forcing those whom they categorized as such to learn in Afrikaans. Anecdotes of how Khoe and San children were denigrated and punished at school for speaking their home language on school premises are common (Siegru¨hn & Hays, 2001). In this historical context, then, we have in the San a population who were physically brutalized by incoming colonial groups, and whose language and culture were forcibly taken from them – in large part through their experience in the education system – and many of whom want education in their own language (Hays, 2007). At the same time, other colonized populations (in particular Bantu-speaking groups) were denied access to the dominant language (English) and mother tongue education was imposed in a way that did not meet peoples needs. With these populations now in the dominant political and decision-making positions, it becomes difficult for the San, or those who work with them, to make an argument for extended education in their own language, close to home. Any kind of education that appears to either limit access to English, to exclude some groups, or to ‘‘separate’’ people is associated with apartheid educational policies. Both of these contexts – the global and the historical – provide important context to the discussions that follow.
LANGUAGE POLICY, LANGUAGE IDEOLOGY, AND IMPACT ON SAN IN ENGLISH-ONLY NAMIBIA The language question in Namibia and the unique situation affecting the historically marginalized San, requires much more than an apolitical, simplistically technical, non-ideological approach to a study of language policy. To take an apolitical approach would miss out on analysis of language policy embedded within a constellation of issues around competition among groups over power and control of nation-states. Additionally, this approach would not be concerned with institutional, racist, and hegemonic structures and mechanisms with agendas counter to
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the social development and welfare of groups marginal in society, or perhaps most importantly would not be expecting responses to questions such as, who benefits from language policy, how, and when? Instead, these are the type of questions informed by an ideological approach to language policy and planning theory, whereby language policy efforts are but one mechanism ‘‘by which the interests of dominant sociopolitical groups are maintained and the seeds of transformation are developed (Tollefson, 1991, p. 32). This section relies on theories of language ideology (Schieffelin, Woolard, & Kroskrity, 1998; Woolard & Schieffelin, 1994) in advancing the argument that language policy and planning are critical realities in planning for and attending to democracy (Alexander, nd). In the final section, this will be illustrated through a framing of the educational and language development situating facing the Ju |’hoansi, in the face of larger sociopolitical effects of globalization, the spread of English, and the historical, hierarchial arrangement of languages (and cultures) in colonial African society and education. Schooling and education in globalized societies of southern African benefit from the opportunities and access of English spread, especially most recently in Namibia and South Africa as well as increasing attention in countries like Mozambique with its historically Portuguese influence. However, the immense force of the English language in globalization has contributed to and exacerbated inequality and profound marginalization by relying on unchecked cultural assumptions, prevailing colonial attitudes, and lack of political will in these same southern African contexts (cites, with specific embellishments would be nice). Neville Alexander’s (2001, 2000) work around the language question in post-colonial African nation-states suggests how and why choices and decisions surrounding language (policy) are not simply about language but have everything to do with transforming educational and social political realities for a critical mass of underdeveloped and miseducated groups. The development, use, and spread of English in Africa is well documented as part and parcel of the general colonizing spirit, the oeuvre civilisatrice, of the British (naval) superiority and cultural supremacy of the late 19th century. Inherent in the establishment of appropriate administrative, legal, and educational substructures were decisions to use English as language of these substructures in colonies, protectorates, and dependencies. At independence for most British colonies in Africa in the second half of the 20th century, the English language was perceived as a key element in a British strategy to promote educational development while securing the mother country’s political and economic influence. Social policies of
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modernization identified English with prestige amidst larger political and public campaigns for equal education and the abolishment of separate education. Schmied (1991) reports how the use and adoption of English by Presidents of new African countires in Ghana, Tanzania, and Zambia played other roles. With the support of European socialists and philosophers, Presidents Kwame Nkrumah, Julius Nyerere, and Kenneth Kaunda (1991) ‘‘began to use the colonizers’ legacy against the colonizers themselves. They adopted the English language because they also needed it to criticize and attach their rules in international contexts’’ (pp. 18–19). The globalization of English in Africa remains a varied phenomena resembling the complex and complicated picture of language spread and colonial power in contemporary Africa. That is, as French, Belgian, Portuguese, German, and English colonial powers had unique administrative mechanisms of language spread and expectation, there were seldom similar instances, for example, where the case of English was the same in diverse regions of the continent. Mazrui (1975) has long known that the case of English in then-Tanganyika and Kenya was different than in British West Africa. He acknowledged that in the East, African politicians and leaders who emerged ‘‘were those who added a knowledge of English to their competence in Swahili’’ (p. 98) whereas the lingua franca in Ghana and Nigeria was the language of the colonial power. Three basic points are relevant here. Firstly, the prestige associated with English (in these former English colonies) is not monolithic. Secondly, lingua francae issues deserve more study in these changing and transforming contexts, and thirdly, the political maneuvering and positioning around language choice remains widely unmentioned in the 21st century as if those were discussions of the distant past. Amidst the attention being paid to the institutional and dominant structures transported through the teaching of English and the concomitant rise of English as primary global language of science, literature, theater, sports, and aviation, there has not been the same hoopla paid to African language planning and policy vehicles and strategies. That language policy and politics play a vital role in either decolonizing or maintaining the marginalized status of groups in the 21st century is the basic challenge and tension around language policy educational reform in a new era of postIndependence and post-apartheid southern Africa. The development of local language and educational efforts in a transforming context of Africa is indicative of pronouncements and tenets of democracy and equity. In the post-apartheid southern Africa where the legacy of apartheid has revealed gross educational disparities between race and class, language policy serves as harbinger of social change for
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indigenous groups in the process of self-identity and self-determination. However, amidst the surge and expectation of official language use in a country like Namibia, the perpetuation of colonial attitudes to language reverberate even in a post-independent context. The precarious situation affecting certain very marginalized groups in the country, among them the Ju|’hoansi, serves as an opportunity to rid the country of its legacy of apartheid and Bantu education.
Situating African Languages in Namibia Nation-Building In 1990, winds of change blew for freedom and liberation in the former German and South African colony of Namibia. They had been blowing for years leading up to Independence and the new republic of Namibia was indicative of the august social change underway in South Africa, Angola, and the rest of the southern region. Official language education reforms were part of a larger social policy agenda in an ‘‘Education for All’’ society, taking its cue from other governmental and non-governmental agencies worldwide who had gathered in Jomtien to provide educational opportunities to every person in the country. Presumed to be the language of unity, freedom, and international access, the official language served as key to a more egalitarian and just Namibia. In the years leading up to Independence, the ruling party (South West Africa People’s Organisation, SWAPO), through a series of policy documents and with international aid support, advanced an English-only language policy, one still prevalent in contemporary Namibia. Elsewhere (Hopson, 2005), historical foundation to the role of English as official language of the country and rationale to the plethora of arguments around the language question are discussed more fully. Briefly, the arguments are twofold. One argument has to do with the use and ideology of English juxtaposed to the use and ideology of Afrikaans. The second argument has involves the dominant views that support the retention of colonial European languages throughout post-colonial Africa: language as national unity, language as national development and modernity, and language as efficient and cost-effective. What one notices in these arguments are ambiguity about the language policy as it pertains to indigenous language development, lack of critical attention and policy direction to the role of indigenous languages in the visioning of language policy in the country, and mixed cultural perceptions about how the appropriation of indigenous languages were to be perceived in a new republic.
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The first Permanent Secretary of the (then)Ministry of Education and Culture, I.V. Ankama’s recognized of the role of African languages as integral to nation-building. His following remarks suggest that positive aspects of mother tongue use should be incorporated: ‘‘Positive in the sense that education and mother tongue use, when implemented with good intentions by those in authority . . . can contribute positively to nationbuilding and the ultimate creation and sustenance of a healthy multi-ethnic society’’ (Ankama, 1993, p. 35). It was unclear in the first few years of Independence beyond school policy that encouraged national languages up to (but not including) Grade 4, how and whether these non-English languages should be developed beyond family, church, and community use. The over-attention to changing Afrikaans as medium of instruction, lingua franca, and official language contributed to Brian Harlech-Jones’ critique that the language policy thinking had not caught up with the realities of post-independent when he juxtaposed ‘‘mindsets of the liberation struggle and the language conflict of the 1980s’’. Even further, Namibia’s language policy reformers and drivers echoed the logic of those elsewhere in Africa post-1950 and 1960, post-independence, who insisted that promoting and developing African languages would be too costly, cause ethnic conflict, and disunite the post-independent state. At least in the southern African context, there are rationales why the promotion of local languages is not perceived ‘‘positively’’. The Bantu Education Act of 1953 promotion of mother tongue instruction in schools has contributed to a legacy of indifference and skepticism about African language and educational development in Namibia and South Africa. The perception of mother tongue as inferior has been an obstacle to overcome in a post-apartheid society which had become accustomed to the policy of Bantu Education. Leketi Makelela (2005) confirms that a major part of the introduction of mother tongue in South Africa (and subsequently, Namibia) was used as a means to fragment African people who had begun to be perceived as political and social threat by the 1970s. That mother tongue education was associated with apartheid policies of divide and rule or inferior education has had unfortunate consequences for African languagespeaking students. Kwesi Kwaa Prah (2005) acknowledges, in the heyday of Bantu Education in South Africa in 1976, African students pass rate had reached its highest when mother tongue instruction was phased in as primary language of learning for eight years of schooling. Less than a decade after mother tongue had been reduced to four years of primary schools, pass rates for African language-speaking students dropped below 50%. Lingering perceptions of indigenous languages as underdeveloped and
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inferior without clear interventions or considerations of the role of these languages in a post-colonial context had led to far-reaching implications by the second decade of independence in Namibia. The end of the first decade and the beginning of the second decade of Independence revealed at least two unfortunate depictions about the situation affecting indigenous African languages and peoples in Namibia. An alarming set of statistics provided by the Government of the Republic of Namibia and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in 1999 suggested that the picture of post-independent Namibia resembled the picture of a pre-independent one (GRN/UNICEF, 1999). Being from an Indo-European language group (i.e. English, German, or Afrikaansspeaking) meant being more wealthy and better educated than their African language (comprising Bantu, Khoekhoegowab, San language groups) countrymen and women (i.e. Oshiwambo, Nama Damara, Rukavango, Otjiherero, Silozi, San, and Setswana language speakers). Despite having the second and third smallest populations respectively, English and German language speakers had highest levels of educational attainment, the highest human development indexes and the lowest poverty indexes. The transition to post-Independent Namibia has proved to be more complicated than having English serve as medium of instruction and official language. The other revealing picture of the state of indigenous language and educational development in Namibia at the beginning of the second decade is when one considers the lack of matriculation of African language speakers at post-secondary educational levels. By 2001, the Department of African Languages at the University of Namibia had seen a decrease of 900% – an astounding figure. Enrolled students were taking courses in Otjiherero, Nama Damara (i.e. Khoekhoegowab), and Oshindonga (one of several varieties of Oshiwambo). The decrease in students enrolled in the department affects the number of eligible junior and secondary school teachers of the languages upon graduation and available instructional materials. Reasons for the decrease were attributed to perceived lack of student interest and the concomitant decline of faculty positions in the Department of African languages, both symptomatic of the more profound English officialization, ideology, and western cultural hegemony in a post-independent Namibia. While all African populations were significantly worse off than their European counterparts, speakers of the indigenous San7 languages fared the worst in all areas; they had the highest population of ‘‘no educational attainment’’, the lowest human development index, and the highest human poverty index. Whatever problems in education other ethnic groups had, these problems were multiplied for the Ju|’hoansi and other San,
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exacerbated by their extreme social marginalization and the virtual lack (until recently) of formal education in their mother tongue. It is not only Namibia that is noticing that early transitions to English (or other dominant languages, especially French and Portuguese) do not seem to be working nearly as well as had been hoped. Though the situation varies greatly from country to country, striking similarities have become apparent; most notably the low educational attainment levels among speakers of African languages.
CASE STUDY OF NYAE NYAE EDUCATIONAL AND LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT: TWO STEPS FORWARD, ONE STEP BACK The Ju |’hoansi have been the focus of considerable attention for the last 30 years. (Dickens, 1992a, 1992b, 2005; Lee, 1979; Barnard, 1992; Biesele, 2003; Biesele, 1994; Hitchcock, 2004; Katz, Biesele, & St. Denis, 1997; Kolata, 1981; Sylvain, 2002; Suzman, 2002; Hays, 2007). They have been the interest of anthropologists, human activists, rural, community, and international development workers, educators and authors of children’s books, and the film industry. Megan Biesele and Robert Hitchcock (2000) provide an historical sketch of the educational issues facing the Ju, in particular language issues, and how these affected the development of the Village Schools Project (VSP). Designed to address some of the acute issues that affect San learners, VSP is credited for pioneering ‘‘the use of the Ju|’hoan San language in instruction and curriculum materials for the first three grades of school for Ju|’hoanspeakers at the time of Namibian Independence’’ (p. 238). They, and others (Gu¨ldemann, 1998), credit Jan Snyman’s orthography and dictionary and the linguistic research by the Bible Society of Namibia (1974) as foundational for influencing the VSP language education work carried out by Patrick Dickens (1994, 1992) at the cusp of Independence.
Development of VSP and the Paradox of Schooling Amidst the changing sociopolitical and sociolinguistic landscape of Namibia for the Ju|’hoansi, like other indigenous people worldwide, it was an opportune time to proclaim their own linguistic and human rights.
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Global efforts to provide education for all, to promote literacy to largely oral cultures, and the professed support for indigenous languages (or minority language education) following decades of apartheid rule were timely for the development of VSP in 1994. Intending to create a safer and more conducive learning environment for Ju|’hoan learners and teachers who had a history of being pushed out of the formal structures and mechanisms of learning and teaching prior to Independence, the VSP is made up of small schools in nearby villages within the Nyae Nyae Conservancy of Northern Namibia. What makes VSP unique for San across southern Africa is its emphasis on mother tongue education through grade 3, direct community involvement, and the inclusion of learner’s culture and cultural activities in the community. The intention of the VSP has been to assist the matriculation of Ju|’hoansi children to enter grade 4 at Tsumkwe Junior Secondary School in the central growth center of the Eastern Bushmanland area through three components: language development, curriculum and materials development, and teacher education. At the time of the development of VSP, a groundswell of linguistic and educational efforts on the part of a diverse group of actors had gained momentum, and governmental and non-governmental organizations collaborated to build upon this base and create a cutting-edge mother tongue project for one of the new country’s most marginalized groups. Biesele and Hitchcock (2000) describe the fortuitous events that precipitated the Ministry of Education and Culture’s support of Ju|’hoan language as medium of instruction for a pilot project in curriculum development at the first five years of Independence. Namely, the authors point to the transfer of a high-ranking director of an international aid agency from Botswana to Namibia who had seen how the role of educational language policies could contribute to increased marginalization among minority language-speaking groups. Additionally and perhaps most significantly, the authors point to the community-based education program and people’s organization already underway in the Nyae Nyae area which had support from a Namibia-based NGO and overseas funding. Still, however, the acute and extreme situation affecting the educational development of learners whose first language was Ju|’hoansi or another San languages in the first decade of Independence was cause of immediate concern prompting an inter-sectoral task force to identify policy options for educational marginalized children such as the San and others in the country (MBESC, 2000). Educational ministry documents had articulated low rates of enrollment and access to education, dismal number of learners matriculating through school, challenging classroom situations where
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Bushmen learners were in government schools, and low levels of education obtained by adults (EMIS, 1999). A companion survey at about the same period of education for Bushman-speaking learners (Swarts & Avenstrup, 1995) further highlighted the situation affecting Ju|’hoansi, especially how the role of schooling had historically exacerbated the lack of trust and value by these same marginalized communities.
Raising more Questions than Answers: Role of Language in VSP Educational Development By the second decade of Independence and the VSP, increasing challenges raised questions about the fulfillment of schooling efforts geared toward Ju|’hoansi, the role of their language in promoting education more broadly, and the revitalization and regenesis of language policies geared toward them and other indigenous groups in Namibia. At the nexus of these issues continue to be competing issues and conflicting policies that inhibit the effect of indigenous languages as resources in a post-apartheid context, placing even more stress onto communities of indigenous peoples like the Ju|’hoansi. The following quote from a school committee of Ju|’hoansi adults charged with educational and schooling issues illustrates the hope and challenge for learners to learn both English and Ju|’hoan in school and the great expectations or false hopes they have in their local context: The languages are good for the learners. The Ju|’hoan, if they do it alone at the Village School, it won’t be good because when they go to school (the secondary school), it will be difficult for them as they only know how to read and write their own language and it is very important that they can do both languages at the Village School at the same time . . . we have got poems, and these things have got special old people who know how to talk about old things where also they sit around the fire talking to children. (School committee focus group: JA)
The hope of sending children to the junior school to learn English in order to communicate, translate, and to be formally educated in the new Namibia is a fundamental priority of key persons within the Nyae Nyae Conservancy. English is an unassailable given for parents, community leaders, and other stakeholders concerned with the education of Ju|’hoansi learners. At the same time, community members clearly state that they want education in their own language, too. The co-existence of English with Ju|’hoansi is however a contested issue, indicative of the country’s conflicted policy
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stance that ranges from permissive and active language defense efforts when it comes toward indigenous languages. Permissive language defense, what Joshua Fishman and Fishman (2000) calls the ‘‘most modest and elementary type . . . [that] does not obligate the authorities to overtly or constructively do anything on behalf of disadvantaged languages, but, rather, to abstain from particular types of oppositional or deleterious actions with respect to such (or any other) languages’’ (p. 24). This permissive language defense is most operative at the junior secondary school where major challenges remain over the transition of learning English for those learners schooled at VSP and the great expectations of the Ju|’hoansi learners who come to a new language learning environment in culture shock and in isolation within a more formalized educational system at the junior secondary school level. Within the official language planning efforts of the country, the promotion of indigenous languages is clearly not a priority for long-range development. Although, it might be argued that an active language defense stance, to counteract language endangerment according to Fishman and Fishman (2000), exists at primary education levels by virtue of its nationbuilding agenda, efforts at junior secondary levels or above are virtually invisible except for certain African language groups in the country. Even then, official language policy trumps, promoting English only throughout junior secondary, secondary, and post-secondary educational levels. Though the role of language was considered in the development discourse of postindependent Namibia, preventive or proactive language defense efforts, the most effective assurance of maintaining demographically and functionally minoritized languages (Fishman & Fishman, 2000), are far and few between. The case of the Ju|’hoansi only illustrates the extremity of the situation of fulfilling the hope for a fair and free Namibia for all.
CONCLUSION: REVISITING EDUCATIONAL RIGHTS AND ACCESS AMONG SAN IN NAMIBIA Placing the San in the global context of indigenous peoples and their experiences with education, we see that what is (superficially) defined as a ‘‘right’’ has in fact been something that is met with resistance on the part of indigenous peoples everywhere. This does not mean that all indigenous peoples everywhere have refused access to formal education; indeed many have benefited from western schooling. Furthermore many indigenous
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peoples do claim the right to have access to such schooling and the skills available there. But when this right is defined as something that all indigenous children – including San children – must have, it becomes the imposition of a foreign system upon peoples who have a long history of their own traditions of transmitting information and skills down through the generations. In Namibia, as elsewhere in Africa, formal education is also strongly associated with the acquisition of English. The Ju|’hoansi want access to education, and access to English – but not at the expense of their own culture and language. In the context of southern Africa, however, implementing educational alternatives is met with considerable challenges stemming from the history of the region. Access to education is considered to be an unquestionably positive thing, something that will benefit individuals and communities. ‘‘Education’’ itself, is linked in development literature with a myriad of other human ideals. A closer look at the experiences of indigenous peoples (and other marginalized groups) worldwide with formal education reveals a somewhat different picture, however. The image that emerges is one of struggle against an imposed institution that primarily serves the interest of colonial or other dominant powers, but does not, in fact, take into account the real needs of the people that it is ostensibly ‘‘helping.’’ We wish to emphasize the ways in which efforts to incorporate indigenous peoples into mainstream education systems are – and have been since colonial times – primarily predicated upon the assumption that it will be beneficial for the indigenous students and communities themselves. A look at the reality of indigenous people’s experiences, however, shows us that in fact formal education systems have largely been an imposition of foreign systems of knowledge and worldviews upon a subordinated culture; furthermore such efforts have not, for the most part, resulted in the expected improvements for indigenous students and their communities. On the contrary, a common theme of literature on the education of indigenous peoples is their basic ‘‘failure’’ to achieve the educational goals of formal institutions, compared with their nonindigenous counterparts.
NOTES 1. Other terms used are Bushmen, or (in Botswana) Basarwa. None of these terms are the peoples’ own names for themselves, such as Ju|’hoansi. In this article the term San is used when referring to the larger grouping, as it has been identified by the
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Working Group of Indigenous Minorities of Southern Africa (WIMSA) as the least offensive. 2. There are also very small numbers of San living in Zambia and Zimbabwe. 3. The figures are noticeably different concerning the San population in Namibia, partly attributed to different manners data obtained and adapted. 4. For an excellent description of the problems facing the indigenous populations of southern Africa today, see the edited volume by Hitchcock and Vinding (2004), Indigenous Peoples Rights in Southern Africa. Barnard (1992) provides a thorough overview of the San cultural groupings. 5. The human development index is calculated in terms of purchasing power party in U.S. dollars and measures progress in the following development components; longevity, knowledge, and access to resources. The Human Poverty Index is a measure of deprivation, measuring the proportion of the population being deprived certain elements of life, including the main three components: longevity, knowledge, and decent stand of living. 6. Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that everyone has the right to education, that elementary education shall be free and compulsory, that education shall be directed to the ‘‘full development of the human personality and to strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.’’ Numerous subsequent documents have re-emphasized this right. These include the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention against Discrimination in Education, and the World Declaration on Education for all. 7. This category includes a number of different language groups, including Ju|’hoansi-, Naro-, !Kung-, Hai||om-, and Khwedam-speakers.
REFERENCES AhChee, D. (1996). Independent Aboriginal-Controlled Education in Australia Address to UNESCO Consultation, Thailand, September, on behalf of the Federation of Independent Aboriginal Education Providers. Alexander, N. (nd). Language planning from below. In: R. K. Herbert (Ed.), Language and society in Africa: The theory and practice of sociolinguistics. Johannesburgh: Witwatersrand University Press. Alexander, N. (2000). Key issues in language policy for southern Africa. In: R. Trewby & S. Fitcht (Eds), Language and development in southern Africa: Making the right choices. Windhoek: Gamsberg Macmillan. Ankama, I. V. (1993). Education and mother language as factors influencing nation building. Namibian views: Ethnicity, nation building, and democracy (3rd ed.). Windhoek: KonradAdeneuer-Stiftung/National Institute for Educational Development. Barnard, A. (1992). Hunters and herders of southern Africa: A comparative ethnography of the Khoisan peoples. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Biesele, M. (1994). Human rights and democratization in Namibia: Some grassroots political perspectives. African Rural and Urban Studies, 1(2), 49–72.
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Biesele, M. (2003). The Kalahari Peoples Fund: Activist legacy of the Harvard Kalahari Research Group. Anthropologica, 45, 79–88. Biesele, M., & Hitchcock, R. K. (2000). The Ju|’hoansi San under two states: Impacts of the South West African administration and the governnment of the republic of Namibia. In: P. P. Schweitzer, M. Biesele & R. K. Hitchcock (Eds), Hunters and gathers in the modern world: Conflict, resistance, and self-determination (pp. 305–326). NY: Berghahn. Dickens, P. (1992a). English Ju|’hoan, Ju|’hoan English Dictionary. Windhoek: Nyae Nyae Development Foundation. Dickens, P. (1992b). Ju|’hoan grammar. Windhoek: Nyae Nyae Development Foundation. Dickens, P. (2005). A concise grammar of Ju|’hoan with a Ju|’hoan-English glossary and a subject index. Cologne: Ru¨diger Ko¨ppe Publishers. Education Management Information Systems (EMIS). (1999). Education statistics. Windhoek: Ministry of Basic Education and Culture. Fishman, J. A., & Fishman, G. S. (2000). Rethinking language defense. In: R. Phillipson (Ed.), Rights to language: Equity, power, and education. Celebrating the 60th birthday of Tove Skutnabb-Kangas (pp. 23–27). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Gu¨ldemann, T. (1998). San languages for education: A linguistic short survey and proposal. Okahandja, Namibia: National Institute of Educational Development/Ministry of Basic Education and Culture. Hays, J. (2006). For the benefit of all: Mother tongue education for Southern African minorities. A Comprehensive Summary Report from a Regional Conference on Multilingualism in Southern African Education, Gaborone Botswana, 1–2 June 2005. Windhoek: WIMSA. Hays, J. (2007). Education, Rights and Survival for the Nyae Nyae Ju|’hoansi: Illuminating Global and Local Discourses. PhD Dissertation, State University of New York, University at Albany, Albany, NY. Hitchcock, R. (1994). International human rights, the environment, and indigenous peoples. Colorado Journal of International Environment Law and Policy, 5, 1–22. Hitchcock, R. (2004). Human rights and anthropological activism among the San. In: C. Nagengast & C. V. Ibanez (Eds), Human rights, power, and difference: The scholar as activist (pp. 169–191). Norman, OK: Society for Applied Anthropology. Hitchcock, R., & Biesele, M. (2000). Introduction. In: P. P. Schweitzer, M. Biesele & R. K. Hitchcock (Eds), Hunters and gathers in the modern world: Conflict, resistance, and self-determination (pp. 1–27). New York: Berghahn. Hodgson, D. L. (Ed.). (2002) Introduction: Comparative perspectives on the indigenous rights movement in Africa and the Americas. American Anthropologist, 104(4), 1037–1049. Hopson, R. K. (2005). Paradox of English-only in post-independent Namibia: Toward whose education for all? In: B. Brock-Utne & R. Hopson (Eds), Languages of instruction for African emancipation: Focus on postcolonial contexts and considerations. Cape Town/Dar es Salaam: The Centre for Advanced Studies of African Society/Mkuki na Nyota. International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA). (2004). The indigenous world 2004. Copenhagen: Author. Kann, U. (1991). Where the Sand is the Book: Education for everyone in the Nyae Nyae area. Consultancy report for the Nyae Nyae Development Foundation in Namibia (NNDFN) and the Swedish International Development Authority (SIDA), Windhoek. Kann, U., Hitchcock, R. K., & Mbere, N. (1990). Let them talk: A Review of the accelerated remote area development program. Gaborone: Ministry of Local Government and Lands and Oslo: Norwegian Agency for Development and Cooperation.
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Katz, R., Biesele, M., & St. Denis, V. (1997). Healing makes our hearts happy: Spirituality and cultural transformation among the Kalahari Ju|’hoansi. Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions. Kawagley, O. (2001). Tradition and education: The world made seamless again. In: P. James (Ed.), Science and Native American Communities. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. Kolata, G. B. (1981). !Kung bushmen join South African Army. Science, 211(4482), 562–564. Kwaa Prah, K. (2005). Lanugage of instruction for education, development, and African emancipation. In: B. Brock-Utne & R. Hopson (Eds), Languages of instruction for African emancipation: Focus on postcolonial contexts and considerations. Cape Town/Dar es Salaam: The Centre for Advanced Studies of African Society/Mkuki na Nyota. Le Roux, W. (2000). Torn Apart: San children as change agents in a process of acculturation. A report on the educational situation of san children in southern Africa. Shakawe, Botswana/ Windhoek, Namibia: Kuru Development Trust/Working Group of Indigenous Minorities in Southern Africa. Lee, R. (1979). The !kung san: Men, women and work in a foraging society. New York: Cambridge University Press. Lipka, J., & Mohatt, G. and the Ciulistet Group. (1998). Transforming the culture of schools: Yup’ik eskimo examples. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Maybury-Lewis, D. (1997). Indigenous peoples, ethnic groups, and the state. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Makelela, L. (2005). ‘‘We speak eleven tongues’’: Reconstructing multilingualism in South Africa. In: B. Brock-Utne & R. Hopson (Eds), Languages of instruction for African emancipation: Focus on postcolonial contexts and considerations. Cape Town/Dar es Salaam: The Centre for Advanced Studies of African Society/Mkuki na Nyota. Mazrui, A. M. (1975). The political sociology of the English language: An African perspective. Mouton: The Hague. McCarty, T. (2002). A place to be Navajo: Rough rock and the struggle for self determination in indigenous schooling. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Mendelsohn, J. M., Swarts, P., & Avenstrup, R. (1995). Marginalisation in education: The case of Bushman-speaking people. In: Management Information Systems Division, Ministry of Basic Education and Culture, Republic of Namibia, EMIS Bulletin 3, June. Ministry of Basic Education Sport and Culture (MBESC). (2000). National policy options for educationally children. Windhoek: Republic of Namibia. Osterhammel, J. (1999). Colonialism, A theoretical overview. Princeton, NJ: Markus Weiner. Reagan, T. (2005). Non-western educational traditions: Indigenous approaches to educational thought and practice. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Rovillos, R. (1999). Education in the Decade of Indigenous Peoples: Bringing Education back into the Mainstream of Indigenous Peoples’ Lives. Tebtebba Briefing Paper 3; Indigenous Peoples and Education. Available at http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/ jpc/echoes-16-02.html Saugestad, S. (2001). The inconvenient indigenous: Remote area development in Botswana, donor assistance, and the first people of the Kahalari. Uppsala: The Nordic Africa Institute. Saugestad, S. (2004). On the return of the native. Current Anthropology, 45(2), 263–264. Schieffelin, B., Woolard, K. A., & Kroskrity, P. V. (1998). Language ideologies: Practice and theory. New York: Oxford University Press. Schmied, J. (1991). English in Africa: An introduction. London: Longman. Semali, L., & Kincheloe, J. L. (1999a). What is indigenous knowledge? Voices from the academy. New York: Falmer.
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Semali, L., & Kincheloe, J. L. (1999b). Introduction. In: L. Semali & J. Kincheloe (Eds), What is indigenous knowledge? Voices from the academy (pp. 3–57). New York: Falmer. Sheehan, B. W. (1973). Seeds of extinction: Jeffersonian philanthropy and the American Indian. New York: W.W. Norton. Siegru¨hn, A. & Hays, J. (2001). Implementation Plan for Pilot Projects for the Khoe and San Languages in schools in the Northern Cape Province. Submitted to Northern Cape Education Department, South Africa, May. Suzman, J. (2002). Minorities in independent Namibia. London: Minority Rights Group International. Swarts, P., & Avenstrup, R. (1995). Report on preliminary survey of education for Bushmanspeaking learners. Windhoek: Namibian Institute for Educational Development (NIED). Sylvain, R. (2002). Land, water, and truth: San identity and global indigenism. American Anthropologist, 104(4), 1074–1085. Tollefson, J. (1991). Planning language, planning inequality: Language policy in the community. New York: Longman. U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. (2003). A quiet crisis: Federal funding and unmet needs in Indian Country. Washington, DC: U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Woolard, K. A., & Schieffelin, B. B. (1994). Language ideology. Annual Review of Anthropology, 23, 55–82.
GLOBALIZATION FROM ABOVE, GLOBALIZATION FROM BELOW: MECHANISMS FOR SOCIAL DISPARITY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE IN HIGHER EDUCATION Erin Kimura-Walsh and Walter R. Allen ABSTRACT This chapter examines the complex influences of globalization on higher education in the United States, and specifically considers how globalization has increased the international influence of American college and university student movements. We briefly describe various conceptions of globalization and look at the ways in which a capitalist-oriented form of globalization is infringing upon the social good purpose of higher education. This chapter primarily focuses on ‘‘globalization from below,’’ the ways that oppositional social movements, in this case led by students, use the mechanisms of globalization to promote social equity within, through and beyond higher education. Using the cases of the antisweatshop movement and the Sudan divestment movement, this chapter examines how student activists use mechanisms of globalization, particularly global economic connections and technology, to counter
Power, Voice and the Public Good: Schooling and Education in Global Societies Advances in Education in Diverse Communities: Research Policy and Praxis, Volume 6, 201–230 Copyright r 2008 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited All rights of reproduction in any form reserved ISSN: 1479-358X/doi:10.1016/S1479-358X(08)06008-7
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aspects of neoliberal globalization, and promote justice and democratization for marginalized people throughout the world.
INTRODUCTION For some, the word globalization conjures up negative images of the exploitation and oppression of poor and disenfranchised people in struggling countries. The term often engenders visions of mass protests at World Trade Organization (WTO), World Bank or International Monetary Fund (IMF) meetings, such as ‘‘The Battle in Seattle’’ (1999) and subsequent protests in Washington, D.C. (2000); Quebec, Canada (2001); and Genoa, Italy (2001). But these images of globalization represent just one form of globalization: neoliberal globalization.1 Those who promote neoliberal globalization see free markets and capitalism as ideal equalizers in society because they lack human (and humane) bias. As a result, neoliberal globalization utilizes free market and capitalist ideologies to determine global order and policy. These priorities often result in further advancement of rich individuals, corporations and countries, and continued exploitation of the poor in marginalized nations (Chomsky, 1999; Chua, 2004). While neoliberal globalization is one important aspect of the broader trend of globalization, there is an increasingly complex understanding of globalization and its influences. For example, while some scholars have described globalization as a tool used by neoliberalist regimes to increase profits for the rich and exploit the poor (McLaren & Farahmandpur, 2001), others have equated globalization with the westernization of the world (Altbach, 2005; Latouche cited in Kellner, 2000). Still others acknowledge globalization as enabling an increase in foreign aid (Stiglitz, 2002), opportunities for international scholarly collaboration (Altbach, 2005) and empowerment of marginalized social movements (Castells, 1997). To understand the numerous and often contradictory conceptions of globalization, Kellner (2000) points out that we must acknowledge that globalization has ‘‘progressive and regressive features, as well . . . as fundamental ambivalences’’ (p. 305). This perspective enables us to examine globalization critically. Through this chapter, we will explore these contradictory and complex aspects of globalization by examining its influence on higher education. We propose that while globalization has created ever-increasing global economic competition and stratification, it has also become a
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mechanism through which higher education could promote societal equity. An overview of globalization will be provided that explores the varied understandings of the dynamics and outcomes of this phenomenon, including the impact it has had on higher education. Using Kellner’s (2002) critical theory of globalization, this chapter will first reflect on the regressive and progressive characteristics of globalization through the concepts of ‘‘globalization from above’’ and ‘‘globalization from below.’’ After a general discussion of the influence of globalization on colleges and universities, we will examine the increasingly global nature of student movements. By exploring the cases of the anti-sweatshop and the Sudan divestment movements through the lens of globalization from below, we seek to understand how student movements are using the mechanisms of globalization to advocate for the rights of marginalized people, whose oppression is rooted in the neoliberal values of globalization from above.
A CRITICAL THEORY OF GLOBALIZATION Kellner (2002) argues that globalization should be theorized ‘‘as a highly complex, contradictory, and thus ambiguous set of institutions, and social relations as well as one involving flows of goods, services, ideas, technologies, cultural forms, and people’’ (Kellner, 2002, p. 286). Therefore, globalization encompasses both positive and negative characteristics. As a result, Kellner suggests a critical theory of globalization that deconstructs and denounces oppressive and undemocratic features of globalization, while supporting and promoting the positive aspects of globalization that uphold justice and democratization2 (Kellner, 2000, 2002). One example of the democratic and undemocratic effects of globalization can be seen in techno-capitalism, one key aspect of globalization (Kellner, 2002). Techno-capitalism acknowledges the transformative and central nature of technology, and the continuing dominance of capitalism within the globalization era. Moreover, it signifies the dynamic relationship between capital and technology. Technology has played an increasingly important role in the global economy, while at the same time capital is advancing new technologies. Techno-capitalism has had contradictory effects on global justice and equality. On one hand, the restructuring of capital and the centrality of technology has engendered tensions and conflicts between capitalism and democracy, as well as the poor and the privileged (Kellner, 2002). However, these same aspects of globalization
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have also enabled a democratization of such areas as information, investing and technology by increasing their accessibility (Kellner, 2002). To further explore the contradictory nature of globalization, Kellner (2002) suggests that we make a distinction between globalization from above and globalization from below. Globalization from above, or the use of globalization to exploit and oppress the poor, inhibits democracy while generating more power and wealth for the rich. It is driven by capitalist ideology and also can be termed neoliberal globalization (Kellner, 2000, 2002). In contrast, globalization from below captures the resistance of capitalist or neoliberal globalization by social movements and marginalized peoples who use the mechanisms of globalization to advance democracy and justice (Kellner, 2000, 2002). In the next two sections, globalization from above and globalization from below will be discussed on a broad global level, providing background to important trends in globalization. Additionally, an examination of these two concepts provides an introduction to globalization’s impact on higher education, particularly within the context of student movements.
THE GLOBALIZATION WE KNOW: GLOBALIZATION FROM ABOVE Globalization from above, or neoliberal globalization, is the form of globalization with which people are most familiar. By using the mechanisms of globalization, neoliberalists have been able to promote hierarchical global structures that emphasize capitalism, privatization, individualistic prosperity, free market values and a weak state (Apple, 2000). Critics view these ideals as advancing the exploitation of marginalized people and countries (Chomsky, 1999; Chua, 2004). However, neoliberalists share the belief that liberalization of the market will create equality by removing human bias and promoting rationality and fairness in the allocation of goods and services (McChesney as cited in Chomsky, 1999). Therefore, by using neoliberal values to guide the policy making of such global organizations as the WTO, World Bank and IMF, neoliberals see themselves as promoting free market goals that will enable a fair global society. Put simply, the argument is made that ‘‘a rising tide will float all boats,’’ or that increased prosperity among the rich will inevitably ‘‘trickle down’’ to benefit the middle and lower classes.
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Critics, however, have viewed the WTO, World Bank and IMF as advancing global inequality. Stiglitz (2002) argues that the actions of these organizations exemplify everything that has gone wrong with globalization. While the WTO, IMF and World Bank are the three primary institutions that govern the global economy and trade, they are not accountable to all of the people whose economies and trade policies they determine. Instead they answer to the industrialized countries, namely the G-7: the United States, Canada, Japan, France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom (Stiglitz, 2002). These seven countries have structured and control the policies and practices of the WTO, IMF and World Bank to exploit the poor in struggling countries, while benefiting the rich minority in those countries, as well as the G-7’s wealthy citizens and corporations. One example of an overarching policy these three institutions have adopted is capital market liberalization3 (Stiglitz, 2002). When poor countries seek economic assistance from the IMF and World Bank or trade opportunities through the WTO, these organizations often demand that the countries liberalize their trade and financial markets as a condition of receiving assistance. As a result, stronger, more stable corporations (like those from the G-7) can enter the country and compete with existing businesses. Carnoy (1993) points out that while there are some benefits to poor countries hosting multinational corporations, there are also significant drawbacks. This policy is often prematurely imposed on economically struggling countries, giving larger corporations, with their ample resources and stability, the opportunity to devastate poorer countries’ native businesses and exploit their natural and human capital (Stiglitz, 2002). While the G-7’s early economies were protected from outside competition which allowed their businesses to grow and stabilize, these poor countries are forced to immediately open their weak economies to foreign competitors (Stiglitz, 2002). For example, Stiglitz (2002) describes the IMFs attempts to force Ethiopia and Argentina to open their financial markets to international competition. In Ethiopia, the enactment of this policy would have resulted in the domestic banking system (which is smaller than that of Bethesda, Maryland) potentially competing with (and being squelched by) major financial institutions such as Citibank. Instead Ethiopia resisted these IMF policies and thus temporarily lost their IMF support. Argentina, however, suffered the devastating consequences of such policies when their banking systems became dominated by foreign-owned banks that easily funded multinational and large domestic corporations, but failed to provide capital to small and medium-sized businesses. This market failure contributed to Argentina’s financial collapse in 2001.
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Broadly, the influx of global corporations via market liberalization policies can create widespread economic instability and exploitation within developing countries. Multinational corporations (both financial and otherwise) ignore domestic needs, displace local businesses, closely guard their specialized knowledge and only establish low-return, less advanced production, research and development in the host country, thus limiting the long-term benefits that would allow for the advancement of host countries’ local economy (Carnoy, 1993). As a result of the IMF, WTO and World Bank policies, these large international corporations are able to enter freely into countries and extract profits without any substantial benefits to the host countries. Rather than helping the economies of these countries, these neoliberal policies have exploited and further impoverished poor countries and have contributed to increased global instability (Chomsky, 1999; Stiglitz, 2002).
THE GLOBALIZATION WE WANT TO KNOW: GLOBALIZATION FROM BELOW In contrast to globalization from above, the term globalization from below describes anti-neoliberal global movements that are mainly concerned with challenging the liberalization of markets, establishing rules to govern the global economy and ensuring the interests of all people are served (Torres & Rhoads, 2006). Moreover, globalization-from-below movements resist neoliberal exploitation and oppression, using the trends of globalization to empower marginalized people and counter global structures of domination and exploitation (Kellner, 2000). Globalization from below is manifested in numerous and diverse beliefs, social movements and events. These movements against neoliberal globalization have emerged from varied ideological origins including the environmental, human rights, labor and identity movements among others (Brecher, Costello, & Smith, 2000; Torres & Rhoads, 2006). Perhaps, one of the most famous globalization-from-below movements was the AntiApartheid Movement in which Black South Africans fought for their rights and were joined by activists (including student activists) throughout the world. Another more recent and well-known form of globalization-frombelow activism are protests against the World Bank, IMF and WTO, some of which were previously mentioned. Protests like these have taken place throughout the world, targeting a range of organizations that promote
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neoliberal policies. For example, in May 2000, approximately 2,000 individuals, the majority of them poor Thai farmers, protested in Chiang Mai, Thailand at a conference held by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) (Bello, 2001). The ADB describes itself as a multilateral development finance institution that focuses on loans and technical support to aid in the development of impoverished countries (ADB, n.d.). However, critics have argued that their large-scale projects disrupt communities (particularly the poor and working class), harm the environment and serve the interests of the upper class (Bello, 2001; Tadem, 2003). As a result of the negative ramifications of ADB’s work, Chiang Mai protestors from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and grassroots movements campaigned against the Bank’s projects in Thailand (Tadem, 2003). Such projects included the building of a wastewater treatment plant in East Thailand that did not obtain the input of the local community or address potential environmental impact issues, including flooding that could pollute the local coast and negatively affect fishing as both a source of food and livelihood (Tadem, 2003). The results of this protest were mixed. On one hand, protesters were able to call public attention to their concerns; however, the ADB’s responses to the protesters’ concerns were inadequate (Tadem, 2003). Broadly, however, this protest highlighted a previously overlooked dimension of globalization-from-below protests. Previously seen as an issue concerning middle-class youth and organized labor in developed countries, the Chiang Mai protest solidified the important role of the poor in developing countries (Bello, 2001). While large-scale protests of global governing organizations are one form of globalization from below, there are numerous other manifestations of this phenomenon. In Mexico, the Zapatistas Army of National Liberation arose in response to increasingly repressive policies imposed by the Mexican government on native peoples (Castells, 1997). These policies included the adoption of a neoliberal NAFTA agenda that ended corn importation restrictions and coffee price protections, thus devastating the local Indian and peasant economy (Castells, 1997). The Zapatistas formed to counter these neoliberal globalization policies that were further marginalizing the native people. Moreover, they used the technologies of globalization, particularly computer networks, to gain global support for their movement (Castells, 1997; Kellner, 2000). Another example of globalization from below is the Group of SeventySeven (G-77) at the United Nations. This organization consists of a coalition of 131 developing countries and provides a means for these countries to articulate and promote their economic interests collectively
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(G-77, n.d.). They have promoted a shift in economic decision making from the World Bank and IMF to the United Nations (Brecher et al., 2000). Moreover, the G-77 has created alternative programs to counter the exploitive nature of WTO policies by proposing increased aid, debt relief and technological access (Brecher et al., 2000). While most scholars have identified the positive, democratizing affects of globalization from below, movements that challenge the global order are not necessarily socially progressive. Along with the Zapatistas, Castells (1997) profiles two movements, the American militia4 and Aum Shinrikyo,5 that utilized some combination of fax, phone, computers, video and Internet to challenge the global order by promoting arguably distorted messages. For the most part, however, scholars have identified globalization from below as engendering positive implications for democracy and oppressed and exploited peoples (Kellner, 2000). Within the framework of globalization from below, the mechanisms of globalization can empower marginalized people and countries to communicate their causes to the world, privileged people to develop an awareness of and advocacy for those who are less privileged, and all people to challenge the current neoliberal globalization regime to promote democratization and social justice.
GLOBALIZATION AND HIGHER EDUCATION Higher Education as Globalization from Above Examining effects of globalization on higher education can further illuminate the manifestations of globalization from above and below because globalization has had mixed, often conflicting, effects on access and equity in colleges and universities. To understand the effects of globalization on higher education, it is important to acknowledge the inequities that exist within the system (Altbach, 2005). On a global level, these inequities can be seen among the various systems of higher education that exist throughout the world. While the United States, Europe and a few other wealthy countries have well-developed higher education systems with ample resources to fund post-secondary education, research and other activities, developing countries have struggled to maintain and expand their colleges and universities. Some of these institutions have been able to use their entrepreneurialism and innovation to overcome the challenges of an increasingly global higher education community and resource disparities (Clark, 2004). However, many others have not achieved this
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accomplishment. One example of this inequity is the ability of higher education systems in the United States and other wealthy countries to become dominant centers of knowledge through research production, knowledge exchange (e.g., academic journals, conferences) and advanced training (Altbach, 2005). As a result of globalization, these wealthy countries have an increasingly international influence, becoming the ideal to which other systems are compared. Unfortunately, it has also become more difficult for less-developed higher education systems to gain parity with the more advanced systems of privileged countries. Without significant resources, it is increasingly challenging (if not impossible) to fund research and to provide the foundations necessary to produce world-class higher education institutions, such as advanced technology systems and wellresourced research libraries (Altbach, 2005). In this way, globalization and the growing emphasis of markets in the global higher education community may have made the disparities more extreme, if not irreparable. The IMF and World Bank have aggravated the disparities between national systems of higher education by promoting policies that force poor countries to divest6 from higher education as conditions for further borrowing (Puplampu, 2006; Torres & Rhoads, 2006). These organizations promote these policies due to the low rate of return of higher education (Puplampu, 2006) and adherence to their neoliberal belief in education as a private good that should be allocated through the free market. As a result, countries such as Mexico, Argentina and Brazil have been forced to redirect funding from higher education to elementary and secondary education under the neoliberal belief that investing in K-12 education will offer a higher rate of return and better equity-investment ratio (Torres & Rhoads, 2006). Similarly in many African countries, the World Bank and IMF’s structural adjustment packages have resulted in state divestment from education generally and higher education specifically (Puplampu, 2006; Shizha, 2006). Shizha (2006) argues that the enactment of these neoliberal policies in Zimbabwe has diminished access to education for the poor by increasing educational costs to supplement the state’s declining financial investments. In 2001, Zimbabwean higher education institutions increased tuition by 300% to raise revenue (Chanakira as cited in Shizha, 2006). This change forced current students to withdraw or take out high interest loans, and discouraged future students from attending. Puplampu (2006) also describes additional ramifications of neoliberal polices throughout Africa. As a result of the declining resources of colleges and universities, higher education institutions have also faced falling faculty salaries as well as a shortage of
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academic personnel. These declines have undermined Africa’s knowledge production. Instead African countries have been forced to look to foreign sources of knowledge through such forms as international consulting, which are costly and often fail to address the subtle and specific contexts of these unique nations. The decline of state investment in higher education has also resulted in growing relationships between universities and private industry. As higher education institutions seek to earn more revenue, they have increasingly engaged in research for multinational corporations. While these collaborations can sometimes be beneficial, the priorities of these corporations are profit-driven and thus can be contradictory to the purpose of higher education to serve the nation-state and its citizens. The WTO is also contemplating further imposition of neoliberalinfluenced policies on higher education. As part of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), the WTO is considering the inclusion of higher education as an area of knowledge production that should be included in the open market. This agreement is still being developed; however, if it is carried out, it would establish knowledge as a freely traded commodity (Altbach, 2005). GATS would increase opportunities for established universities, testing companies and distance education providers (primarily from the G-7 countries) to expand their presence in developing countries (Altbach, 2005). Additionally, it would also limit the ability of nation-states to develop and regulate higher education in their own countries (Altbach, 2005). As part of their trade agreements, developing countries would be forced to allow multinational educational providers unrestricted access to their countries. Moreover, they would be simultaneously prevented from sufficiently supporting their own higher education systems, lessening the chances of competing with better-resourced, foreign higher education providers. At the international level, globalization has also created a homogenizing effect on higher education. For example, English has become the dominant language in academic communication partly due to globalization (Altbach, 2005). As the most widely learned and used second language, English dominates academic journals, cross-border degree programs and international conferences. While in some ways the primary use of the English language has had a homogenizing effect, it has also had a disparate effect by advantaging English speakers and English-speaking countries in academe, which further marginalizes non-English speakers (Puplampu, 2006). The United States and Europe, which already have well-developed and wellresourced higher education systems, are further privileged because they are able to communicate in their own language when writing and speaking
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within the academic arena (Altbach, 2005). Additionally, the methodological practices of western researchers are also accepted as the norm, whereas non-western scholars must struggle to adapt their research practices to be both accepted and understood in the academic realm (Altbach, 2005). Neoliberal globalization has also had a striking influence on U.S. colleges and universities as the growing influence of the market has increased privatization of higher education. Historically, higher education has been understood as a social institution that provides for the public good. As Gumport (1991) points out, the ‘‘built to serve’’ purpose of higher education institutions has been established and reestablished by governmental agencies as well as by colleges and universities themselves. These institutions were established to train citizens in areas that would contribute to society and also conduct socially beneficial research (Gumport, 1991). However, the influence of market ideology on U.S. higher education institutions has grown to the extent that Slaughter and Rhoades (2004) have proposed a major shift in higher education from a public good knowledge/learning regime to an academic capitalist knowledge/learning regime where higher education practices are increasingly driven by the market. One way in which this is manifested is in public divestment from higher education (Gladieux, King, & Corrigan, 2005; McGuiness, 2005). The public, via state and federal governments, provides proportionately less funding to higher education through direct support, research funding, and student aid. Many scholars have argued that this decrease in funding originates from a neoliberal strategy to privatize and promote free market priorities within higher education (Gladieux et al., 2005; McGuiness, 2005; Torres & Rhoads, 2006). In this way, the market, rather than subjective individuals, is seen as fairly regulating higher education, determining who does and does not have access to advanced education (Torres & Rhoads, 2006). This neoliberal influence can also be seen in the ever-increasing presence of private industry on college campuses, which is shaping the direction of institutions, the foci of research and other aspects of higher education. Private industry provides funds that shape the direction of university research, higher education institutions are increasingly involved in patenting new knowledge and products, and college and university trustees are increasingly made up of private industry executives (Slaughter & Rhoades, 2004). In 2000, the top ten U.S. research universities had 100 trustees who held top positions at major capitalized or research performing corporations (Slaughter & Rhoades, 2004). A number of these trustees are from industries that are prominent in the new economy, such as information and electronics (Slaughter & Rhoades, 2004). Additionally, similar to African higher
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education trends described by Puplampu (2006), there has been a growing presence of private industry in U.S. university research (Gumport, 1991). For example, Novartis, a pharmaceutical company, offered the University of California at Berkeley $25 million of support for the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology in exchange for two seats on the grants committee that determined which research to fund, and the ability to vet all inventions emerging from the department, whether or not the research was funded by Novartis7 (Press & Washburn, 2000; Rosenzweig, 1999). Additionally, Novartis would have the right of first refusal to license a fraction of the patents equivalent to the percentage of the department’s funding provided by the company (Rosenzweig, 1999). Critics have raised concerns that corporate intervention, like in the Novartis case, could taint research by increasing private industry influence which may create bias, while also shifting university research to serve the private, not the public good (Press & Washburn, 2000). Private corporations have also increased their presence in higher education by endowing academic and administrative positions. There are now K-Mart Endowed Chairs at West Virginia University and Wayne State University, and there is a BankAmerica Dean of the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley (Press & Washburn, 2000; Wayne State University, 2004).
Higher Education as Globalization from Below While neoliberal globalization and the dominance of western higher education have increased disparities among and within higher education institutions, there are also mechanisms of globalization which have allowed for the advancement of equity among colleges and universities. Technological advances have enhanced worldwide communication and travel, and international research and scholarly collaborations have grown in viability. Altbach (2005) points out that because of the status of the U.S. higher education system, its institutions and faculty are in an ideal position to pursue and promote global scholarly relationships. In this way, higher education institutions can ‘‘develop collaborative, mutually beneficial initiatives and policies, eschewing profit-making ventures that advance the hegemony of powerful academic institutions and systems’’ (Altbach, 2005, p. 64). If so motivated, American colleges and universities can avoid buying into and profiting from their dominance in the global higher education system.
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College and university students have also played a significant role in advancing anti-neoliberal globalization both within higher education and throughout society. Students have been key activists in movements that resist neoliberal policies throughout the world both by leading their own protests or becoming part of larger movements. For example, students at the University of Mexico protested tuition increases they saw as a sign of the privatization of higher education and part of a larger effort to globalize the Mexican economy (Rhoads, Torres, & Brewster, 2006). Students in Argentina joined other citizens to challenge IMF policies that were increasing the gap between the rich and poor (Rhoads et al., 2006). Additionally, many Americans are familiar with the 1999 ‘‘Battle in Seattle,’’ in which students were among 14,000 to 30,000 activists who came together to protest the expansion of the WTO (Smith, 2001). Through their participation in global movements, students have been able to use their voices to advance globalization from below. While scholars have touched on this connection between globalization and student activism, the following sections of this chapter will explore more fully the ways in which university and college students in the United States have increasingly engaged in global causes, using the mechanisms of globalization to further anti-neoliberal globalization.
U.S. STUDENT MOVEMENTS WITH GLOBAL CONNECTIONS Students have long been involved in debates, protests and movements with international connections. Earlier protest movements, however, did not share the characteristics of globalization that are reflected in today’s student movements. Past student political involvement seemed to be closely tied to concerns about involvement of the United States and its citizens in overseas conflicts, but had varying degrees of concern for international causes. For example, during WWI, student activist groups were concerned about American involvement in the war but seemed less concerned about broader international issues (Altbach & Peterson, 1971). Students protesting the Vietnam War did address both the international and domestic implications of war but seemed to focus mainly on recruiting practices, a domestic issue, as a target of protest (Rhoads, 1998). During the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, international issues influenced student activism primarily by changing how Black students in the
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United States viewed their own situation and their potential as agents of change. Generally, the cold war highlighted the discriminatory nature of American society by illuminating the contradiction of the United States promoting democracy overseas while preventing it in their own nation (Morris, 1984). Moreover, during the 1960s, Black students’ civil rights activism was partially motivated by the knowledge that student activists in other parts of the world were having an influence on their own unjust situations (Morris, 1984; Polletta, 1998). Through the international media, activist connections and their own campus newspapers, African American student activists, and members of the broader movement were aware of students’ roles in toppling Turkey and South Korea’s military regimes and of African activists who were fighting to overthrow colonialism in their countries (Polletta, 1998; Vellela, 1988). Perhaps even more striking was the extent to which U.S. Civil Rights Movement strategies were adopted by later movements throughout the world (e.g., Europe’s environmental movement, Poland’s Solidarity Movement, South Africa’s Anti-Apartheid Movement) (Morris, 1984; Morris & Mueller, 1992). Diverging from past trends, recent student movements have started to reflect trends of globalization. While student movements previously exhibited primary concern for local or national issues, students are now focusing on marginalized people and communities from other parts of the world. Additionally, these movements are effectively using globalization to advance their causes. This is manifested in students’ use of the new economy in which corporations and higher education institutions have far-reaching, international financial ties. Student activists have used these new financial dynamics to broaden their influence by pressuring local entities to use their global economic ties to drive change in other countries. In addition, student movements have also effectively used mechanisms of globalization, particularly communication technology and the media, to advance their movements by connecting with international communities, broadcasting their causes and communicating with their members. These next two sections will explore two student movements that exhibit characteristics of globalization from below, the Sudan divestment movement and the antisweatshop movement. For each of these movements, we will explore the international nature of their causes; students’ use of the new economy, particularly international financial connections, to influence change; and the ways these movements utilized media and technology to advance their causes. These movements are examples of the ways that students can advance anti-neoliberal globalization by using the mechanisms of globalization to hold their higher education institutions accountable for the social
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implications of their economic actions, thus advancing social and economic change in other parts of the world.
The Anti-Sweatshop Movement The anti-sweatshop movement was one of the first movements that exhibited characteristics of globalization from below, advancing an international social justice issue using both global economic connections and advanced technology. In 1997, along with labor groups, religious groups and other left-leaning organizations, college and university students began to advocate for improved conditions for apparel workers in Central and South America, and Asia (Featherstone & United Students Against Sweatshops [USAS], 2002). This activism was part of a growing interest in labor issues, stimulated by the media’s focus on sweatshops, the formation of graduate student unions, and the AFL-CIO’s development of undergraduate internships to place students in union offices (Featherstone & USAS, 2002). From this exposure to labor issues, student concern about sweatshops began to grow, particularly as they found a connection with their own higher education experience: the way in which their own colleges and universities used sweatshops to produce collegiate apparel. Out of students’ growing interest in the anti-sweatshop cause and their increasing knowledge of their institutional connection to sweatshops, United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS), one of the major antisweatshop organizations, was founded. Created in 1998, this organization was initially composed of students concerned about the anti-sweatshop cause and the ways in which their colleges and universities were supporting poor labor practices (Featherstone & USAS, 2002). Today USAS is a major student organization focusing on labor rights issues, consisting of approximately 200 affiliated high schools, college and universities and connections to over 400 additional campuses (USAS, 2006a). They have an established formal structure that includes nine regions within the United States and Canada, and a national coordinating committee made up of thirteen students elected by USAS members (USAS, 2006a). Additionally, each region has a part-time organizer who works with campus activists to ensure that college and university branches have communication lines to the national organization, and the resources needed to promote their causes (USAS, 2006a). The anti-sweatshop movement, as carried out by the USAS, exhibited globalization from below by challenging the exploitation of apparel workers
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by large corporate clothing manufacturers. USAS took on a global cause in which their main concern was the well-being of apparel workers in Asia, and South and Central America who were often earning insufficient wages and suffering such labor abuses as poor working conditions, long hours and sanctions against labor organizing (Featherstone & USAS, 2002). The USAS would later broaden their cause to include domestic concerns; however, their original efforts were primarily focused on the labor rights of overseas workers (Featherstone & USAS, 2002). Moreover, the antisweatshop movement is part of a larger anti-neoliberal globalization movement. Through their anti-sweatshop work, students challenged and continue to challenge the increasingly corporate nature of higher education and society as well as the liberalization of markets that prioritized profits over people. They advance justice and democratization by advocating for the labor rights of marginalized peoples who had been negatively impacted by globalization from above. In 1998, the key to the success of the USAS was their ability to use local connections to develop an international influence. This was done by identifying the ways student activists’ colleges and universities were connected to sweatshops, particularly through collegiate apparel, and holding their institutions accountable. The USAS was able to use one important characteristic of globalization, the new economy (in which institutions, including colleges and universities, have international financial ties), to broaden the impact of the anti-sweatshop campaign. Students pressured their own colleges and universities to join the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC), a monitoring organization developed by USAS that works with college and university administrators, student activists and labor experts to develop conduct codes and investigate labor conditions (WRC, n.d.a). The WRC code of conduct for institutions includes a women’s rights provision, policies on wages, freedom of association and work hours (Featherstone & USAS, 2002). By joining the WRC, institutions were either required to adopt the WRC code of conduct or develop their own. To encourage colleges and universities to join the WRC, students engaged in a range of protest strategies including sit-ins, hunger strikes and ‘‘I’d Rather Go Naked than Wear Sweatshop Clothes’’ parties and bike rides (Featherstone & USAS, 2002). While some administrators chose to join the WRC without resistance, others permitted police to forcefully break up student protests. This student activism eventually resulted in numerous institutions joining the WRC (164 colleges and universities in 2006), thus revising institutions’ policies (WRC, n.d.b). For example, in 2000, the University of California system adopted a code that required contractors to:
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pay a living wage, make company information public and not discriminate based on pregnancy or collective bargaining activities (Abramson, 2000). As a result of joining the WRC, institutions became accountable for their financial actions and students were able not only to influence their institutions, but also effect change in the multinational apparel industry. When students’ voices began to protest sweatshops, and colleges and universities responded by developing labor rights policies, those involved in the apparel business took notice. Particularly those in the collegiate apparel industry, like Nike and Reebok, were forced to pay more attention to labor rights issues. Currently, the USAS continues to advocate for sweatshop workers with new initiatives such as the Designated Suppliers Program. As described on their website, the Designated Supplied Program advocates for the use of designated collegiate apparel suppliers who are respectful of workers’ rights, allow for association with workers’ rights organizations and provide a living wage to their employees (USAS, 2006b). The USAS proposal includes an outline on how a college or university could gradually phase in apparel from designated suppliers. This initiative seems to indicate an increasingly sophisticated strategy to promote change in higher education effectively. While the WRCs earlier code of conduct promoted more flexible policies, the Designated Suppliers Program has strict guidelines to identify designated suppliers. Moreover, this program may be more politically and financially attractive to higher education institutions because of the multiple phases of the program. Media and technology have played an important role in advancing the causes of the USAS anti-sweatshop movement. Through media and technology (specifically the Internet and television), students were able to connect with the hardships, suffering and exploitation of apparel workers throughout the world while also advancing their cause in the U.S. media. During the height of the USAS movement, there were numerous news stories about the violation of workers’ rights, including the scandal over the factories that manufactured the clothing line of television personality Kathy Lee Gifford (Featherstone & USAS, 2002). Additional media attention was gained through the connections between the apparel industry and their famous spokespeople. Sports icons, like Michael Jordan, the professional basketball superstar, were taken to task for their complicity in the exploitation of international labor by Nike and other apparel companies. This type of media attention educated the public, including activist and non-activist students, and reinforced the saliency of the anti-sweatshop movement. Additionally, the media was also an important outlet for the
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USAS to advance their own movement. For example, media attention of student protests against the physical and verbal abuse inflicted on Nike and Reebok factory workers was key to pushing the two corporations to intervene in the practices of their apparel production companies (Featherstone & USAS, 2002). Technology, particularly the Internet, enabled USAS activists to make international connections and alliances with workers in South and Central American, and Southeast Asian countries, which culminated in trips to Vietnam and Mexico (Featherstone & USAS, 2002). These trips allowed students to meet these workers and witness their working conditions firsthand. Additionally, technology has also played a major role in educating other students, as well the larger public, about the oppression of sweatshop workers and the anti-sweatshop movement (Featherstone & USAS, 2002). During the early establishment of the USAS, there seemed to be some communication challenges because of the limitations of conference calls, which excluded those who did not know about the calls or could not afford to call in (Featherstone & USAS, 2002). Currently, however, the USAS has an extensive website8 that communicates its previous accomplishments and continuing and new initiatives against apparel sweatshops. While the USAS has made some advancements for workers’ rights, their website shares that many of these advancements have been undermined by company strategies to prevent pay increases and further development of labor rights. For example, apparel suppliers have shifted production away from factories supporting unions and wage increases. Major corporations such as Nike, Adidas and Jansport have also forgone unionized factories in favor of non-unionized factories, or have generally failed to use their influence to create change. By being able to share the continued oppression that sweatshop workers face, USAS is able to communicate that the antisweatshop movement is very much needed. The USAS also describes new initiatives on their website that reflect an expansion of USAS purpose from a sole focus on sweatshops to a more broad labor rights campaign (USAS, 2006c). For example, one of their newer campaigns is a boycott of Coke products by college and universities to challenge Coca-Cola’s numerous labor rights and environmental violations. On the USAS website, the organization generally describes Coke’s failure to provide safe working conditions and environmentally sound production practices (USAS, 2006c). Moreover, they specifically discuss Coke’s anti-union activities including the company’s support of Colombian paramilitary death squads that continue to assassinate union leaders, killing approximately 4,000 unionists since 1986 (USAS, 2006c).
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While USAS continues to advance its causes and strategies, Mandle (2003) argues that the USAS and its Workers’ Rights Consortium lack the capacity to implement its strategies effectively and create change. While USAS’s strategies are mainly centered around collaborating with nongovernmental agencies to advance the rights of apparel workers, they lack the infrastructure to develop a global network of NGOs and thus possess little potential to implement change. Instead Mandle (2003) states that the USAS should refocus its strategies on advocating for an international labor code, possibly enforced by the United Nations, that would protect workers’ rights to organize unions and engage in collective bargaining. These critiques bring up important questions about what strategies may be most effective for student groups and other globalization-from-below movements. While global networks are increasingly accessible through technology, to develop a strong global network continues to be costly in terms of both human and financial resources. The anti-sweatshop movement was one of the first student movements to exhibit the characteristics of globalization. Using international financial connections, media and technology, students were able to advance the antisweatshop cause by advocating for the labor rights of apparel workers throughout the world. Their movement is one powerful example of how students can promote globalization from below, using the trend of globalization to oppose the neoliberal exploitation of the marginalized and to advance social justice and democracy. However, it is one that will need to continue to evolve if it is to be effective in the constantly changing globalized world.
The Sudan Divestment Movement The Sudan divestment movement has recently gained momentum by involving numerous college and university students in a national effort to lobby their educational institutions to divest from the Sudan as both a political and financial statement against the genocide in Darfur. This movement has not only seen some of the highest levels of activism since the push to divest from South Africa 20 years ago but much like the antisweatshop movement, also exhibits many of the characteristics of globalization from below (Strout, 2006). Thus far, students have successfully convinced eleven colleges and universities, including Harvard, Stanford, Brown and Dartmouth, as well as the public university systems in California and Washington, to divest fully or partially from the Sudan (Jaschik, 2006).
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Exhibited in the case of the Sudan divestment movement are the global issues that are increasingly raising student concerns. Like the antisweatshop movement, students involved in the Sudan divestment movement are motivated by a cause that is far away but, as a result of globalization, very relevant to them. Student members of this movement have been motivated by the ethnic genocide in Darfur committed by the Khartoum regime,9 which has killed an estimated half a million people and made approximately two million citizens into refugees (BBC News, 2006a; UC Divestment Sudan, n.d.).10 As is characteristic of globalization from below, these students are advocating for a cause that ignores geographical and nation-state boundaries and promotes justice and democracy. While the genocide in Darfur does not necessarily involve marginalization as a result of neoliberal oppression and is essentially an ethnic conflict, further exploration of this movement reveals that students are using their colleges’ and universities’ international financial connections and the Sudan government’s need for global sources of capital to drive the divestment campaign. The Sudan Divestment Task Force is one of the student organizations that has taken a primary role in the divestment movement and, as a result, will be the focus of this section exploring the broader Sudan divestment movement. The Sudan Divestment Task Force was founded in November 2005 by David Millenson, a student at Brandeis University, with the goal of coordinating disparate divestment groups and enhancing communication and policy consistency (Eichel, 2005; D. Millenson, personal communication, July 26, 2006). Unlike the USAS, which has a more institutionalized structure, the Sudan Divestment Task Force acts mainly as an information clearinghouse and communications hub for numerous campus campaigns. This role may be attributed to its relative newness as an organization but also, in this new global age, can also be an effective means of operation since it allows for widespread action with strategic collaboration. D. Millenson (personal communication, July 26, 2006) provided some current information on their organizational structure and their campaign status. Currently, the Sudan Divestment Task Force is collaborating with the Genocide Intervention Network and the STAND Coalition and utilizes these connections, as well as their own, to initiate campaigns. The organization manages or advises approximately 100 campaign leaders, 30 university campaigns, 15 state campaigns and 2 city campaigns. Furthermore, they have recently added two national policy directors who are assisting in further expansion of city and state campaigns as well as establishment in Canada.
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Along with further expansion, the national policy directors have also been key in developing effective policies to address the Darfur genocide. Specifically, the Sudan Divestment Task Force has developed and promotes a targeted divestment strategy that is both an effective ‘‘sell’’ to higher education and governmental institutions, and a valuable strategy to effect change. This policy reflects students’ increasing savvy regarding international financial connections. The student-developed, targeted divestment strategy focuses on companies that have been identified as directly or indirectly supporting the Sudanese government in their acts of genocide (Sudan Divestment Task Force, 2004; Jaschik, 2006). These companies include those that provide revenue or arms to the Sudanese government, do not benefit innocent citizens and do not have established policies regarding the situation in Darfur (Sudan Divestment Task Force, 2004). The Sudanese have been unresponsive to diplomatic efforts to end the genocide and have historically been more responsive to economic sanctions; therefore, the Sudan Divestment Task Force argues that a targeted divestment strategy would maximize effects on the Sudanese government while minimizing the negative effects on innocent Sudanese citizens (Sudan Divestment Task Force, 2004). Highly in debt, the Sudanese military, the Janjaweed, is dependent on foreign direct investment in such areas as oil, construction and energy. Since the current Sudanese regime, the Khartoum regime, relies on the military to continue the Darfur genocide and control the Sudanese citizens, encouraging divestment in these targeted corporations could significantly contribute to the cessation of the Darfur genocide. The Sudan Divestment Task Force’s policies utilize key features of globalization, the emergence of multinational or transnational11 corporations and international financial connections, but do so strategically to increase the impact of their policies, exhibiting the sophisticated knowledge that students have developed of the global economy. Along with their advanced policy strategies, the Sudan Divestment Task Force has effectively used technology, particularly the Internet, to increase dissemination of information and communication among the various campaigns (Jaschik, 2006). The Task Force’s website12 provides comprehensive background on the Darfur genocide, the reasoning behind divestment and current updates on the divestment movement such as state legislation and institutional policies. Additionally, the website provides reports, photos, web clips, news links and Power Point presentations that can be used at institutions throughout the United States to inform the campus community, and in particular campus administrators, about Darfur and the divestment movement. The website also provides a template
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proposal that students can simply fill in with institution-specific information or use as a model to develop their own proposals to submit to administrators. This website is reflective of this organization’s role to coordinate and provide resources for a diverse set of campaigns. In some ways, their site contrasts with the USAS site because the Task Force provides presentations and proposals that can by used by campus campaigns, thus allowing unrestricted access to tools that advance the divestment cause. This difference may indicate their differing structures, with the USAS as a more centralized organization and the Sudan Divestment Task Force as both newer and less centralized. While the USAS may choose to communicate information through its regional coordinators, the Sudan Divestment Task Force empowers students at different colleges and universities to start their own campaigns. In this way, both organizations have been able to tailor the communication enabled by the Internet to fit their role in promoting these globalization-from-below causes. Similar to the anti-sweatshop movement, the Sudan Divestment Movement has adopted an international cause that had been previously ignored in the United States. Using the mechanisms of globalization, particularly the global financial connections of the Sudanese government and higher education institutions which are bound together by transnational corporations, the Sudan Divestment Task Force has increased pressure on the Khartoum regime to end the Darfur genocide. In addition, through their use of technology and a flexible structure in which they act chiefly as a communication hub and information clearinghouse, the Task Force has been able to support the development of many student movements effectively throughout the United States.
CONCLUSIONS The concept of globalization from below allows us to gain new insights into student movements against the backdrop of a 21st century international economy. As globalization has influenced the broader society, it has also shaped student activism which has become increasingly international. Students have become advocates for causes that stretch around the world – sweatshops and free trade coffee in Asia, Central and South America, apartheid in South Africa and genocide in the Sudan. Through these movements, students have been able to advance globalization from below by countering neoliberal globalization and advancing social justice through the mechanism of globalization (Kellner, 2002). These students have been able
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to effect change in the broader society while also holding their colleges and universities accountable, challenging them to make morally humane decisions despite the capitalist pressures of neoliberal globalization. Higher education institutions have been commonly regarded as model social institutions, expected to practice humane values by the broader society as well as members of the campus community. However, colleges and universities have also been criticized for becoming increasingly corporate-oriented (Hartley, 1995; Slaughter & Rhoades, 2004). This corporatization of higher education can be seen in an increased concern for ‘‘profit’’; the growing presence of private industry on campuses in the forms of sponsorships, donations, endowed academic and administrative positions, and name-brand food and clothing; and the treatment of students like consumers instead of community members (Featherstone & USAS, 2002; Press & Washburn, 2000). Given that these corporate values often conflict with social values that prioritize the well-being of others, students have found themselves holding their institutions accountable for their economic behaviors. Moreover, students have been able to address global injustice through influencing colleges and universities at the local level. Both the USAS and the Sudan Divestment Task Force cases exhibit the effectiveness of strategies that take advantage of the international financial connections of colleges and universities. By identifying and utilizing colleges’ and universities’ position in the new economy, students have been able to hold institutions accountable for their financial behaviors. This creates a ripple of influence that forces other governments, corporations, and factories to consider and hopefully change their role in the marginalization of people throughout the world. Additionally, by examining the USAS and the Sudan Divestment Task Force, we can explore the increasing sophistication of students’ knowledge and use of the new economy. Although early on, the USAS pressed higher education institutions to adopt less-developed policies, both the current USAS and the Sudan Divestment Task Force have developed more advanced strategies, like Designated Supplier Program and targeted divestment, which increase the likelihood of adoption by institutions and engender more focused effects to advance their causes. In addition to the new economy, students are increasingly utilizing other mechanisms of globalization, mainly technology, to advance the causes of oppressed peoples. The Internet has become a source of empowerment that students can use to inform the public about their causes and communicate with other organization members. As we saw in both the Sudan divestment and the anti-sweatshop movements, students are actively utilizing the
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Internet to advance their causes and tailoring their websites to fit their organizational needs. The Sudan Divestment Task Force website includes easily accessible presentations and policy proposals that students can use to begin and advance campaigns on their own campuses, which reflects the decentralized character of the organization. In contrast, the USAS provides information but does not provide campaign tools on the website, possibly because their already established and centralized structure allows for distribution of this material through other means, such as their regional coordinators and national conferences. The use of mass media and the Internet by student movements also illuminates the contradictory character of globalization. On one hand, mass media and the Internet allow for increased ability to create and obtain information; on the other hand, it can also limit those who do not have access. In the case of the USAS, the Internet has democratizing effects because it has allowed the organization to inform the public and organization members about their cause despite having limited media attention which has been identified has been highly important in promoting social movements (Rhoads, 1998). However, the Internet also has its limitations. Kellner (2000, 2002) notes that the Internet can limit information access to a privileged group. Only those with computers – with knowledge of website development, often the ability to read English, and the lawful freedom to access information – are able to truly take advantage of the global democratizing benefits of the Internet. As a result, while the Internet has promoted democracy to some extent, it also has heightened the divide between the have and have-nots. Therefore, it is important to consider that student movements, while providing a voice to the issues of marginalized people, are also made up of students who are privileged by their access to computers and the Internet. While students can provide an important source of advocacy for marginalized people, it is important that they not be confused with the actual voices of oppressed peoples whom the students hope to help. While these movements have been effective in promoting social justice, they have also exposed tensions between the global and local. There is concern that some student movements have been slow to connect their international concerns with those injustices in their home countries. For example, the USAS has been criticized in the past for not connecting to local labor issues. While the USAS seems to have addressed this by broadening their cause, it is important to realize that students, like may others, may have difficulty understanding that the oppression they see in other parts of the world are also reflected in their own communities. It is important for students to be able to
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make these connections between the global and the local by allowing for a deeper, more personal understanding of oppression while also allowing for a broader promotion of democratization. However, this awareness of the marginalization at the local level can be difficult to develop. Students may be hesitant to see or reflect on their own participation in marginalization or they may not be able to accept that oppression occurs in their own communities. For example in the anti-sweatshop movements, some Students of Color described feeling alienated from the movement because issues of race were not being discussed and connections to racism at a local level were not being made (Featherstone & USAS, 2002). Similarly, there seems to be limited or lack of discussion on how the failure of the U.S. media and government to address the Darfur genocide reflects issues of domestic racism. As a result of globalization, we are witnessing an expansion of student activism to include global causes while incorporating mechanisms of globalization. Student movements have been able to promote globalization from below effectively, both on their campuses and throughout the world by strategically utilizing the international ties of their local colleges and universities. The concept of globalization from below helps us to understand how these student movements can be effective in advancing democratization and social justice in a global age. However, it also forces us to consider the challenges faced by these movements. Mass media outlets and websites allow for easy dissemination and access of information but limit its advances to a privileged few who can access media equipment and the Internet. Additionally, the U.S. knowledge of and concern for causes in other continents allows for increased education and advocacy, increasing the likelihood of change in those countries, but can also allow U.S.-based advocates to disconnect from local injustice. As a result, while we further explore the global nature of student movements, it will be important to address the challenges that could prevent them from becoming increasingly effective in advocating for marginalized peoples, both in their own communities and around the world. More broadly, globalization has shifted how we understand higher education’s place in the world, a trend that is demonstrated in this exploration of student movements. While colleges and universities have always been expected to serve society, this society has become increasingly expansive. Instead of being concerned about problems facing local communities, or even a particular nation, higher education institutions must adopt a more global view of the society they serve. This new expectation is reflected in student activists’ beliefs that institutions should practice social responsibility throughout all of their activities, no matter
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how distant their financial or scholarly ties may be. With globalization comes the expectation that colleges and universities must be aware of oppression and marginalization throughout the world and the ways they are connected to and can oppose them. While higher education institutions must adopt a broader conception of responsibility, one without borders, as a means of promoting social justice, they must also adopt this perspective to ensure that they are able to fulfill their mission. Colleges and universities must be aware of the global trends, driven by neoliberalism, that potentially threaten their ability to conduct quality research and educate a diverse range of students. With a decline in public funding, countries as diverse as the United States and Zimbabwe have seen tuition increase, thus preventing less privileged students from accessing advanced education (Shizha, 2006; Zusman, 2005). These declines in support have also provoked collaborations with private industry increasing the potential for biased, profit-oriented research (Slaughter & Rhoades, 2004). While an examination of student movements illuminates the ways in which student movements are becoming more globalized, it also serves as a reminder of higher education’s place in the world. In this era of globalization, higher education institutions are in an increasingly powerful position to create change. Colleges and universities have the ability to use their extensive knowledge, place of prestige and the mechanism of globalization to engage in globalization from below. Students have forced institutions to pay heed to important social justice causes; it is time that higher education institutions also take a lead in advancing globalization from below.
NOTES 1. Neoliberalism refers to an ideology that privileges unrestrained capitalism and free markets over human needs and rights (Chomsky, 1999; Kellner, 2000, 2002). 2. Democratization refers to the shift from an authoritarian social or political system to one that provides democratic participation in which all people have legitimate representation. 3. Additionally, the WTO, IMF and World Bank also have promoted financial austerity and privatization through their policies (Stiglitz, 2002). 4. The American militia, also called Patriots, includes a range of anti-government groups who deny the authority of the federal government, are armed and have military-style structures. They are primarily concerned with gun control and federal regulations but also are increasingly concerned with White nationalism (Castells, 1997; Southern Poverty Law Center, 1999).
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5. Aum Shinrikyo was a Japanese religious group, arguably a cult, founded by Shoko Asahara, that was strongly influenced by Buddhism. This group believed that to save the world from a coming apocalypse, they had to promote a lifestyle grounded in spirituality and self-improvement through such activities as meditation. They also believed that they had to be ready to confront the hostility of world powers by taking up weapons. This group is best known for its 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway (Castells, 1997). 6. Divest or divestment refers to a removal of funds from an area of investment, including higher education, corporations, etc. 7. With the exception of research funded by other corporations. 8. http://studentsagainstsweatshops.org 9. The Khartoum Regime refers to the current Sudanese government which resides in the capital city of Khartoum and is largely Muslim. The Khartoum regime has been widely accused of committing genocide against non-Muslim, Black African Sudanese in the Darfur region (BBC News, 2006b). 10. This conflict originates with land use tensions between Black African farmers and Arab herders. More recently, Black Africans in Darfur accused the government of neglecting their region. After rebels from Darfur began to attack government targets, the Khartoum regime responded by utilizing their Arab militia, the Janjaweed, to commit widespread genocide by bombing, murdering, raping and expelling Darfur civilians (BBC News, 2006a). 11. They are multinational in that they have multiple locations throughout the world while still tied to one primary country, or they are transnational in that they have locations throughout the world without any primary ties to one nation-state. 12. http://www.sudandivestment.org/home.asp
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We would like to thank the co-editors of this edited volume for the opportunity to include this chapter and for their feedback. Additionally, we would like to thank Ophella Dano, Evellyn Elizondo and Kimberly Griffin for their feedback on various versions of this piece.
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political economy of globalization in the Americas (pp. 3–38). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. UC Divestment Sudan. (n.d.). Key Facts about the Genocide in Darfur, Sudan. Retrieved January 3, 2007, from http://www.inosphere.com/sudan/learn.asp United Students Against Sweatshops. (2006a). The designated suppliers program. Retrieved July 26, 2006, from http://www.studentsagainstsweatshops.org//index.php?option ¼ com_content &task ¼ view&id ¼ 44&Itemid ¼ 62 United Students Against Sweatshops. (2006b). Stop killer coke. Retrieved July 26, 2006, from http://www.studentsagainstsweatshops.org//index.php?option ¼ com_content&task ¼ view&id ¼ 19&Itemid ¼ 71 United Students Against Sweatshops. (2006c). Understanding USAS structure. Retrieved July 26, 2006, from http://www.studentsagainstsweatshops.org//index.php?option ¼ com_content &task ¼ blogcategory&id ¼ 24&Itemid ¼ 50 Vellela, T. (1988). New voices: Student activism in the ‘80s and ‘90s. Boston: South End Press. Wayne State University. (2004). Faculty Profiles. Retrieved July 27, 2006, from http:// www.busadm.wayne.edu/faculty_profiles.php Worker Rights Consortium (WRC). (n.d.a). Mission. Retrieved January 3, 2006, from http:// www.workersrights.org/about.asp Worker Rights Consortium (WRC). (n.d.b). WRC affiliated colleges and universities. Retrieved January 3, 2006, from http://www.workersrights.org/as.asp Zusman, A. (2005). Challenges facing higher education. In: P. Altbach, R. O. Berdahl & P. J. Gumport (Eds), American higher education in the twenty first century: Social political and economic challenges (pp. 115–160). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
GLOBALIZATION, KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY AND THE EMERGENCE OF PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA Kingsley Banya INTRODUCTION In the past couple of decades, higher education systems have been in transition in sub-Saharan Africa. The phenomenal growth of private, forprofit higher education institutions is almost universal. The global trends in higher education have affected the universities in sub-Saharan Africa as well. This chapter critically examines the rapid growth of private universities as a result of globalization and its impact on society. Although the research covers only Anglophone sub-Saharan Africa, the findings have broad implications for the whole of sub-Saharan Africa (Jokivirta, 2006). The chapter is divided into four major parts, namely globalization and the knowledge economy; the evolution of private higher education in the region, using two of the oldest universities as examples; the growth of private universities and the challenges facing them; and the linkages between foreign institutions and local ones. The empirical research on which this chapter is based is part of a longitudinal study, 2001–2006, of higher education in subSaharan Africa.
Power, Voice and the Public Good: Schooling and Education in Global Societies Advances in Education in Diverse Communities: Research Policy and Praxis, Volume 6, 231–259 Copyright r 2008 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited All rights of reproduction in any form reserved ISSN: 1479-358X/doi:10.1016/S1479-358X(08)06009-9
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SECTION I: GLOBALIZATION AND THE KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY Part of globalization has been the shift towards capitalist political economy. The values, institutions and modes of organization of a capitalist economy seem to be everywhere. Dunn (2000) claims for example, that if the belief in the efficacy of centralized forms of control continues to erode, then governments, in one country after another, will have little choice but to put in place, the institutions which give expression to the belief; that is, the institutions of a market economy. This trend is seen even in what used to be Soviet-dominated countries of Eastern Europe and China. Globalization tends to create pressure upon the nation-state both from above and below. According to Giddens (1994), ‘‘Globalization not only pulls upwards, it pushes downwards, creating new pressure for local autonomy’’ (p. 4). Because of such destabilization and reconstitution of nation-states, policy-making processes and the available policy options of governments are severely affected. As a consequence of globalization, policy salience of the nation-state is affected in different ways including: enhanced globalization of the economy, the related extra-territorial character of global capital and the global dominance of neoliberal ideologies (Henry, Lingard, Rizui, & Taylor, 2001). In several regions of the world, this process is already well advanced (southeast Asia). The result is a gradual but nonetheless systematic shift in the context of political thinking. It is becoming less and less likely that the familiar centralized institutional forms will resume the control over economic development that they once enjoyed. These changes set the context in which not only trade but also the universities will have to operate and, within which higher education institutions will have to work out their strategies for survival. In this chapter, globalization is taken to be the result of the processes of imitation, adaptation and diffusion of ‘‘solutions’’ to problems of many different kinds – whether they be new technologies or organizational forms or modes of working. The pervasiveness of globalization is not only in education but every aspect of human endeavors. Jones (1998) refers to the various agendas of globalization, which by nature are mutually reinforcing and increasingly leave those who refuse to participate isolated, and at a comparative disadvantage. A precise version of Jones (1998, pp. 145–146) organized patterns of globalization are: Political Globalization 1. An absence of state sovereignty and multiple centers of power at global, local and intermediate levels.
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2. Local issues discussed and situated in relation to a global community. 3. Powerful international organizations predominant over national organizations. 4. Fluid and multicentric international relations. 5. A weakening of value attached to the nation-state. 6. A strengthening of common and global political values. Economic Globalization 1. Freedom of exchange between localities. 2. Production activity in a locality determined by its physical and geographical advantages. 3. Minimal direct foreign investment. 4. Flexible responsiveness of organizations to global markets. 5. Decentralized and ‘‘stateless’’ financial markets. 6. Free movement of labor and services. Cultural Globalization 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
A deterritorialized religious mosaic. A deterritorialized cosmopolitanism and diversity. Widespread consumption of simulations and representations. Global distribution of images and information. Universal tourism and the ‘‘end of tourism’’ as we know it.
Moreover, he posits that the multiplier effect of globalization on the processes, which promote it – communication, information technology (IT) and mobility, will intensify and become more dominant aspects of societies for the foreseeable future. The common language of globalization emphasizes concepts such as ‘‘outputs,’’ ‘‘outcomes,’’ ‘‘quality,’’ ‘‘accountability,’’ ‘‘purchase,’’ ‘‘ownership,’’ ‘‘value for money,’’ ‘‘contracts,’’ ‘‘efficiency,’’ ‘‘customers,’’ ‘‘managers,’’ etc. Central to such approaches is an emphasis on contract which ostensibly replaces central regulation by a new system of public administration which introduces such concepts as clarification of purpose, role clarification, task specification, reliable reporting procedures and the freedom to manage (Burchell, 1996; Rose 1993; Marginson, 1993). Globalization has at least four far-reaching implications for higher education. First is the constriction of monies available for discretionary activities, such as postsecondary education. Second is the growing importance of technoscience and fields closely involved with markets,
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particularly international markets. Third is the tightening relationship between multinational corporations and state agencies concerned with product development and innovation. Fourth is the increased focus of multinationals on global intellectual property rights (Rose, 1993). The neoliberal or Chicago school perspective deemphasizes the polity, instead stressing the role of the market in national economic success. The modernist construction of the nation-state rested with the assumption of national sovereignty relating to the military, economy, culture and politics no longer holds. The nation-state no longer has autonomous sovereignty over these matters, particularly the economy. The Keynesian style demand stimulation has been reduced with the globally dominant neoliberal ideology (Henry et al., 2001). The neoliberal school sees market forces as impersonal, disembodied and inexorable, as supplanting national economies with a global market. To compete successfully in the new global market, nations have to cut back, reducing social welfare and entitlement programs, freeing capital and corporations from taxation and regulation, allowing them to operate unfettered (Friedman, 1981; Neave, 1996). Indeed, Appadurai (1996) agreed that the era of post-national politics or the inchoate beginnings of the dissociation of politics from the territorial space of the nation has arrived. The media and migration have sewn the seeds of postnational politics. Martin and Schumann (1997) refer to the emerging 20/80 society clearly divided between a globally connected elite (20%) and a subordinated layer (80%) whose connections with the global economy are only through consumption behavior and the media. This divide has led to the polarization within societies, especially in developing countries where policy solutions for a myriad of problems are especially challenging. Bauman’s (1998) observation seems particularly insightful in this regard, although he was writing about developed economies. He writes, ‘‘mobility and its absence designate the new, late-modern or post-modern polarization of social conditions. The top of the new hierarchy rarely is exterritorial; its lower ranges are marked by varying degrees of space constraints while the bottom ones are, for all practical purposes, glebae adscripti (p. 104). In the neoliberal model, the only acceptable role of the state is as a global policeman and judge, patrolling the edges of the playing field to make sure it remains level, adjudicating trading infractions and transgressions. As Marginson (1999) observed, ‘‘nation-states have basically become partners of global economic players’’ (p. 26). In this model, the private sector is privileged as the engine of competition, and the state is no more than a drag on economic growth.
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The central defining characteristic of this new brand of liberalism includes: a. Free market economics: the best way to allocate resources and opportunities is through the market. The market is seen as an efficient mechanism to create and distribute wealth. b. ‘‘Laissez-Faire’’: because the free market is a self-regulating order, it regulates itself better than the government or any other outside forces. c. Free trade: involving the abolition of tariffs or subsidies, or any form of state-imposed protection or support and open economies. d. ‘‘Invisible hand theory’’: a view that the uncoordinated self-interest of individuals correlates with the interests and harmony of the whole society. e. The self-interested individual: a view of individuals as economically selfinterested subjects. In this regard the individual is represented as a rational optimizer and the best judge of his/her own interests and needs (Olssen, 2001). Higher Education’s role has shifted more to supporting an economy that is knowledge intensive at a global level. It is paradoxical that while the neoliberal state is supposed to be self-limiting state, under neoliberal market policies the state has become more ‘‘powerful.’’ This paradox is seen through Foucault’s nation of ‘‘governmentality,’’ which makes it possible to view the minimal state as promoting a new form of individualization where humans being turn themselves into market subjects under the sign of ‘‘homo economicus’’ (Peters, 2001).
Knowledge as the New Form of Capitalism The most significant change that underpins neoliberalism in the twenty-first century is the rise in the importance of knowledge as capital. The term ‘‘knowledge capitalism’’ emerged only recently to describe the transition to the so-called ‘‘knowledge economy,’’ which is characterized in terms of the economics of abundance, the annihilation of distance, the de-territorialization of the state, and, investment in human capital (Stiglitz, 2002; Mandle, 2001; Burton-Jones, 2003). As Burton-Jones (2003, p. vi) puts it, knowledge is fast becoming the most important form of global capital – hence ‘‘knowledge capitalism.’’ He views it as a new generic form of capitalism. For BurtonJones and analysts of world policy agencies such as the World Bank and OECD, the shift to a knowledge economy involves a fundamental rethinking of the traditional relationships between education, learning and work, focusing on the need for a new coalition between education and
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industry. ‘‘Knowledge capitalism’’ and ‘‘knowledge economy’’ are twin terms that can be traced at the level of public policy to a series of reports that emerged in the late 1990s by the OECD (1996a) and the World Bank (1998), before they were taken up as a policy template by world governments in the late 1990s (Peters, 2002).
Salient Aspects of the Knowledge Economy Differences between knowledge economy and traditional economy: 1. The economics is not of scarcity, but rather of abundance. Unlike most resources that deplete when used, information and knowledge can be shared, and actually grow through application. 2. The effect of location is diminished. Using appropriate technology and methods, virtual marketplaces and virtual organizations can be created that offer benefits of speed and agility, of round the clock operation and of global reach. 3. Laws, barriers and taxes are difficult to apply on solely national basis. Knowledge and information ‘‘leak’’ to where demand is highest and the barriers are lowest. 4. Knowledge enhanced products or services can command price premiums over comparable products with low embedded knowledge or knowledge intensity. 5. Pricing and value depends heavily on context. Thus, the same information or knowledge can have vastly different value to different people at different times. 6. Knowledge when locked into systems or processes has higher inherent value than when it can ‘‘walk out of the door’’ in people’s heads. 7. Human capital – competencies – are a key component of value in a knowledge-based company (Source: David Skyme Associates Homepage, Webpage http://www.skyme.com/insights/21gke.htm). In the globalized economy higher education has featured on the WTO agenda not for its contribution to development but more as a service to trade in a commodity for boosting income for countries that have the ability to trade in this area and export their higher education programs. Higher education has become a multi-billion dollar market as the quantity of education is increasing rapidly. It is reported that the export of higher education service has contributed significantly to the economy of the U.S. In 1999, it is estimated that the U.S., being the largest provider of educational
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services, earned $8.5 billion of the $30 billion market from this trade alone (Kavanagh, 2000). Even though privatization has been much discussed in the recent past, it has been practiced in some form or the other for several decades, although the term ‘‘privatization’’ was not explicitly used since the concept was regarded as inappropriate in the case of education. During the 1960s, issues raised relating to the financing of education concentrated on the more efficient allocation of public resources. During the 1970s, however, attention focused on the mobilization of nongovernmental resources through various means – such as diversifying resources, strengthening the resource base of higher education systems and mobilizing nongovernmental resources. Only since the mid-1980s has the term ‘‘privatization’’ surfaced more explicitly, which can at least partially be attributed to the World Bank (World Bank, 1994). As part of the World Bank and International Monetary Policy Prescription, countries in the region have adopted structural adjustment policies to every aspect of society. States in the region could not resist the tidal wave of globalization and marketization. New goals, policies and practices replaced traditional and well-established values, concepts and approaches. As indicated earlier, social democratic visions are being replaced by marketdriven policies. The role of government is being re-examined. Globalization and internationalization also hastened the spread of new values and approaches into every aspect of life including education.
SECTION II: THE EVOLUTION OF PRIVATE HIGHER EDUCATION Private higher education is not a new phenomenon in sub-Saharan Africa. Universities were mainly the concern of private individuals and organizations prior to any government intervention. Indeed, it was only later that states found it necessary to finance higher education. This was due partly because of the perceived beneficial effects on the whole society, not just those who acquired diplomas from higher education. The other reason for state financing higher education was the thought that if left to private individuals, education would not develop at desirable optimum levels. Such universities were often started by private individuals and organizations in response to specific educational needs, and they started receiving state support in the form of financial assistance. Such institutions specialize generally in selected fields. Few institutions existed that rely completely
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upon their own private resources. Two countries in West Africa have had a long history of private higher education, namely Liberia and Sierra Leone. What has changed is the phenomenal growth in the members and their motives. A brief description of private higher education in these two countries will illustrate the point that the concept of privatization of universities is a phenomenon quite common to some countries in subSaharan Africa.
Liberia The first efforts in the modern worlds in the establishment and management of higher education institutions by blacks on and off the continent was at Liberia College started in 1862 (Fourah Bay College, Sierra Leone, one of the pioneers in higher education in Modern Africa was founded in 1876, and Ashmun Institute, later Lincoln University in the United States of America (1854) were white initiated and managed. Wilberforce, the first blackcontrolled college in the U.S. was founded in 1863). The president was a Liberian, and so also were the professors. The history of the college is often omitted in accounts of universities on the continent because of Western intellectual and cultural dominance and the bias by African academics and others as well against university institutions that did not undergo tutelage in the colonial mode (Sherman, 1990). A major force in transforming ideas and ideals into realities was the foreign input, an influence which was to be critical when universities were finally established on the continent during the twentieth century. In the case of Liberia College, the impetus came from the Trustees of Donations for Education in Liberia, a Massachusetts-based organization which cooperated with the Government of Liberia. The organization was founded by the Massachusetts State Colonial Society, which with the American Colonization Society, fostered the transfer of emigrants during the nineteenth century from the U.S. to Liberia and assisted in the settlement (Ashby, 1966; Ajayi, 1958). The Liberia College influence on the region was limited partly because Liberia, as an independent nation, was separated by the forces of colonization from her West African neighbors (British or French colonies). Students were mainly from within the country until the later part of the twentieth century. The college in the early period mainly prepared leaders for the state, while the sister college, Cuttington College (1889) mainly trained leaders for the church.
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The early history of the institution was marked by slow growth, fluctuations and uncertainty. Finance was a major hurdle, although the problems in hiring qualified faculty also plagued the college. In addition, recruiting competent students was also a major challenge. The enrollment did not reach an appreciable sign until the 1950s when the college had 70 students in 1948–1949 and by 1950–1956 the numbers doubled to 259 (Ashby, 1966).
Sierra Leone Fourah Bay College is one of the pioneers in higher education in modern Africa (1876). The college was a result of the initiative of the Church Missionary Society and cooperation from the British government. The influence of the college extended over most of West Africa, mainly because Sierra Leone, as part of the British colonial empire, attracted student from other colonies of Britain in Africa, especially Nigeria and the Gold Coast (Ghana). Despite the British government cooperation, the same initial problems that affected Liberia College plagued Fourah Bay College – i.e., slow growth, fluctuations, uncertainty and fiscal challenges. Enrollment remained extremely low, for example, in 1948–1949 the student population was only 35 and by 1953 it dramatically increased to 370. The college did not obtain university status until 1960 when it became University College of Sierra Leone. This change was a result of the Asquith Commission Report set up by the British government in 1943 which eventually became ‘‘Britain’s blueprint for the export of universities for her people overseas’’ (Ashby, 1966, p. 256). The British civic university model was to be used, whereby a special relationship was to be entered between a British higher education institution and a colonial one, but maintaining the standards of the Metropolis (Ajayi, 1958; Ajayi, Goma, & Johnson, 1996). This affiliation agreement covered all aspects of university life, including curriculum and examinations. The forgoing discussion has dealt with the origins of universities in two West African countries.
The Crisis in the Higher Education System Prior to 2001 Unfortunately, the university in sub-Saharan Africa is a ‘‘foreign entity’’ (P’Bitek, 1973) in the region despite formal independence for nearly four decades. The circumstances under which institutions of higher learning were
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established forced standards to be equivalent to those of the Western European countries. Because Europeans founded these institutions they viewed the European curricula as appropriate for Africans. Most African higher education recipients felt that a university degree similar to that of Europe was more prestigious than one founded on African educational tradition. Attempts to include African-based curricula introduced by European teachers were resented as attempts to dilute the quality of the degree. Universities have been accused of carrying out research on esoteric problems of little or no consequence to national development. They tend to speak in a language which only other professionals can understand. The insistence on rigid formal qualifications for admission of students and appointment of professors, the total dependence on foreign languages and imported knowledge exclude many African experts and potential students who would benefit from and contribute significantly to higher education and to cultural invigoration of Africa. Okot P’Bitek indicts African universities for discrediting African dancers, dramatists, storytellers, musicians and other custodians of African cultural traditions on the grounds that they lack the necessary academic requirements that qualify them for university positions. He asserts (1973, p. 58) that The greatest traditional musicians and poets cannot teach in the Department of Music or Literature. The African medicine expert is called a ‘‘witch doctor’’ and his skills dubbed fetish . . . These professionals might be the best in the world but their lack of formal credentials prevent them from participating in university life. African universities and schools have become nests in which black exploiters are hatched and bred, at the expense of taxpayers or maybe ‘‘heart players.’’
Indeed, the formal system of education ‘‘looks like a foreign cyst in the social body, a malignant tumour’’ (Ki-Zerbo, 1990, p. 12). In his book, Educate or Perish? Ki-Zerbo (1990) compares the ways in which African education was integrated into social realities during the pre-colonial period with the ways the present system interacts with the social and cultural environment. He argues for a return to the values and much of the content transmitted in the pre-colonial period. He finds that colonial domination led to the breakup of the traditional African educational system. Ki-Zerbo claims that education is an element of the social reproduction and renewal essential for the progress of any country. When this element of social reproduction and renewal is either tampered with or perverted, there occurs a deep reduction in the basic metabolism of society. This, he argues, is especially true today for Africa south of the Sahara where, instead of giving rise to societies of a higher level, the educational system has helped to
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dismantle them. The colonialists, according to Ki-Zerbo, replaced the precolonial African system of education with a different system, which he claims was designed to serve the overall aim of subjecting the continent to European needs. Thus, for Africans, societies education lost its basic functional role. The system is still geared toward outside ideas and globalization is making matters worse as will be discussed later in the chapter. The net result of not incorporating indigenous ideas in African higher education is a crisis in the system. The universities have had a largely teaching role concentrating, until recently, on the undergraduate institution. Being offspring largely of the western tradition, the content and practice of university work is influenced by the UK, US and French universities. Scholarly publications are still held in high esteem even though there are hardly any journals to publish locally. Most publishing is done in foreign journals. Pressing social issues are not given priority at the university level either because of lack of interest or the lack of adequate resources to carry out research. Although some attempts have been made to deal with the practical basic problems of national development, many of the universities are criticized for a tendency to foster careerism, aloofness and ‘‘ivory-towerism’’ in their undergraduates, thus failing to produce men and women who are prime movers of development. Education, it is claimed, has filled them with great awareness of their rights and entitlements, but has failed to establish a firm sense of duty or responsibility. There is widespread disgruntlement at the apparent failure of higher education in this respect. Sir Samuel B. Jones (1972), for example, former chancellor of the University of Sierra Leone, remarked, ‘‘if Sierra Leoneans do not take time to work for the good of the country and if the rampant corruption continues, the country will go to the dogs’’ (Speech at Convocation, 1972, p. 14). Sentiment like this is not limited to Sierra Leone. Eni Njoku, as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, once pointed out that despite the availability of highly educated persons in positions of responsibility, social interpretation has not taken place. In politics, neither governments animated by principles of parliamentary democracy nor those motivated by specific ideologies have prospered. There is a general disillusionment about the role of education in nation building. Collectively, the educated in politics, as well as other spheres of society, have not behaved any better than the uneducated. The conspicuous display of wealth and consumption in the educated elite has led to disquiet among the people. The experience of the past three decades seems to suggest that even
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what ‘‘little’’ people had is being taken away. The revolution of rising aspirations is turning into a revolution of rising frustrations. Higher education in Africa faces a dilemma in the search for the ideal solution. Any given education system can either act as a mirror or reflect – or reproduce – the existing society with all its social ills and political woes, or contribute to changing them by striving to produce better cadre of human resources. For Africa, change is not a matter of choice; it is an absolute necessity, if the continent is to maintain the level of development before 1960 and to develop further. A major setback in educational reform in Africa is the general lack of continental ethos or philosophy upon which to ground the educational system and to bring the people together into a social order with a shared purpose. Poverty, disease and ignorance are only symptoms and not the real causes of underdevelopment. The lack of national unity and cohesion is the root cause of Africa’s problems. Higher education has failed to provide the necessary responses to critical issues. Universities in Africa must provide answers to issues dealing with the best means of inspiring a love of country, and of creating collective identity and belongingness among peoples brought together only recently by colonial accident. For the most part, people have not interacted with one another long enough even to evolve a common language. People do not have a shared set of ideals and values. Although universities cannot provide all the answers, they could concern themselves with the problems in their teaching, research and service endeavors. In general, educational policy has been reframed by the new policy consensus resulting from globalization and neoliberal ideology. In the past (up to 1970s), education played a major role in the pursuit of two related policy goals: economic prosperity and equality of education opportunity. The former was framed by Giddens (1998) as part of the human capital theory and to achieve both, increased educational expenditure was necessary. During this period the policy toward education was the outcome of political pressure, from government for human capital building for economic ends and from civil society for an expansion of opportunities and a more equal and cohesive social covenant (Marginson, 1997, 1999). The post-Keynesian period, with its emphasis on globalization, made economic nationalism less acceptable to policy-makers. Within the global economic framework, education is now regarded as the policy key to the future prosperity of nations. The ‘‘new human capital theory’’ focuses on microeconomics, which stress the importance of a highly skilled and flexible workforce to national success within the new global knowledge economy (Drucker, 1993). Marginson (1999) points to ‘‘the
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augmentation of skills and knowledge as means of coupling units of ‘footloose capital’ to particular populations in particular nations’’ (p. 29). In education, the new human capital approach is regarded as much an individual benefit as a social one. Earlier educational policy wisdom viewed education as a social good, which justified increased funding. Redefining education as an individual good justified introducing the principle of ‘‘user pays’’ in education (Banya, 2005). Neoliberal ideology has introduced quasimarket approaches and new post-bureaucratic state educational systems as seen in the rise of private universities in sub-Saharan Africa.
SECTION III: THE GROWTH OF PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES Some arguments have been presented in the literature against privatization of higher education and in favor of public financing of education: education produces externalities; education is both a public and a merit of good; market imperfections exist, specifically including imperfections in the capital market; education is a valuable investment that contributes to economic growth, reduces poverty and improves income distribution; and it is an important instrument of social mobility. Under these circumstances, people will not be able to make adequate investments in education on their own; markets will not be able to ensure adequate levels of education for the population, resulting in suboptimum social investment and causing huge social losses. Hence, the state should finance education. These arguments are applicable in varying degrees to all levels of education – primary, secondary and higher. For example, while primary education is regarded as a pure public good, higher education is regarded as a quasipublic good (World Bank, 1998/1999). The externalities produced by different levels of education are of different magnitude, and since they cannot be quantified it may not be possible to say whether they are greater at the primary level or at the higher education level. Higher levels of education are also found to produce dynamic externalities that significantly contribute to economic growth, arresting diminishing returns (Romer, 1990; Schultz, 1988; Lucas, 1988; McMahon, 1997; Peters & Marshall, 1990). On the other hand, liberals have argued against state financing and in favor of the privatization of higher education on a number of grounds. The two main arguments in favor of privatization can be summarized in two phrases: excess demand and differentiated demand (Olssen, 2001). First, demand for higher education exists over and above the quantum that the
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government can provide. It is increasingly maintained that government lacks the resources to meet the growing demand for higher education and hence there is no solution other than privatization of the system. Even if governments were able to allocate some of the gross domestic product to education, the resources flowing into higher education would not increase significantly. Second, it is argued that privatization of higher education is important to meet differentiated demand. Governments’ monopoly of the provision of higher education is thought not to lend itself to satisfying the popular demand for diverse types and quality levels of higher education. Implicitly, it is assumed that the quality of higher education provided by government institutions is inferior to that of private institutions. Furthermore, privatization of higher education is also favored on the grounds of efficiency, job market relevance, responsiveness to market signals and income distribution (UNESCO, 1995). It is now an accepted fact that the higher education crisis on the African continent cannot realistically be solved with a single solution, i.e. government-supported universities. Despite more innovative leadership at a few African universities, observers say that decades of economic decline, numerous wars across the continent and an enrollment explosion have left African higher education in a dismal state (Saint, 1992; Ajayi, 1958). Yet, enrollment in sub-Saharan Africa is only about 3.5% of the college-age population, the lowest of any region in the world (UNESCO, 1998). Even so, it has been rising fast, diverting most funds to teaching, and leaving little for research. Thus, it is felt that higher education policy must change to meet the new challenges of the twenty-first century. This revision in policy towards higher education is best illustrated by the World Bank’s current view of universities in the sub-region. The view in the 1980s and 1990s that investment in education should be at the primary and secondary levels with limited investment in higher education has now changed. The Bank has recently relented on this issue, as seen in a new report by an international committee convened jointly by the Bank and the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The World Bank (2000) has accepted the validity of the criticism, ‘‘ . . . narrow and, in our view, misleading economic analysis has contributed to the view that public investment in universities and colleges brings meager returns compared to investment in primary and secondary schools,’’ says the report, Higher Education in Developing Countries: Peril and Promise (2000). This rethinking has affected donations to African higher education. Until recently, donors often overlooked Africa’s increasingly decrepit universities,
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out of a belief that more could be accomplished by supporting public schools in a region where only half the population is literate. As more and more donors redirect their efforts to African universities, the role of private universities has become even more critical. Indeed, it is now acknowledged that a myriad of solutions need to be tried to vitalize higher education in the sub-region, including the privatization of higher education. The existence of private institutions in higher education varies enormously from one country to another. Although the size of the country and its population is a factor in the development of private institutions, the latter are much more the result of internal social and historical developments. Where African governments have allowed private higher education institutions, they have done so in the belief that this can deflect student demand away from public institutions under growing financial pressures, while perhaps saving some monies for other social services. In the current context of programs to privatize national economies, higher education has been no exception. Private higher education is growing rapidly in sub-Saharan Africa, reflecting a trend now developing across the rest of the world. Education leaders and other experts in several countries say the new institutions are becoming a force for the revitalization of higher education in sub-Saharan Africa. At the very least, the establishment of institutions that are not dependent on government support is seen as a welcome change (Banya, 2001). The inability of the public sector to respond to the rapid growth in higher education is but one aspect of recent developments in the private sector. Rapid advancements in technology around the world demand that the educational system produce a skilled labor force in the shortest possible period of time. While there has been a dramatic increase in the number of public colleges established in recent years, most of them only offer general education courses through syllabi set by their affiliating universities. These colleges have neither the flexibility nor the financial resources to offer the same innovative programs that private institutions have developed. A graduate of a traditional three-year bachelor’s program has virtually no marketable skills as compared to one that has completed a program that included industry placement and enrichment modules in the same three-year span. Growth in higher education is seen to be concentrated in East Africa. In East Africa, dozens of new universities have been established in the 1990s. When Kenya established rules for registering private universities in 1989, for example, three institutions were granted official recognition and 13 others were allowed to operate on an interim basis. In 1999 alone, the country’s
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Commission for Higher Education considered the applications of 27 new institutions (Irina, 1999). Kenya was the region’s first country to recognize the importance of private universities, but Tanzania and Uganda are following suit. Uganda’s parliament is now considering legislation that would establish a National Council for Higher Education to accredit private universities. In the meantime, eight private institutions are operating with provisional recognition. In Tanzania, which established a Higher Education Accreditation Council in 1995, four private universities have met the requirements to be registered (Sabaya, 1999). More than 19 other institutions are now either in development or in the process of being accredited.
Some of the Problems Facing Private Universities Like many other institutions on the continent, private universities in Africa are facing some daunting tasks. This chapter will outline a few of these. A word of caution is necessary here. Some of the issues that will be discussed cut across both private and state run higher education institutions. However, there are tendencies for the issues to be more pronounced in private, for-profit institutions than state-run ones. Fraud Fraud through bribes has become fairly common in the new knowledge economy. The recent crisis at the University of Port Harcourt illustrates the extent of fraud in tertiary education. The University of Port Harcourt, in southeastern Nigeria, has revoked the degrees of 7,254 of its graduates in a major crackdown on academic fraud. The vice chancellor of the university, Nimi Dimpka Briggs, said last month that those stripped of their degrees had either cheated on examinations or falsified their academic records, and that the fraud dated back to the class that entered in 1996. He said that higher education in Nigeria is rife with corruption and that many students had been admitted into universities with falsified secondary-school certificates. Speaking before the National Universities Commission (NUC), which registers new colleges in Nigeria, Mr. Briggs said the quality of degrees and diplomas awarded by Nigerian universities had been eroded by academic fraud and corruption. Nigerian universities must fight the ‘‘vice,’’ he said, or their ‘‘legitimate certificates will be rejected internationally.’’ Mr. Briggs called for an end to academic fraud at all Nigerian universities and said that he has imposed a zero-tolerance policy at Port Harcourt.
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‘‘Some students have confessed to wrongdoing, begged the university for mercy, and praised the efforts to sanitize the system,’’ he said. ‘‘The crackdown will continue to unearth other graduates and students who may have been admitted to the university through unfair means’’ (Kigotho, 2003). Peter Okebukola, executive secretary of the National Universities Commission, said the strong demand for a college education in Nigeria had intensified academic fraud there. According to a recent report by the Exams Ethics Project, a nongovernmental organization that monitors academic testing in Nigeria, cheating on examinations, particularly collegeentrance examinations, is widespread. ‘‘Academic fraud and corruption is a big business in Nigeria,’’ says the report (Kigotho, 2003). Since the Council on Higher Education clamped down on substandard qualifications in May (see May/June issue of WENR), there has been a significant rise in the number of fraudulent master of business administration (MBA) degrees submitted by job seekers, according to credential verification company Kroll MIE. It is unclear, the company said, if the increase is linked to the council’s action, but there had been a definite slowdown in the claiming of fake MBAs before the clampdown. The council withdrew MBA accreditations of 10 business schools for failing to meet minimum standards, leaving about 2,500 MBA students with an uncertain future. Of the qualifications Kroll has reviewed since the ruling in May, 14% reportedly have been frauds or from bogus institutions. Kroll CEO Ina van der Merwe told Business Day that she blames the tight job market for the surge in fake credentials, and warns that current labor legislation makes it hard to dismiss dishonest employees (Business Day, 2003, July 13). Two foreign universities have announced that they will be closing operations in South Africa after the de-accreditation of their master’s in business administration programs in May. United Kingdombased De Montfort University and Australian-based Bond University were among 10 universities whose MBA programs were de-accredited by the Higher Education Quality Committee of the Council on Higher Education. Four of the 10 programs that lost their accreditation are offered by foreign institutions. United States-based Regent University and the Business School of the Netherlands also lost accreditation of their South African MBA programs. Despite offering a number of other programs in addition to its MBA, Bond will close its campus and all its programs once enrolled students have completed their current courses, which officials estimate to be
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in three years. De Montfort University has stated that it will not be seeking re-accreditation and will also be withdrawing its MBA program when all students have finished their studies. The MBA is the only program the university offers (The Star, 2004, June 30). This issue is not limited to sub-Saharan Africa, as a recent development in China clearly illustrates. In China, bribery scandals have rocked trust in university admissions. An attempted extortion of thousands of dollars from a newly admitted university student in August has unleashed a volley of criticism from the media and public into the fairness of the state admissions system. The scandal has undermined the public’s faith in the admissions examination that, despite its flaws, is regarded as a rare tool for upward social mobility in China. The scandal erupted when officials from Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (BUAA) placed a call to the parents of a student from Guangxi province demanding the equivalent of US$12,000 to guarantee her place in the freshman class, despite the fact that she had just recently received notice of her acceptance. Angered, the family notified a state-run television station, which promptly aired the story (Xinhuanet, 2004, August 19). Finance University budgets are composed of contributions from the state, students and their families, donors, income-generating initiative, private sector contributions and investments. However, for private institutions, the state is conspicuously absent. The development of private higher education in Africa has been severely constrained by the extremely difficult economic conditions facing many of the African countries. The IMF and World Bank imposed conditionalities have left many countries in dire financial straits. Thus, finding the money to run even a small private institution can be a challenge. Private higher education in Africa is expensive to provide and costly to attend. A newly established private university in Nigeria, for example, charges roughly US$2,700 per year in tuition fees, room and board (in a region where people live on a dollar a day). While the unit costs of private universities may be lower than in their public counterparts, their cost structures are similar. Most private institutions are residential, and salaries must be competitive with those of public universities to attract and retain qualified staff. The students who can afford private higher education do not lack other educational choices. Many of the private institutions have had to rely on external donors and other agencies to operate. For example, the Islamic University’s, in Uganda, total operating budget came from the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) for a period of time. It was
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fixed at a particular amount and has been unchanged for a decade, despite rapid expansion (The Uganda Monitor, 1999, May 6). Tuition at most of the private universities is typically modest, but any fee is usually more than what students would pay at a state university, most of which do not charge fees. Given the rather precarious financial wealth of many of the private institutions, creativity in raising money to do projects such as campus infrastructure, expanding libraries and hiring of staff members. For example, some private universities have entered joint ventures with corporations/businesses to ease their financial difficulties. In the area of housing, for example, a number of private institutions have reached agreements with private developers to construct houses that faculty rent for a period of time (20 years) and then turn them to the institution. The concepts of privatization and free markets have opened up a number of partnership possibilities. In some countries private and public universities are trying to solve their financial limitations by working together to develop a system in which government-sponsored students can enroll in private universities. The danger with self-financed institutions lies in the very characteristic that distinguishes them from public institutions. Since they are not dependent on the state for funding, they are not subject to the same regulations regarding use of resources and quality of education. Professional institutions promise potential students lucrative positions in their field of choice upon graduation, but there is no guarantee that they can make good on their claims. While some of them make significant contributions to the need for a highly skilled work force, others merely capitalize on trends like management and computer education in order to make a profit. Although all of the self-financing institutions collect fees from their students, too many of them are run for the sole purpose of exploiting teachers and students alike without delivering quality. As these colleges do not receive financial assistance from the government, they are subject to less rigorous control and enjoy considerable freedom in formulating financial policies – such as generating revenues and allocating spending. For the most part, student fees are the single most important source of revenues. In fact, other sources are negligible in comparison. Not only recurring costs but even capital costs can be covered by student fees. Decisions regarding allocation of resources, including fixing teacher and staff salaries and student fees are mostly left up to institutions. Staffing Because of the dearth of qualified faculty to teach even at state universities, private universities face a major hurdle in this area. Both state and private
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universities are finding it extremely difficult to keep qualified academics in the face of marginal salaries and poor facilities. In many instances, universities compete with governmental and nongovernmental agencies from a limited pool of expertise. For example, the Islamic University in Uganda has been forced to employ Christians and/or secular professors because of the lack of qualified Muslim scholars. The Rector Adamu commented on the situation: ‘‘Ideally, it would be 50–50. But experts in Islamicized disciplines are very few. You can count Muslim professors in Africa on your fingertips, and those are all well-placed and not easy to get’’ (The Chronicle of Higher Education, 2000, p. 46). Similar situations face other religious institutions such as Martyus University, affiliated with the Roman Catholic, of Uganda and in Cote d’Ivoire. To overcome some of the staffing difficulties, some private universities employ their own graduates, who may have internalized the university’s vision and come from the core of the institution. In addition, they have academics from public universities to teach selected courses per semester. Private universities also often provide working conditions that are attractive to the faithful. The availability of a decent library, with current journals, helps to retain some faculty at private institutions. The Issue of Quality Higher education conventionally has associated academic quality with resource ‘‘consumption,’’ that is, with the amount of resources it has been able to attract and spend. In the past, a college or university whose enrollments and budget were growing was thus considered productive. Quality was attested by the addition of prestigious undergraduate and graduate programs such as law and medicine. Accountability was thought of mainly in terms of financial stewardship, by how well and in how much detail an academic institution could document how revenues were spent as functions of, for example, faculty–student ratios, numbers of academic credit hours generated, instructional programs sustained and total numbers of degrees awarded. The metaphor for academic accountability most often invoked combines the notion of an institution of higher learning as a production unit, a factory perhaps, together with that of the college or university as a corporate enterprise engaged in retail sales. The school as a business ‘‘produces’’ knowledge, which it then offers for sale. Competing with other sellers in a particular ‘‘market,’’ the college or university establishes a ‘‘marketing’’ plan intended to confer a competitive edge for attracting prospective buyers, namely, students. For their part, students as tuition-paying ‘‘customers’’ are
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said to be making an ‘‘investment’’ in the education sought, hoping for an adequate ‘‘return’’ on that investment. (Implied, but not always stated explicitly, is the presumption that in higher education as in any other purchasing transaction, the customer is always right). College and university leaders, runs the complaint, must listen more closely, must respond more fully to what their constituencies profess to want from institutions of higher learning. Recent years have thus witnessed the growing popularity among academic planners of quality assurance systems originally devised for corporate business and industry such as Total Quality Management (TQM) and Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI), systems now proposed for use in colleges and universities. Dedication to servicing clients’ needs has become a watchword in academic circles as a hallmark of quality, responsiveness, and hence accountability. This is in line with IMF and Bank conditionalities (Banya, 1993). Many administrative leaders, no less than faculty, find the whole notion behind the metaphor of higher education as a business involving buying and selling repugnant. Some go as far as to oppose any effort to assess students’ skills and knowledge whatsoever, claiming that the most important learning colleges and universities endeavor to impart is least susceptible to precise measurement. ‘‘Many in higher education has a higher purpose than selling products like detergent or garage door openers,’’ one group of researchers has recently observed with vast understatement. ‘‘Nevertheless,’’ they add, ‘‘we prefer and use the word . . . because we believe that it is an important reminder that higher education is in business to serve others, not to perpetuate itself or to make self-interested choices . . . We believe that the purpose for organizations resides outside the organization’’ (The Chronicle of Higher Education, 2000, p. A57). As proponents of assessment are fond of emphasizing, ‘‘Assessment is a feasible art. And assessment bears clear benefits. Those campuses where comprehensive systems for measuring student learning and outcomes are now in place report improvements in curricula, instruction, collegiality, student advisement, retention, placement rates, and certification exam scores. Most important, it appears that students are in fact learning more’’ (The Chronicle of Higher Education, 2000, p. A57). Many private universities have tried to avoid a majority of the shortcomings on quality by concentrating in few areas that they can manage. They are not everything to everyone like the state institutions. Because they get their funding partly from student tuition, private universities tend to make their programs more relevant and marketable. There is, however, a general perception that the quality of private institutions leaves much to be desired. This perception partly arises from
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residual teachings from the colonial experience that private involvement exacerbates inequalities in education and is associated with inferiority. In West Africa, for example, because for the most part poor quality was associated with private secondary schools, the idea of private higher education is not generally accepted. In countries where private universities exist, like Liberia’s Cuttington University College, acceptance can be a major problem. Parents’ attitude and the general public feel that private institutions are not parallel with state institutions. Thus, the perceived quality issue has contributed in some instances to the lack of private higher education institutions. For example, only recently (2000) did Nigeria, the most populated country in Africa, allow private universities to operate. One solution to this dilemma has been the establishment of accreditation bodies as seen, for example, in the U.S. An external agency is responsible for grading universities and colleges according to the quality of education they impart. In order to do this, the body established a set of criteria that any institution of higher learning can use to evaluate its own performance. These include but are not limited to: curricular evaluation; research, consultancy and extension; infrastructure and resources; student support and progression; organization and management. Institutions voluntarily initiate the process of accreditation by drafting a letter of intent to the body and establishing a committee of both faculty and students. The committee then prepares a detailed report on the institution’s standing with respect to the criteria listed above. After the self-study report is submitted to the body, a team of peers is assembled and a campus visit is scheduled. The purpose of the peer visit is to verify the claims made in the self-study report, but it is also a mechanism by which the peer team makes recommendations about future improvements. Following the team visit, the body’s Executive Committee makes a final decision regarding the institution’s accreditation status and grades those deemed ‘‘accredited’’ on a five-point scale. The weight of each criteria listed above varies in determining the final score depending on the type of institution being assessed. For example, the Nigerian government has of late been encouraging the growth of the private sector in higher education. In an effort to upgrade the standards and legitimacy of these institutions, the National Universities Commission will begin the accreditation of their courses of study. A similar exercise at public universities was carried out in 2001, after which institutions were ranked on the basis of the quality of their programs. Private universities were not included in that round of inspections because their programs were deemed too young and not eligible for accreditation.
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In some instances accrediting bodies have taken drastic actions to force compliance with their criteria. For example, in Tanzania the Higher Education Accreditation Council (HEAC) of Tanzania has suspended the operations of International Medical and Technological University (IMTU) for two years for failing to adhere to the council’s regulations. The suspension follows the recommendations of a committee established to investigate unrest among university students in the country earlier this year. IMTU’s right to process applications, initiate and run new programs and conduct graduation ceremonies will resume in 2005. IMTU enrolls students primarily from Kenya and Tanzania. It has also been accused of transferring 66 students from a medical institution in Guntur, India, without HEAC approval (The East African, 2003, April 21).
SECTION IV: FORMING PARTNERSHIPS/LINKAGES The issue is whether it is possible to cooperate within a competitive environment. The private sector offers some lessons on strategic partnership when necessary in order to become more competitive. In higher education opportunities for cooperation are created by the emergence of multiple, networked, global knowledge production sites as higher education increasingly loses the monopoly for knowledge production. Two challenges arise for universities in sub-Saharan Africa. The first is a challenge of becoming part of the networks. Is it possible to have real partnership of equals? The North should not be placed in the condition of dominating as it is at present. Is partnership possible in an asymmetric relation? The record of NGOs in sub-Saharan Africa in partnership with local NGOs provides examples of the asymmetric difficulties in asymmetrical relations (Elu & Banya, 1999). Indeed, as an observer of development in sub-Saharan Africa indicated, ‘‘no amount of well-intentioned dialogue can remove the asymmetry of power in a North–South partnership’’ (Elliot, 1987, p. 65). The second is the challenge of producing knowledge or using knowledge for development purposes. With the latter, institutions are finding themselves paying more attention to meeting the need for increasing access. Faculty teaching loads have been increasing – leaving little room for research. This is partly because higher education’s survival has become more dependent on fee-paying students. As the region’s economic woes have increased, states are given less and less to higher education. Universities from the North have generally responded to globalization by establishing partnerships with other knowledge producers and participation
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in innovation hubs. For example, hybrids, including but not limited to foreign-accredited offshore universities offering foreign-style programs of study into which foreign students can be placed. At such institutions, travel/ study courses are offered by various organizations. This is often referred to as island programs – micro-campuses of foreign institutions in local centers. For example in Nigeria the University of Lagos (UNILAG) and the University of Tennessee in the United States have agreed to collaborate in a variety of areas. In an effort to increase international awareness and understanding, the two universities have agreed to give students, faculty members and administrators the chance to study at either institution. Participants will be able to study engineering, religion, African-American Studies and the arts. The collaborative plan was developed after a University of Tennessee delegation visited UNILAG in April 2001 (This Day, 2002, July 17). Similarly in Angola, a Portuguese branch university started operation there in September 2003. A branch campus of Independent University opened its doors this September to Angolan students wishing to study engineering and social sciences. Among the subjects taught at Angola Independent University are civil engineering and the environment, law and sociology. Universidade Independente was established in 1993, and was the first private university in Portugal to specialize in engineering and technology (Angola Press Agency, 2003, March 23). Universities in the South need to be part of the new arrangements being forged in the North in knowledge production, dissemination and reconfiguration for production. Emerging social relations so far largely exclude universities from the South. There is need to include universities of the South in the new trans-institutional arrangements for the development of knowledge production sites and multiple agencies involved in the production and dissemination of knowledge (Moja & Cloete, 2001). If there is no cooperation in involving universities from the South in such arrangements there is a danger that the gap between the poor and rich nations will only be widened further. Universities from the South have already been indirectly affected by the new market operations, the new information production and dissemination strategies. The universities from the North have recruited the best students, faculty and researchers from their counterparts in the South. Some institutions, for example, in West Africa have also lost their best senior administrators to the countries in the North. The brain drain in sub-Saharan Africa has reached crisis proportions. There is need to cooperate in capacity building for those institutions that in some cases have paid little or no attention to knowledge production due to financial constraints. Partnership
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between universities could contribute to capacity building and knowledge production and use of knowledge.
Some Problems in Partnership i)
Local issues In considering cooperative and partnership arrangements, universities in the North need to address some of the concerns raised by universities in the South and their responses to global changes and increased competition. First, there is a general concern that with the changes taking place globally, countries of the South are at risk of having their local concerns overlooked or ignored. The response in some instances has been to make a shift from basic research to applied research. ii) Cultural bias Second, at their extreme, foreign programs are accused of being ghettos of foreign culture in a foreign country, surrounded by an almost impenetrable member that prevents meaningful contact with the host culture and community. There is concern over lack of sensitivity to the cultural bias of exported education. Because of limited interaction socially with their classmates, foreign students who come with such institutions lack the modes of interaction appropriate to the host culture. There is also concern about the negative impact competition could have on institutions as it erodes the best human resources resulting in the decay or eventual closure of institutions. iii) Inequality Third, there is concern over partnerships that might perpetuate inequalities among institutions and among students within the same institution. For example, a private sector and public sector partnership that aimed at delivering education to the masses could result in the short changing of poor students receiving their education through those arrangements (Moja & Cloete, 2001). The often-cited success story of innovations at Makerere University has been criticized in some quarters for creating inequalities among students taking the same courses. The partnership between Tufts University and Makerere University in delivering a political science course using technology allows some and not the whole class to participate in the interactions. The emerging inequalities have become common in countries with free higher education systems but with provision for the intake of fee-paying students to supplement institutional income.
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Caution It should be noted that partnership is not limited to only universities in the North. Some universities in sub-Saharan Africa are active in partnership within the region. For example, in South Africa, the University of South Africa (UNISA) has entered into agreements with three institutions of higher education in Africa, furthering South Africa’s position as a leading educational exporter on the continent. The new agreements will partner UNISA with the University of Sudan, Mauritius College of the Air and Kigali Institute of Education in Rwanda. The new agreements come on top of already existing partnerships with tertiary institutions in the Seychelles, Kenya, Zimbabwe and Mauritius. With UNISA soon expected to further expand its distance-education export operations into Africa, South Africa could establish a strong base and dominate the distance-education sector in Africa (Business Day, 2003, June 27).
CONCLUSION In the 1980s, globalization accelerated the movement of universities toward the market. Participation in the market began to undercut the tacit contract between universities and society because the market put as much emphasis on the bottom line as on client welfare. Virtually in every country in the world, higher education has been aligned to meet the new demands of globalization. The push to global market is not only state mandated but international institutions (World Bank, IMF, regional development banks and donor agencies) have all joined the bandwagon of globalization of higher education. The main elements of this move are that education shares the main characteristics of other commodities in the marketplace and as such is a private rather than a public good. In structuring tertiary education according to a market model, it is claimed that this would provide incentives and sanctions necessary to increase efficiency and effectiveness of tertiary education institutions. Other reasons advocated include student-centered funding, contestability in research, reduced state funding of student places, increased user-charges and a system of bank loans. It is claimed that a market model would enable each institution to operate autonomously, which would improve performance. In addition, such a model would provide incentives enabling institutions to attract greater student numbers. As funding in this model would be by government subsidies to students, rather than via bulk grants, higher education institutions that failed to meet market demands (high-quality and appropriately priced courses) would fail
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to attract students and hence would not attract funding. The raison d’eˆtre for special treatment for universities has been undermined, with the increased likelihood that universities of the future will be treated more like other organizations and those who work in them more like other workers. The establishment of private higher education institutions is but just one example of the new trend towards the market in accordance with neoliberal philosophy. This is the context in which the proliferation of private universities have occurred in sub-Saharan Africa. In this chapter, a critical examination was made of the private higher education institutions as well as partnerships between institutions from the North and within the South. Thus, for the foreseeable future, the ethos of higher education in sub-Saharan Africa has changed. What the effect of the changes will be in the long run is difficult to predict. One thing is certain; the proliferation of private, for-profit universities will continue for some time to come.
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THE GLOBALISATION OF HIGHER EDUCATION: ASSESSING THE RESPONSE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST INDIES Meagan Sylvester INTRODUCTION This chapter will discuss the relationship between globalisation and higher education, focussing specifically on the University of the West Indies (UWI) as its case study. This work will examine how closely the present policy objectives of the UWI are linked to the changing structures within higher education systems in the global arena. An argument is being made that currently, there are two overarching conditions which are transforming the structures and practices of higher education, namely globalisation through its policy affiliate, neo-liberalism and the incorporation of new information and communication technologies into the knowledge activities of research, publication and pedagogy. Through globalisation, higher education and knowledge production are thwarted as the neo-liberal positivist discourse champions the market-centric approach and higher education becomes embroiled in mass consumption and commodification. The globalisation of higher education therefore encompasses such issues as life-long learning, web-based delivery and distance education. However, this piece will not
Power, Voice and the Public Good: Schooling and Education in Global Societies Advances in Education in Diverse Communities: Research Policy and Praxis, Volume 6, 261–284 Copyright r 2008 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited All rights of reproduction in any form reserved ISSN: 1479-358X/doi:10.1016/S1479-358X(08)06010-5
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speak about the issues of technology and its impact on higher education, but address the impact of neo-liberalism on higher education. Higher education at the UWI has indeed undergone many meteoric changes during the period under review of this proposed study, 1989–1999. During the 1990s, the UWI established a blueprint for change in its structure of governance and administration in the areas of finance, accountability, the process of decision-making, decentralisation and managerialism. In locating this new thrust in quality assurance and image redefinition, policy statements such as ‘‘the 1994 Governance Report’’, ‘‘the 1997–2002 Strategic Plan’’, the establishment of ‘‘the Business Development Office (BDO)’’, the emergence of ‘‘the International Summer Schools’’, the development of ‘‘Co-operative Programs and International links’’ and the onset of ‘‘practical research undertaken by Faculty’’ all speak about entrepreneurial tendencies and activities. In this study, the view being advanced is that globalisation via the political economic doctrine of neo-liberalism has played an integral part in the policy changes, which were effected at the UWI during the period under review. The underlying assumption of neo-liberalism is that superiority is given to the market and this is supposed to translate into the ready availability of the said market, to be an alternative to centrally planned and directed, development programmes. In higher education, policy shifts which foster increased capital accumulation, mass consumption, the commodification of knowledge and endeavour to change the traditional university into an entrepreneurial entity make the case for globalisation’s creeping impact on higher education via neo-liberalism. The governance and management of the system of higher education at the UWI has been transformed and driven by a set of assumptions about choice, markets, standards, accountability and the relationship between competitiveness, economic growth and the education system. These policy initiatives seem to be representative of the push factors employed to legitimise the neo-liberal approach to the governance of the institution. This study intends to work through these types of neo-liberal policies as they relate to higher education at the UWI. The main focus will be the discursive framework that constructs university landscapes as ‘‘businesses’’ and the ‘‘market’’ metaphors, which power that discourse in academic settings at the UWI. Further, this thrust seems to be a move by academics to ‘‘buy’’ into the market-speak of neo-liberalism and this in turn highlights a qualitative shift in emphasis, which now sees the economy as the source of all value in society. Education policy and practice, thus, becomes merely a subset of economic policy and practice.
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POSITION OF THE CHAPTER This volume is entitled ‘‘Schooling and Education in Global Societies’’ and this chapter fits into the theme of this volume as it seeks to address the ofttimes uneven relationship, which exists between globalisation and higher education. The research undertaken to produce this piece focusses on the UWI, which is seen to be the premier institution of higher education in the West Indies. The mission of the University of the West Indies is to ‘‘unlock the West Indian potential for economic and cultural growth by high quality teaching and research aimed at meeting critical regional needs, by providing West Indian society with an active intellectual centre and by linking the West Indian community with distinguished centres of research and teaching in the Caribbean and overseas’’ (Demas, 1997; Hall, 1998). This chapter focusses mainly on the connection between the rise of academic capitalism and how this new ‘‘theoretical construct’’ has been having an impact on the higher education. A general overview of the role and function of the UWI is provided and along with that is given the entrepreneurial path, which has been followed, at the administrative levels of the tertiary institution. A growing body of work on higher education and the impact of globalisation already exist in the international arena, which is fairly comprehensive (Borg & Gall, 1979). However, within the Caribbean region, while much has been written on the Latin American experience, the reality, which exists in the Anglophone Caribbean, has only begun to gain ascendancy within the last five years (Bourne, 2000; Klak, 1999). This work intends to add to the already existing body of research, which has been charting the course of the past, present and future directions of higher education perspectives (Howe, 2000). This piece introduces a fresh approach to the already existing literature as it analyses the relationship and impact of the global on the local while examining the role played by the Anglophone Caribbean’s university of first choice.
THE CARIBBEAN TERTIARY EDUCATION LANDSCAPE IN THE ANGLOPHONE CARIBBEAN Any analysis of higher education in the Caribbean (Borg & Gall, 1979; Cohen & Manion, 1994; Denzin, 1970; Couch, 1987; Holsti, 1969) must provide a review of the tertiary education landscape within which the UWI
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falls in an effort to position the institution of higher education in the Anglophone Caribbean, which is said to have the widest reach through its services to students from 17 territories in the region. The Caribbean tertiary education sector exists strategically as a development resource for the peoples and countries of the region; and serves its clientele through education and training in disciplines critical to tenancy of a diverse, competitive world in which science and technology, culture and society and the demand for life-long learning are inescapable variables in the equation of survival and beyond. In combination with other levels of our education systems (Campbell, 1997; Anthony, 2002), the mandate assigned to tertiary level education in the Caribbean is unambiguous. Clearly, the general expectation is that Caribbean Tertiary Institutions must lead the way in producing creative and productive citizens for the twenty-first century. The Caribbean Community (hereafter CARICOM) governments, students, parents, employers and the public in general have always held high expectations for the region’s tertiary level institutions (TLIs). At the national levels, the authoritative policy directives of national governments are explicit in regard to the contributions of tertiary education to the development of the individual, the community and the nation. Indications of some of the policy positions in relation to the role and function of tertiary education in the region are: first, tertiary education will be used as an instrument to achieve democratisation of education, to produce the trained manpower geared to the employment requirements of the country and should generally be viewed as a means of achieving national socio-economic and political goals. Second, in order to develop a critical mass of local expertise so as to cover the upper and middle range of professional, managerial, technical, supervisory and entrepreneurship needs, local tertiary education institutions and programmes must be expanded and maintained. Third, national and/or regional tertiary educational systems must be developed as a response to the rising cost of education abroad, to stem the consequential brain-drain, and generally to accommodate higher numbers of students from an expanded secondary school system along with the increasing numbers of non-traditional students that are seeking access to tertiary education. In response to this mandate, what appears to be emerging is a regional network of tertiary education provision comprising close to 150 tertiary institutions of which over 60% are national, that is, publicly supported institutions; about 30% are private, and the remainder are under private ownership with some governmental support (Anthony, 2002). Among the
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private institutions are an increasing number of ‘‘off-shore’’ distance providers based mainly in North America, which have been using the new distance-learning technologies to good effect to reach more and more of the region’s citizens and offering an increasingly diverse range of educational programmes (Chevannes & Sylvester, 2002). The UWI is one of the major institutions in the network with campuses in three countries: Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados with the accompanying non-campus territories of Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The UWI enrols just over 18,000 students from 17 countries in the region. About 1,500 students are enrolled in courses delivered by distance modes. Approximately the same numbers of students are also enrolled in the UWI certificate and degree programmes being delivered by other TLIs as a consequence of affiliation and articulation arrangements negotiated between the UWI and these institutions (Chevannes & Sylvester, 2002). The other TLIs include the University of Technology, Jamaica, other national universities in Belize, Grenada and Guyana, a State College in Antigua and Community Colleges in the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Perhaps the most distinguishing feature of these national/state/community colleges relates to the thrust of their development, which reflects the adoption of the organisational principles and ethos generally associated with the ‘‘traditional’’ multi-purpose, comprehensive community college (Peters, 1993). But they have also been able to combine these universal characteristics with certain carefully selected indigenous elements in relation to their governance, management, programming and financial arrangements. The result of this marriage is a ‘‘home grown’’ model of tertiary institutional development (Beckles, 2000). In addition to these eclectic types of institutions, there are teachers’ colleges in many of the countries. In some countries there are also technical, vocational institutes, allied health and agricultural institutions, theological colleges, colleges of fine arts, and other various specialised training institutions. An evident feature then of this regional network is its diversity, making it increasingly possible for students to obtain educational services closer to their homes at lower costs to them; and to receive educational and career goals more easily than has been true in the history of the region. To complete the overview of the tertiary education system in the AngloCaribbean, it should be noted that in addition to the enrolment at UWI
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cited earlier, total student enrolment in these other institutions in certificate, diploma, associate degree and bachelors degree vary among the institutions, and so too the nature and quality of their degree, diploma and certificate programmes. The development in the Caribbean of such a diverse range of TLIs is at once a regional strength, but at the same time the tertiary education sector faces multiple challenges. One such challenge is that CARICOM governments have made the development of human resources in general, and higher education in particular, a major priority. In 1997, the CARICOM Heads of Government indicated that by the year 2005, 15% of school graduates (as against 7–8% currently) should be enrolled in tertiary education. This represents a doubling of the tertiary level capacity and output in seven years. In this regard it is noted that within the age cohort (20–24) over 25,000 persons across the region are eligible annually to enrol in tertiary programmes (Chevannes & Sylvester, 2002).
THE BIRTH OF THE UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST INDIES The idea of a regional university for the West Indies was mostly dormant in the early part of the twentieth century as a result of economic stagnation, which had arisen as a consequence of the decline of sugar, which further precipitated social and political stagnation. Following the war, efforts were made to make British policy towards the colonies more consistent and comprehensive. One sign of this new, more systematic approach was the establishment of the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture (ICTA) in Trinidad and Tobago in 1921 (Report of the Committee, 1950; West Indies Federation, 1958). The college was established to offer postgraduate training in tropical agriculture to key staff of the empire, with the main purpose of improving the commercial viability of the sector, although it also offered diploma courses in agriculture to local personnel. Together with a growing sense of nationalism and its accompanying urges to political independence in the individual British Caribbean territories, the ICTA thus became only the second institution of higher education in the Anglophone Caribbean. During that period in the West Indies, the Standing Conference on Education in the West Indian Colonies had put new life into considering the establishment of a university in 1926 and added to that the first West Indian Conference held under the auspices of the Colonial Office also urged
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further discussion on the idea (Sherlock & Nettleford, 1990). Any analysis of the role played by the UWI, the most celebrated institution of higher education in the English-speaking Caribbean, must highlight four fundamentally important factors, which precipitated its growth. These were the demands for self-determination which had been fuelled in Africa and the West Indies by Garveyite and Pan-Africanist ideas (see Glossary; Sylvester, 2001b); a determination of the British after World War II to rid themselves of growing social, political and economic problems in the government of rumbling colonial populations; the recognition of the obvious shortage of well-trained local personnel in the colonies to serve in the lower levels of the colonial administration, as teachers and in the nascent professions; the socioeconomic and political climate in Britain in these years.
UNDERSTANDING THE PHENOMENON OF GLOBALISATION The phenomenon of globalisation has gained ascendancy within the landscape of contemporary international relations during the past decade. While the term has emerged and absorbed great currency in the literature and in the discourse of political economists, sociologists and other social scientists, there has arisen a divide amongst scholars as they attempt to date the genesis of this issue. To theorists such as Girvan (1999) and Pantin (2001), globalisation can be said to have been under way for the past 500 years. However, other thinkers such as Castells (1996), Benn (2000) and Thomas (2001) posit that while the similarities between colonial expansion and the imperialist phase of development dovetail to a large extent with the globalisation project, there remains a qualitative attribute about the concept of global reach in this present dispensation, which focuses more on both technological progress and a conscious economic policy on levels not previously seen. Globalisation, or more precisely the globalisation project of the 1990s according to Girvan (2000), was based on a coherent political, institutional, theoretical and ideological order, which was accompanied by a set of prescribed practices and a convenient and easily recognised label. In this study the view of globalisation which will be operationalised in this study will be the one posited by Norman Girvan. Other theorists such as Pantin (2001), Benn (2000), Thomas (2001) and Castells (1996) whose examination
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of the term has been operationalised in the following manner will be incorporated as well. Following are the 10 of its most pertinent features: – A world economic order centred on the triad of the US–EU–Japan, under the political and military leadership of the US; – The central role of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in international trade relations; – The construction of regional economic blocs or free trade zones; – Restructuring North–South trade agreements (NAFTA, FTAA, LOME) along with WTO- compatible lines; that is, replacement of the principle of non-reciprocal preferences to assist the development of weaker partners with that of reciprocal trade liberalisation to promote trade expansion and market-led growth; – Policies of privatisation, financial deregulation, trade and exchange rate liberalisation, fiscal and monetary orthodoxy, labour market reform and social welfare reform, as the new orthodoxy with presumed universal applicability; – The alleged loss of national economic sovereignty flowing from the imperative for all governments to adopt standard neo-liberal measures in order to maintain competitiveness and attract investment capital; – The attainment of ‘‘global competitiveness’’ as the benchmark by which all countries and producers, regardless of their resources or level of development, are to be evaluated through participation in the global market place (the ‘‘level playing’’); – The growth of global telecommunications – computer networks, satellite TV and the Internet – as the technological infrastructure in the globalisation of finance, production, marketing and patterns of consumption; – The consolidation of huge concentrations of private capital – transnational corporations and institutional investors – as the dominant players in world production, trade and finance; – A triumphalist ideology, marked by the assumption that there is no other way to organise the world, as summed up in the phrase ‘‘the end of history’’ coined in 1993 by Fukuyama. Following on the destabilising developments of the 1970s, such as the ascendancy of the Eurodollar market, the subsequent shocks in the oil prices, the growth of international finance and the onset of international lending, global re-structuring began to gain credence. The start of the 1980s saw the decline of Keynesian consensus in the North being supplanted by the new orthodoxy of neo-liberal monetarism, which was clearly visible in the administrations of Ronald Reagan in the United States and Margaret
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Thatcher in Great Britain. Together with the interest-rate shocks imposed by the US and other ‘‘super-power’’ territories claiming a monetarist antiinflation strategy, the countries of the South were thrown headlong into a severe debt crisis. This paved the way for Northern-led international financial institutions to unleash economic structural adjustment policy conditionalities on the South. The dimensions of the terms encompassed devaluation, privatisation, trade and investment liberalisation and previous financing arrangements, which were formerly facilitated for development, were now steered in the direction of structural adjustment and policy reform. Ostensibly, globalisation has cultural, political and economic dimensions. However, the structure of its rationale is ruled by economic theory that is principally Western in orientation. In this body of work, globalisation will be operationalised to incorporate the definitions of Girvan (1999), Pantin (2001), Benn (2000), Thomas (2001) and Castells (1996) while specifically economic globalisation and its policy affiliate – neo-liberalism, will be argued to be a discursively constructed grand narrative or myth, which leaves territories of the South, their governments and the deliverers of public policy only enough room to be responsive and reactionary.
THE IMPACT OF GLOBALISATION ON THE CARIBBEAN There are various ways in which globalisation has come to affect and cause effects on the Caribbean landscape. In the main, there are indigenous characteristics of the Caribbean space, which have been impacted upon by globalisation in ways both similar and dis-similar to that of its neighbouring developed countries. The following outlines the elements of its impact: Small size. In total there are 28 territories of the Caribbean with only 6 of those amassing populations of more than 1 million. The dependency trap. Many of the territories manufacture and or produce only a specialised range of goods and services for purposes of export to selected international markets such as US, EU and Russia. Only in cases of traditional agricultural products is there the option of relying on EU trade preferences. With regards to financial dependency, the exorbitant degree of debt and lending arrangements of both commercial and concessional foreign financing to create the illusion of liquidity for government capital expenditure and occasional recurrent spending paints the picture the extent of the reality.
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Fragmentation. While many states within the Caribbean region are independent, there are still those that are either overseas departments or colonies of former and existing super-powers. In that regard, the Caribbean has become a mix of British, French, Dutch, Danish and Spanish-speaking entities all possessing diverse concepts of what it means to be Caribbean. Despite this reality though, this fragmented grouping has attempted economic integration through the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM), trade and aid negotiations with the EU through the Caribbean Forum (CARIFORUM) and other cultural and regional alliances through CARIFTA and the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) which has collaborations with Central and South American states from Mexico to Venezuela. The most recent attempt to embrace its ‘‘Caribbean-ness’’ has been the establishment of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (C.S.M.E.) which speaks to inter-island/territory free movement of human resources for occupation, service and cultural developmental needs of the region’s citizenry (Girvan, 1998). Following on these realities, globalisation has generated strong crosscurrents within the region. There are differences in production structures and external associations have all too often produced contradictory short-term interests among countries and marked opposing policy-making divergences in the economies (Klak, 1998). Politically too, the legacy of regional cooperation has been met with many disappointments as well as accommodations. To date, however, the strongest barrier to a non-fragmented region is the language divide (Benn, 1998). It is against this backdrop that we examine the role of the UWI within this globalised environment of the neo-liberal reality (Bresser, Maravall, & Przeworski, 1993; Chomsky, 1998). Interestingly though, the UWI only services the Anglophone Caribbean states, yet all of the other issues pertaining to economic and political fragmentation are a part of the challenges which are existent within the educational space of the UWI.
GLOBALISATION AND HIGHER EDUCATION Universities are challenged by globalisation on many fronts. Scott (2000) points to three major ways in which globalisation can pose challenges to higher education. Firstly, the close link, which universities have with national cultures, can lead to a conflict of interest within the local/global dichotomy of university administration. Secondly, globalisation now calls
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for a standardisation of teaching through the impact of communication and information technology and this creates much upheaval for traditional teaching universities and those institutions, which are still not techno-savvy. Thirdly, due to the fact that global markets have undermined high public expenditure, welfare states on which universities depended for the bulk of their income have had to re-locate their sources of income and this has allowed for the ease with which business ethic could thrive in this educational arena. Higher education has been forced to respond to the current dominant social pressures, especially the demands of advanced capitalism. An international division of labour has been produced by globalisation with more knowledge-based workers in the world. In the developed world, higher education has endeavoured to respond to the demands of these workers in innovative ways (Jarvis, 1999). Neo-liberalism, the policy affiliate of globalisation adheres to the understanding that the market is king and the result within higher education is the commodification of knowledge, mass consumption and the managerial approach to the administration of universities. In fact, Field (1995) posits that the changing face of education portends that higher education is increasingly being thought of as a commodity to be shaped according to consumer demand. Concomitant with this, are the burgeoning realities of mass media, the new paradigms of knowledge production and corporate and virtual universities. The research practices of universities and industry, as well as other knowledge producers, are drawing closer together. All are now in effect, actors in the knowledge business. The fact of globalisation means that for each actor, the bulk of the knowledge to which access is required will have been produced elsewhere. In fact, Gibbons (1998) postulates that over 90% of the knowledge produced globally is not produced where its use is required. The challenge is how to get knowledge that may have been produced anywhere in the world to the place where it can be used effectively in a particular problem-solving context. Theories and practices of higher education have become characterised by various debates surrounding the nature of the research university (Kerlinger & Carroll, 1974; Kerlinger, 1986). According to the literature, the impact of globalisation on colleges and universities has a tendency to fall into two distinct camps. On the one hand, universities are seen to be the new leading knowledge factories poised to soar to new heights in a knowledge-based economy and society. On the other hand, the university is viewed as an at risk institution soon likely to lose market share to powerful consortia of research universities and communication corporations
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(Berg & Rouche, 1997). These ensuing debates have fostered world wide restructuring attempts by higher education institutions and the UWI’s major restructuring efforts during the 1990s, paints a picture of this Anglophone Caribbean institution responding to globalisation. These challenges to higher education have been brought about due to the demands of the neo-liberal, market-centred approach of globalisation, where education and knowledge has become a commodity to be both bought and sold to the highest bidder.
THE UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST INDIES WITHIN A GLOBAL CONTEXT OF NEO-LIBERAL RESTRUCTURING The fiftieth anniversary of the existence of the UWI was celebrated in 1998. This milestone and the attendant symbolism rendered by this auspicious achievement, coincided with the phenomenal rise of the parvenu neo-liberal ideology and the necessity of entrepreneurial academia. From its inception, the UWI has been heavily dependent on Commonwealth Caribbean government financing arrangements and still remains, in the main, a statesponsored institution. However, a challenge was presented to these member governments in the late 1980s as global restructuring commenced and the UWI’s ability to remain self-financing became questionable. Globalisation and its impact on the world at large and more importantly the Caribbean have been in progress for over 500 years. Much dynamism and conflict has been the effect of this New World Order on the Caribbean where the most glaring results have been differentiation, fragmentation and disintegration. Following the turbulent developments of the 1970s, namely, the fall of the Bretton Woods System, the sudden burgeoning of the Eurodollar market, the shocks of the oil price and the related expansion of international finance and lending, globalisation can be said to have emerged. The political–economic doctrine of neo-liberalism was hatched as a counterrevolution in the 1980s following the breakdown of Keynesian consensus. The policy conditionalities of this doctrine resulted in structural adjustment programmes imposed on the South by the IMF and the World Bank. These programmes envisioned that market-oriented policy reforms would have a positive effect on efficiency and thereby allow for increased competitiveness and accelerated economic growth. Nevertheless, while these programmes were intended to improve the economic well being of these states, the social fallout was severe. Higher education is part of that social dynamic and therefore the UWI as a regional body reliant on funding from these
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governments who had become severely financially strapped after the realities of the policy conditionalities, was in dire straits. Member governments were forced to lessen on the monetary contribution to the tertiary institution. The UWI now had to source finances from other stakeholders and herein lies the need to shift to the market centric approach of neo-liberalism in order to achieve economic viability and sustainability. Accordingly, while budget consolidation measures by the various cash strapped governments have led to a ‘‘downward financial spiral’’ (Marshall, 2000), a move to alleviate the situation has been pursued via alternative sources of funding such as private and research grants, the growth of local and extra-regional student intake, an examination into the throughput ratio, improvements in facilities and infrastructure and by extension, the institution’s marketability and the streamlining of UWI’s operations (Emmanuel, 1996; Marshall, 1996, 2000; Jayaram, 1999). Visiting the issue of tertiary education, Alan Cobley (2000) in an article entitled, The Historical Development of Higher Education in the Anglophone Caribbean gives an overview of the genesis of the need for the UWI. He states that growing support among British colonial officials for the establishment of colonial universities in various parts of the empire in the inter-war period was based on three reasons. The first was a recognition of the obvious shortage of well-trained local personnel in the colonies to serve. Secondly, colonial officials were increasingly concerned by the growing political consciousness among the rising elites in the colonies. Thirdly, the large influx of blacks and browns from the region who had been welcomed by the British to assist in the war effort, now acted as a drain on the economy of Britain as the job market contracted and economic depression ensued. In that regard, the system of higher education in the Caribbean was premised on the argument that a single UWI could become ‘‘the intellectual centre’’ of the region and an agency for the promotion of research, pertinent to the needs of West Indian people. The formation of the West Indian University and the role it played in terms of ideological formation was therefore shaped by how it was constituted through the development of the West Indian nationalist thrust. Higher education then, was to be used by the region to cultivate skills, dispositions and social identities consistent with the imperatives of the nationalistic ethic. However, as neo-liberal restructuring began to take place, the intellectual work of universities began to reflect a discursive shift whereby the academic product of the universities had become proletarianized and was useful in its own right in terms of innovations that could be applied in industry or in management of social and economic institutions (Sylvester, 2001a; Magnusson, 2000).
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Within this neo-liberal discourse, conceptions of quality and excellence are linked to economic development through innovation and training of knowledge workers. Restructuring practices such as performance-based funding, institutional funding contingent on business partnerships, and curricula jointly developed and delivered by the public and private sector are transforming the university in terms of its institutional form (Jones-Evans, 1998). Perhaps most serious is the social legitimation of academic knowledge constructed primarily within an unregulated terrain of unfettered corporate interests, creating a situation within which intellectual work predominantly supports neo-liberal capitalist ideology. For example, at the UWI, The School for Graduate Studies and Research in its recent policy document (2000/2001), has indicated that its flagship programmes will entail – biotechnology, cultural studies, environmental studies, health, information technology, social and economic policy and tourism. These ‘‘advances’’ in the research agenda have an immediate commercial potential and are therefore highly valued and supported within the restructured academic environment (The University of the West Indies, 1994).
ENTREPRENEURIAL STIRRINGS AT THE UWI The entrepreneur can be defined in Bannock, Baxter, and Davis (1992) as ‘‘an economic agent who perceives market opportunities and assembles the factors of production to exploit them . . . The essence of the entrepreneur, therefore, is that he is alert to gaps in the market which others do not see and is able to raise the finance and other resources . . . to exploit the market that he initiates’’. From a historical standpoint, the aim and sole purpose of a university was to educate and prepare its graduates for the world of work and life in general. In particular, the UWI has been seen as the premier provider of higher education in the Anglophone Caribbean since 1948, with its attendant mission to ‘‘unlock the potential of a region’s peoples’’ and provide for a cadre of leaders who would emerge to liberate the masses from mental asphyxia brought on by colonialism. In that regard, university academics and administrators would hardly be inclined, as they proceed in their traditional mode, to view higher education within the entrepreneurial concept as expressed by Bannock et al. (1992) above or as the marketing concept of Kotler (2000) suggests whereby, ‘‘a company attempts to be more effective than its competitors ‘in creating, delivering and communicating customer value to its chosen target market’’’.
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Locating the issue of privatisation in higher education, Rae (1996) views the concepts of higher education and privatisation as separate entities. To him, education is not just a matter of private choice and private good. In fact, he believes that higher education should not be left in control of private, sectional interests since they may be antithetical to the broader public good. Further, the fear here is that academic goals will be subordinated to economic ones and the inherent autonomous functions of a university will be subverted (Gadd, 1996; Marshall & Peters, 1990). Clayton (1999) and Pritchard (2000), writing about the UWI, suggest that if universities are unable to survive economically, the realisation of their academic goals will be in jeopardy because of the following reasons. The demand for higher education is rising, expectations of higher education are also escalating and the public funding for universities is being eroded. As universities are being told to do more with less, Mawditt and Wilmink (1998) attest that an entrepreneurial mode is taking over these institutions and leads to an attraction of funds from the private sector, which therefore descends to a compromise between the traditional goals of the university and the new and emerging entrepreneurial tendencies.
LOCATING THE MARKETING ETHIC AT THE UWI An analysis will now be undertaken of the following structural changes at the University which detail in part the move towards market-driven policy initiatives at the UWI within the 1989–1999 period. -
The The The The The The
Governance Report, Strategic Plan, establishment of the BDO (university wide), emergence of the International Summer School, development of co-operative programs and international links, onset of practical research by Faculty.
Anthony Clayton (1999) in ‘‘Current Trends in Higher Education and the Implications for UWI’’ sketched a global picture of the economic and political milieu in which universities find themselves. The demands for higher education are mounting and expectations rising as sovereign states compete in a high skill, knowledge-based world economy. Internationally recognised or ‘‘portable qualifications’’ from prestigious universities are becoming increasingly imperative to competitors in the job market as transnational corporations become more pervasive in developing countries
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(Mehta, 2000; Qiping & Gordon, 1994). The above-mentioned issues speak to finance, funding, academic pertinence, competition among and marketing of higher education institutions. The Governance Report In a preliminary review of the UWI’s Governance Report (July 1994) and the UWI’s Strategic Plan 1997–2002, it has been possible to delineate the direction in which the UWI seems to be heading (Masland, 1985). Accordingly, the Governance Report’s terms of reference are as follows. The need to: Achieve the greatest possible cost effectiveness in its operations, Speed up the processes of decision-making, Assign well defined lines of responsibility to the principal officers and organs, Achieve greater transparency in and accountability for, the University’s operations, including specific identification of the financial implications of decisions made and projects being undertaken, Make greater provision for the increasing importance of outreach activities in the work of the institution. All these tenets unwittingly seem to suggest an entrepreneurial approach to UWI’s operations (Hayle, 1999; Marchese, 2000; Murphy, 1980). The argument being put forward here is that the globalising political economy and the totalising nature of neo-liberal theory via globalisation has fostered the decision by the University to embrace these steps in order ‘‘to bring it in step with current and prospective needs and trends i.e. global trends (my emphasis) and to improve its effectiveness as it seeks to compete with global competitors’’. The Strategic Plan The Governance Report of The UWI laid the groundwork for its Strategic Plan, which represents the University’s concession that it is at a crossroads and there is a compelling need to plan how it will manage onwards (Office of the Vice Chancellery, 1997). The Plan outlines four objectives: To enhance its role as a development resource for the peoples and countries of the region.
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To participate fully in upgrading and enlarging the capability of the region’s TLIs so that together and in partnership, UWI and the TLIs can respond to the human resource needs of the region. To be a student friendly University which provides high quality instruction. To make the University more financially self-reliant through increasing its internal efficiency structuring itself to earn additional income and competing actively for grant funds from national and international institutions and other private benefactors. An examination of the Strategic Plan immediately reveals that it is possible to liken the issues addressed by the four strategic objectives to what marketers refer to as the marketing mix, the mechanisms – product, price, promotion and place (the four Ps) – which a firm consolidates in order to bring about the desired response in its target market (Kotler, 2000; Kotler & Armstrong, 2001).
Business Development Office According to the BDO’s report (Severin, 2000), the raison d’eˆtre for the establishment of the university wide BDO was ‘‘the compelling need to identify other sources of funding, given the fact that the UWI could no longer count on the continuation of increasing subventions from Caribbean governments’’. As a matter of course, the UWI was forced to adopt to more efficient means of exploring existing commercial activities on the campuses with the decided intention of ‘‘optimising the income which could be earned from them as well as to possibly locate novel ventures, including forging partnerships with industry, securing much required funds and simultaneously, commercialising and making its research more relevant to the needs of society’’. The BDO at the St. Augustine Campus in particular, views image building as integral to the University’s entrepreneurial stance. Against that backdrop, the BDO has implemented and facilitated the following: Development and implementation of a comprehensive style manual Development of UWI promotional pieces - Annual and faculty reports - Welcome to UWI booklets - Undergraduate show books - Postgraduate show books
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Open day Outreach services
International Summer School In Lilieth Nelson’s article, Towards internationalisation of education at the University of the West Indies (Nelson, 1999), justification is given for the establishment of the International Summer School. The article makes the point that the UWI founded an International Summer Schools Office in April 1992 in order to facilitate the following: Numerous requests for the UWI to accommodate students for summer and other short-term programmes, Requests to establish or strengthen relations with other tertiary institutions within and outside the Caribbean region, Demands for upgrading and enrichment programmes to satisfy the needs of the workforce in the region, The need for the UWI to undertake income-generating initiatives given the financial and economic constraints. As part of the endnotes following the report, it was established that the most vociferous need for summer school came from UWI’s own students and practitioners and professionals from that same catchment area.
Co-Operative Programs and International Links The Office of the Board for Non-Campus Countries (NCCs) and Distance Education (DE) and Office of Administration and Special Initiatives (OASIs) produced a policy statement in 1999 (Office of the Board for NCCs and DE, & OASIs, 1999), which indicated that the UWI entered into co-operative and collaborative relationships with other higher education institutions with the following objectives in mind: Sharing knowledge and skills in area of competence, Promoting research, Broadening the experiential perspective of graduate and undergraduate students, Promoting cultural and educational ties among Caribbean students in the Diaspora (my emphasis).
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Following from the preliminary perusal undertaken of these university documents (Patton, 1990), it can be surmised that there is definitely a commitment on the part of the administration and management of the UWI to reconstruct the institution into an entrepreneurial entity. The tenets of the Governance Report, the objectives of the Strategic Plan, 1997–2002, the establishment, mission and vision of the BDOs, the creation of International Summer Schools, the fostering of the international links and co-operative programmes and a move towards more practical research by Faculty are all suggestive of entrepreneurial tendencies.
CONCLUDING ARGUMENTS Places such as universities do not exist simply as ontological givens, but instead are produced through complex constellations of power-knowledge (Berg & Kearns, 1996). The socially constructed landscape of the university is not power-neutral, it works to support hegemonic groups. As Henri LeFebvre (1991) argues, space ‘‘serves as a tool of thought and action . . . in addition to being a means of production it is also a means of control, and hence, of domination, of power’’. It is important to remember that here that landscapes arise from hegemonic rhetorics and are not part of some totalising discourse which has somehow managed to dominate all aspects of university life. Following from this, the argument being put forward is that academics, staff and students ‘‘are caught in a complex series of (historically and geographically specific) discursive positions, relations and practices’’ (Rose, 1993). The chapter has attempted to argue that the interactive (mutually constitutive) relationship between notions of ‘‘business’’ (Gingrich et al., 1996) and those ‘‘of university’’ are reconstituted by neoliberal ‘‘market’’ metaphors in the UWI new policy initiatives. Moreover, the ‘‘market’’ metaphor so dominant in current neo-liberal rhetorics at the UWI, has somehow produced a new landscape of higher education. Neo-liberalism has an implied concept of economic rationalism built into it which involves an almost blind reliance on the idea that ‘‘natural’’ market forces produce more efficient outcomes than ‘‘artificial’’ intervention by government of institutions. Accordingly, (Marginson, 1992) posits that ‘‘economic rationalism defines all human purposes in economic terms and has the tendency to crowd out other knowledge and practices’’. Universities it seems no longer produce knowledge for knowledge’s sake but instead to ensure that they are internationally competitive in the global economy (Marginson, 2000). In sum, as evidenced by the preliminary review
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of the policy documents of the UWI and their change in focus and purpose, it can be suggested that the discursive construction of the UWI has shifted from that of a community of scholars producing knowledge as a public good for community uses, to that of a market-led business producing knowledge as a private good for individual consumption.
REFERENCES Anthony, K. (2002). The legal framework of education in the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS). Available at http://www.iacd.oas.org/Interamer/anthony.htm Bannock, G., Baxter, R. E., & Davis, E. (1992). The Penguin dictionary of economics (New ed.). London: Penguin Books Ltd. Beckles, H. (2000). Globalisation of the Caribbean Tertiary Education Sector. Discussion paper for the Vice Chancellor’s Retreat at the Trinidad Hilton, Trinidad and Tobago, West Indies. Benn, D. (2000). Globalisation and the North–South divide: Power asymmetries in contemporary international economic relations. In: D. Benn & K. Hall (Eds), Globalisation. A calculus of inequality: Perspectives from the South. Kingston, Jamaica: Ian Randle Publishers. Berg, L. D., & Kearns, R. A. (1996). Naming as norming? ‘‘Race’’, gender and the identity politics of naming places in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Environment and Planning. Society and Space, 14, 1. Berg, L. D., & Rouche, M. (1997). Market metaphors, neo-liberalism and the construction of academic landscapes in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 21, 2. Borg, W. R., & Gall, M. D. (1979). Educational research. An introduction (3rd ed.). New York: Longman. Bourne, R. (2000). Ivory towers or drowning forces for change: The development role of Commonwealth Universities in the 21st century. Roundtable, 356, 451–458. Bresser, P. L., Maravall, J., & Przeworski, A. (1993). Economic reforms in new democracies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Campbell, C. (1997). Endless education: Main current in the education system of modern Trinidad and Tobago, 1939–1986. Barbados: The University of the West Indies Press. Castells, M. (1996). The information age: Economy, society and culture. Vol. 1: The rise of the network society. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Publishers. Chevannes, B., & Sylvester, M. (2002). Draft report for UNESCO study on the legal framework of higher education in CARICOM countries. Mona Campus, Jamaica: The University of the West Indies. Chomsky, N. (1998). Old wine, new bottles. Available at http://www.zmag.org/chomsky/talks/ 9302-uva.html Clayton, A. (1999). Current trends in higher education and the implications for UWI. In: K. Hall & D. Benn (Eds), Contending with destiny: The Caribbean in the 21st century (pp. 137–146). Kingston, Jamaica: Ian Randle Publications.
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Kerlinger, F. N., & Carroll, J. B. (Eds). (1974). A review of research in education. Itasca, IL: Peacock. Klak, T. (Ed.) (1998). Globalisation and neoliberalism: The Caribbean context. Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield. Klak, T. (1999). The underdevelopment of the Caribbean and its scholarship. Latin American Research Review, 34, 3. Kotler, P. (2000). Marketing management (Millennium ed.). New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Kotler, P., & Armstrong, G. (2001). Principles of marketing (9th ed.). New Jersey: Prentice Hall. LeFebvre, H. (1991). The production of Space. D. Nicholson-Smith (Trans.). Cambridge, MA: Blackwell. Magnusson, J. (2000). Examining higher education and citizenship in a global context of neoliberal restructuring. Canadian Ethnic Studies. Special Issue, 32(1), 72. Marchese, T. (2000). Entrepreneurial universities. Change, Jan/Feb, 32(1), 4. Marginson, S. (1992). Education as a branch of economics: The universal claims of economic rationalism. Melbourne Studies in Higher Education, 1–14. Marginson, S. (2000). Re-thinking academic work in the global era. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 22(1), 23. Marshall, D. D. (1996). National development and the globalisation discourse: Confronting ‘‘imperative’’ and ‘‘convergence’’ notions. Third World Quarterly, 17, 5. Marshall, D. D. (2000). Academic travails and a crisis-of-mission of the University of the West Indies’ social sciences: From history and critique to anti-politics. In: G. Howe (Ed.), Higher education in the Caribbean: Past present and future trends (pp. 59–84). Kingston, Jamaica: The University of the West Indies Press. Marshall, J., & Peters, M. (1990). The insertion of ‘‘New Right’ thinking into education: An example from New Zealand. Journal of Education Policy, 5, 2. Masland, A. T. (1985). Organisational culture in the study of higher education. The Review of Higher Education, 8, 157–168. Mawditt, R., & Wilmink, E. (1998). Innovative partnerships in the knowledge industry. Bath: University of Bath, International Centre for Higher Education Management. Mehta, G. (2000). Science and technology issues. In: R. Bourne (Ed.), Universities and development: A report on the socio-economic role of universities in the developing countries of the Commonwealth (pp. 49–57). London: Association of Commonwealth Universities. Murphy, J. T. (1980). Getting the facts. A guide for evaluation and policy analysis. Santa Monica, CA: Goodyear Publishing. Nelson, L. (1999). Towards internationalisation of education at the University of the West Indies. In: M. Taylor (Ed.), WIGUT 40th anniversary journal; Celebrating 1958–1998. Jamaica: The University of the West Indies Press. Office of the Board for NCCs and DE, & OASIs. (1999). Co-operative programmes: A policy statement. Jamaica: The University of the West Indies. Office of the Vice Chancellery. (1997). Strategic plan, 1997–2002: The University of the West Indies. Mona, Jamaica: Canoe Press, The University of the West Indies. Pantin, D. (2001). Interview by Author. St. Augustine, October 25 and 31. Patton, M. Q. (1990). Qualitative evaluation and research methods. Newbury Park, CA: Sage. Peters, B. (1993). The emergence of community, state and national colleges in the OECS member countries: An institutional analysis. Cave Hill, Barbados: Institute of Social and Economic Research, The University of the West Indies.
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Pritchard, R. (2000). Future directions for research in Caribbean Higher education. In: G. Howe (Ed.), Higher education in the Caribbean; Past, present and future trends (pp. 251–265). Kingston, Jamaica: The University of the West Indies Press. Qiping, Y., & Gordon, W. (1994). The ‘‘Marketisation’’ of Chinese higher education: A critical assessment. Comparative Education, 30, 3. Rae, P. (1996). New directions; Privatization and higher education in Alberta. The Canadian Journal of Higher Education, 26(2), 59–80. Report of the Committee Appointed to Review the Policy of the University College of the West Indies (circa 1950). Paragraph 19. Rose, G. (1993). Feminism and geography. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Scott, P. (2000). Globalisation and higher education: Challenges for the 21st century. Journal of Studies in International Education, 4(1), 3–10. Severin, F. (2000). The Entrepreneurial University: Locating the University of the West Indies within a global context. Discussion paper prepared for the Vice Chancellor’s Retreat at the Trinidad Hilton, Trinidad and Tobago, West Indies. Sherlock, P., & Nettleford, R. (1990). The University of the West Indies: A Caribbean response to the challenge of change. Basingstoke: Macmillan. Sylvester, M. (2001a). Educational governance in an era of globalisation. Paper presented at the Conference on Governance in the Contemporary Caribbean: The Way Forward, March 14–16, 2001, The University of the West Indies, UWI, St. Augustine Campus, Trinidad and Tobago, West Indies. Sylvester, M. (2001b). Globalisation, higher education and Pan-Africanism: A critical compromise. Paper presented at the Conference on Henry Sylvestre-Williams and Pan-Africanism, January 7–12, 2001, The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus, Trinidad and Tobago, West Indies. The University of the West Indies. (1994). A new structure: The regional university in the 1990s and beyond. Report of the Chancellor’s Commission on the Governance of UWI, July 1994. CaveHill Campus, Mona Campus, St. Augustine Campus: The University of the West Indies. Thomas, C. Y. (2001). Interview by Author. Port of Spain, November 10. West Indies Federation. (1958). Report of the Committee Appointed to Review the Policy of the University College of the West Indies, December 1957–January 1958. Bridgetown, Barbados: The Advocate Printers. Paragraph 20.
GLOSSARY Bretton Woods For 25 years after World War II, the international monetary system known as the Bretton Woods system, was based on stable and adjustable exchange rates. Exchange rates were not permanently fixed, but there were occasional devaluations of individual currencies to correct fundamental disequilibria in the BP. Ever-increasing pressures in the 1960s culminated in the collapse of the Bretton Woods system in 1971, and it was reluctantly replaced with a regime of floating exchange rates.
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Neo-Liberalism (The Neo-Liberal Project) The term ‘‘neo-liberalism’’ is suggestive of a system of principles that is reflective of both new and old classical liberal ideas. Klak (1998) states that neo-liberal policy is presently hegemonic, dogmatically imposed, normatively flawed and by extension, unsustainable. In essence, neo-liberalism can be said to be a movement toward more laissez-faire capitalism in the global periphery (Bresser et al., 1993), where according to Chomsky (1998), there is a universal application of neo-economic principles in terms of the promotion of private sector initiatives and unfettered liberalisation based on the primacy of market forces. Further Klak (1998) goes on to posit that, neo-liberal policy represents a country’s ticket or passport to the globalising economy. In that regard, neo-liberalism is seen as the policy affiliate of globalisation. Endemic in the neo-liberal fashioning of the new political economy is the tendency to demand a political and economic climate, which is solely conducive to private investment where the repatriation of the profits extend to its principal architects, the developed world. Neo-liberalism and globalisation then are twin processes, at both the ideological and the empirical levels. As Klak (1998) posits they strongly overlap in terms of intellectual roots and the patterns that emerge in the roles of governments and the nature of international economic activity. The neo-liberal agenda fosters a ‘‘one size fits all’’ rubric and in this chapter that thinking will be challenged as weak and narrow from an ideological, scholarly and ‘‘policy oriented’’ standpoint, since it treats economic issues as ahistorical and detached from their local political and social contexts. Garveyite An adjective to describe both followers of and intellectual thought on or about Marcus Garvey. He was known as a Pan-Africanist, a Black Nationalist and the father of the Black Nationalist Movement. He was a Jamaican by birth but later went on to fight for the black disenfranchised via the mantra of black self-help in many continents of the world wherever blacks resided. Pan-Africanism A general term for various movements in Africa that have as their common goal the unity of Africans and the elimination of colonialism and white supremacy from the continent. However, on the scope and meaning of PanAfricanism, including such matters as leadership, political orientation and national as opposed to regional interests, they are widely, often bitterly, divided.
LEARNING TO GET AHEAD IN A GLOBAL SOCIETY: POSTSECONDARY ACCESS OF PEOPLE OF COLOR IN THE U.S. Eugene L. Anderson and Bryan Cook INTRODUCTION Globalization has impacted societies around the world in numerous and varied ways; the impact is economic, political, cultural, and educational. Globalization helped spur a major transformation of the U.S. economy beginning 1980s. The transformation of the U.S. economy began at a time when persons of color were continuing their fight to gain access to the nation’s colleges and universities. The battle for access to postsecondary education involved legal battles for access to selective public institutions. The battle for access also coincided with a larger struggle among persons of color to overcome unequal primary and secondary education and gain access to colleges and universities of all types. In many ways the legacy of segregation continued to be an obstacle to persons of color. Despite the obstacles people of color strived for access to postsecondary education because the changing U.S. economy heightened the economic penalty for those unable to attain a college education. While the benefits of globalization are greatly debated, it is clear that the economic ramifications
Power, Voice and the Public Good: Schooling and Education in Global Societies Advances in Education in Diverse Communities: Research Policy and Praxis, Volume 6, 285–306 Copyright r 2008 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited All rights of reproduction in any form reserved ISSN: 1479-358X/doi:10.1016/S1479-358X(08)06011-7
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of globalization devastated some industries and spurred growth in others. This change widened the wage gap between those with a college education and those without. Over time a college degree would become an indicator of the haves and the have-nots of American society. For persons of color seeking to move up the socioeconomic ladder the need for higher education in the changing economy became paramount. This chapter discusses the impact of globalization on the U.S. economy and the demand for higher education among people of color. During between 1980 and 2005, postsecondary education in the United States experienced massive growth and change as the national population and economy were changing. Since 1980, higher education enrollments expanded and became more racially diverse despite significant declines in the size of the traditional college-age population. Sometimes the size and complexity of a system can limit its ability to change, but the variety of American higher education allowed for various institutions to adapt in differing ways to the changing society and economy. Growth occurred at most types of postsecondary institutions as the demand for access to higher education reached unprecedented levels.
GLOBALIZATION AND THE U.S. ECONOMY The impact of globalization on the U.S. economy between 1980 and 2005 played a significant role in expanding American higher education. As the U.S. economy moved from local production-based to global technological-based, Americans found the need to reach higher levels of education. For persons of color seeking to move up the socioeconomic ladder the need for higher education in the changing economy became paramount. The gap between the economic returns on a college education as compared to a high school education increased significantly. The early 1980s was a period of multiple economic recessions and rising unemployment. Between 1981 and 1982, the United States lost 2.4 million jobs. The sectors most affected by the recession were those that did not require considerable formal education beyond high school; manufacturing, agriculture, transportation, and construction.1 However, even within a recession that pushed the unemployment rate in the United States to a post World War II high of 10.1 percent, there were several sectors experiencing significant growth (Slow Unemployment, 1982). From 1983 to 1991, seven occupational fields in the United States saw job growth of more than 1 millions jobs; three of these fields were higher paying managerial fields that typically require a college education. The other four
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fields were lower paying administrative support and service occupations that do not require a college education (U.S. Census Bureau, 2004a). The pattern of job growth in the 1980s began the growth of high-paying jobs in managerial and specialized skill fields and low-skill, low-wage jobs. The 1990s brought about a drastic upswing in the U.S. economy. The emergence of new technology and a renewed entrepreneurial spirit created a robust economy that added 20 million jobs since the recessions of the 1980s. Despite the record job growth of the 1990s, Americans continued to need some form of postsecondary education to be competitive in the U.S. labor market that consisted of a growing number of companies operating on a global scale. Even many low-skill, low-wage jobs required some level of specialized skills due to the increasing use of computers in the workforce (Levy & Murnane, 2004). According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 24 percent of Americans used a computer at work in 1984. By 2001, nearly 60 percent of American workers used computers (U.S. Census Bureau, 2003). From 1983 to 2002, twelve occupations added more than 1 million jobs. With the exception of construction trades, six of these occupations were high-skill, high-wage jobs, such as managerial occupations and mathematical and computer scientists, and the other half were low-skill, low-wage jobs, like administrative support and sales. Although there are numerous public and private returns on the investment in postsecondary education, typically people make a decision to pursue a postsecondary education because of private returns. As the United States moved from an industrial to a knowledge-based economy with a large service sector, the difference in earnings between working Americans with a college degree and those without a college education began to increase. In 1980, the median salary of male and female college graduates was 19 percent and 34 percent higher, respectively, than the median salary of high school graduates. By 2002, male and female college graduates earned, on average, 65 percent and 70 percent more than male and female high school graduates (U.S. Census Bureau, 2004b). Over the course of a 40 year career, a college graduate will earn nearly $1 million more than the typical high school graduate (Baum & Payea, 2004). As the economy changed so to did the composition of the United States.
The New Economy Throughout much of the 20th century, the United States has been perceived, both domestically and internationally, as a land of opportunity. As the
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largest industrial country in the world, the United States has provided more employment opportunities for its citizens than any other country. However advances in software and computer technology along with other factors have created a global knowledge-based economy which has resulted in nonWestern countries being able to compete for jobs in industries that have no geographic boundaries, like computer software development (Friedman, 2005). Technology has expanded the potential for many industries in the United States to utilize highly skilled labor in other parts of the world. Indian accounting firms are increasingly doing American income tax returns and more U.S. hospitals are having their CAT scans read by Indian or Australian radiologists (Friedman, 2005). Professions such as these, which tend to be populated by the American middle class, are being outsourced to other countries that can do these jobs cheaper and more efficiently. As a result, the U.S. economy is fast becoming a dichotomous labor market consisting of two options: low-skilled, low-wage jobs or high-skilled, highwage jobs. The result of this dichotomy is that the path to professional and financial security, that is high-skill, high-wage jobs, requires a postsecondary education (Friedman, 2005). If the United States is to remain competitive in the global economy the level of education among all Americans must increase significantly. Just as an earlier shift in the economy played a part in the increase in Americans pursuing a college degree, globalization will likely have the same impact on young people in the United States. The continuing dichotomous nature of the U.S. job market is apparent when analyzing the occupations with the largest projected job growth in the next decade. Twelve of the thirty occupations listed have a median earnings (in 2004) above $28,000. Most of these 12 occupations require some form of postsecondary education: registered nurse, postsecondary teacher, general and operations manager, elementary school teacher, accountants and auditors, truck drivers, computer software engineers, maintenance and repair workers, executive secretaries, sales representatives, carpenters, and computer systems analysts. The remaining occupations are mostly low-skill, low-wage jobs (Hecker, 2005). A college education has become nearly a requirement to attain the type of job that provides middle-class status.
THE CHANGING FACE OF AMERICA As the United States deals with a transitioning economy in the face of globalization it is simultaneously dealing with one of the most significant demographic shifts in the country’s history. Since 1980, the U.S. population grew steadily by
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26 percent, topping 293 million in 2004. This population increase was driven by tremendous growth among Americans of color, primarily Hispanics, African Americans, and Asian Americans. From 1980 to 2004, the white population increased by less than 10 percent, and increase of 17.5 million more whites in 2004 than in 1980 (Fig. 1).2 The numerical growth among Hispanics during between 1980 and 2005 easily dwarfed the growth among whites.3 The Hispanic population in the United Sstates increased by 183 percent, growing by nearly 27 million persons to surpass 41 million in 2004. Significant growth also occurred among Asian Americans and African Americans. The differing rates of growth of the various racial/ethnic groups in the United States are a result of changes in fertility rates and immigration. During the first half of the 20th century the white population had a high fertility rate, but during the second half of the century, whites became a much older population, characterized by a low fertility rate. The extremely large rate of growth in the Hispanic and Asian American population is the result of high fertility rates and high immigration during between 1980 and 2005. The African American population grew because of high fertility rates, but was only minimally affected by immigration (Hobbs & Stoops, 2002). While whites continued to be the majority racial/ethnic group in the United States, the growth of minorities significantly changed the overall composition 244.8%
250%
200%
182.9%
150%
100% 55.4% 50% 26.0%
35.7%
9.8% 0% White
Total
African American
American Indian
Hispanic
Asian American
Fig. 1. Percent Change in U.S. Population by Race/ethnicity: 1980–2004. Source: Population Division, U.S. Census Bureau. Table 3, 1980 Decennial Census.
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EUGENE L. ANDERSON AND BRYAN COOK Hispanic, 41.3, 14% Multi-racial, 3.9, 1% Asian American, 12.5, 4%
White, 197.8, 68%
American Indian, 2.2, 1% African American, 35.9, 12%
Fig. 2.
U.S. Population by Racial/ethnic Group: 2004 (Numbers in Millions). Source: Population Division, U.S. Census Bureau. Table 3.
of the nation. In 1980, 77 percent of Americans were white. Twenty-five years later the white share of the U.S. population decreased by 10 percentage points to 68 percent (Fig. 2). These changes had an obvious effect on the school-age population in the United States. The school-age population became more diverse than the overall population because the median age of whites became older as the post-war ‘‘baby boom’’ generation aged, nearly 40 years old, while the median age of persons of color remained in the mid-20s. As the overall population in the United States was growing, the opposite was occurring among 15 to 24-year-olds. From 1980 to 2004, the number of 15- to 24-year-olds declined by nearly 2 percent, a loss of almost 800,000 (Table 1). The decline was due to a decrease in the number of whites in this age range, a loss of more than 6.8 million persons. A significant increase in Hispanics and Asian Americans in this age group helped reduce the overall decline, thereby causing greater diversity among this age group. The number of 15- to 24-year old Hispanics more than doubled, increasing by 3.9 million persons. The number of Asian Americans in this age range increased by more than 1 million persons.
THE EXPANSION OF ACCESS TO HIGHER EDUCATION Surprisingly, the decline in the college-age population from 1980 to 2004 did not parallel the trend in postsecondary education enrollment. Instead, college enrollments jumped by 38 percent over this period, increasing from
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Table 1.
U.S. Population of 15- to 24-Year-Olds by Race/Ethnicity, Selected Years 1980–2004. 1980
Total White African American Hispanic Asian American American Indian
1990
2000
2004
Percent Numeric Change from Change from 1980 to 2004 1980 to 2004
42,486,828 36,774,327 39,183,891 41,701,104 32,599,793 25,782,625 24,354,676 25,806,785 5,709,669 5,237,446 5,558,305 6,249,245
1.8 20.8 9.5
785,724 6,793,008 539,576
3,192,191 608,602
4,358,398 1,236,019
6,581,073 1,638,984
7,097,577 1,795,328
122.3 195.0
3,905,386 1,186,726
319,369
346,065
430,361
519,182
62.6
199,813
Source: Population Division, U.S. Census Bureau. Tables 1 and 4.
about 12 million students to almost 17 million students. During this period when the size of the college-age population was declining in the United States, access was expanding to include more students than ever before. In 1980, less than a third of high school graduates aged 18- to 24-year-old were enrolled in postsecondary education. By 2004, the number of high school graduates aged 18- to 24 enrolled in postsecondary education was 46 percent (U.S. Census Bureau, 2005). While the college-going rate differs for each racial/ethnic group, each group showed significant increases. The growth in enrollment was also spurred by an increase in the number of older Americans attending college. From 1980 to 2002, the number of persons over the age of 24 enrolled in postsecondary institutions increased by 44 percent (U.S. Department of Education, 2005). From 1980 to 2004, the largest growth in college enrollments occurred among students of color. The number of minorities enrolled in postsecondary institutions grew by nearly 3 million persons, an increase of 151 percent. The number of whites enrolled rose by only 810,000, 8 percent. The large growth among minority students from 1980 to 2004 was due largely to increases in two populations: Hispanics and African Americans. Hispanics and African Americans were responsible for the largest numerical increases, 1.2 million and 923,000, respectively (Table 2). This growth in minority enrollment dramatically changed the composition of American higher education. In 1980, only 16 percent of college students in the United States were persons of color. By 2004, that percentage nearly doubled to 29 percent. The increase in minority enrollment occurred at both two-year and
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Total Fall Enrollment in U.S. Postsecondary Institutions by Race/Ethnicity: Selected Years, 1980–2004. 1980
1984
1990
1995
2000
2004
All students 12,087,000 12,235,000 13,818,600 14,261,781 15,312,300 17,272,044 White 9,833,000 9,815,000 10,722,500 10,311,243 10,462,100 10,641,522 African American 1,107,000 1,076,000 1,247,000 1,473,672 1,730,300 2,030,542 Hispanic 472,000 535,000 782,400 1,093,839 1,461,800 1,679,924 Asian American 286,000 390,000 572,400 797,359 978,200 1,013,011 American Indian 84,000 84,000 102,800 131,304 151,200 166,228 Foreign Students 305,000 335,000 391,500 454,364 528,700 589,607 Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), Fall Enrollment Survey, 1980–2004 (analysis by authors).
four-year institutions; the number of minority students at four-year institutions increased by 1.5 million students, compared to 1.4 million students at two-year institutions. Changes in the size and composition of the U.S. population were not the only national changes affecting postsecondary enrollments during between 1980 and 2005. Changes in the enrollment of minority student in postsecondary education in the United States occurred during a time of tremendous economic and institutional change that also impacted white students. Despite several periods of decline, enrollment in U.S. postsecondary institutions increased by 38 percent between 1980 and 2004. This growth in enrollment is not likely the result of any one event but rather the result of a confluence of changes during this period. The ability and desire of students to pursue postsecondary education is typically related to a variety of institutional, economic, and national policies such as cost of attendance (tuition, fees, housing, and board), financial aid availability, local or national economic conditions, and rate of return on a college education. All of these factors, while not necessarily a direct correlation, set the context for changing postsecondary enrollments. Indeed, as Johnes (1993) put it, ‘‘the links between the labour market and the demand for education are complex. Signals are transferred from one market to the other imperfectly, and are subject to lags.’’
The Battle for Access to Selective Institutions The expansion of access to postsecondary education in the United States is related to a variety of factors, but most notably, changes in the national
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economy and student financial aid. For minorities the increase in access is also related to governmental and legal efforts to end racial discrimination in college admissions. The effort to increase minority access at selective public and private four-year institutions during this same period took critical steps with a legal ruling in 1978. In 1978 the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke that established a national policy for the practice of affirmative action in college admissions at public and private institutions. Alan Bakke filed suit claiming the admission policy of the Medical School at the University of California, Davis (UC-Davis) discriminated against him because he was white. UC-Davis had an affirmative action policy for admissions that reserved sixteen of the hundred seats in the entering class for disadvantaged members of certain minority groups. The Supreme Court issued two historical rulings in this case: first, the Court ruled that the admission policy of UC-Davis medical school was not permissible under the law, and second, the Court ruled that the use of race was permissible under certain circumstances. The Court said that racial classifications must serve compelling governmental interests and the proposed policy must be closely related to the compelling interest (Anderson, 2001). The ruling in Bakke set a legal precedence and to some a mandate to expand access for non-white students to selective and elite public and private postsecondary institutions. Only a very small number of four-year institutions in the United States are highly selective and considered elite, however the importance of this small group of institutions is mostly due to their national and international stature as pathways to local, national, and international leadership positions in business, politics, and legal and medical professions. Public flag-ship research universities, such as the University of Virginia and the University of Michigan, and highly selective private research and liberal arts institutions, such as Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania, and Amherst College, are generally thought of as elite institutions. Most selective colleges and universities have limited their growth, making them not subject to the type of enrollment growth and demographic change seen throughout the rest of higher education. In 1976, prior to the ruling in Bakke, few African Americans attended selective colleges and universities that were not historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Of the more than 1 millions African American college students in 1976, only 9 percent of all college students, only about 400,000 attended four-year non-HBCU colleges and universities. Nearly 200,000 attended HBCUs and the remainder attended public two-year institutions (Wilson, 1982). In 1964, the United States Congress
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passed the Civil Rights Act. Title VI of this law was intended to provide equal educational opportunity to African Americans by forcing public postsecondary institutions to end racial segregation and discrimination. Many public postsecondary institutions maintained a legacy of discrimination against African Americans. Previous laws and legal rulings allowed such unfair treatment if the state offered separate institutions for the discriminated group. The Civil Rights Act was the first major effort by the federal government to override state laws that discriminated against African Americans. After 1964, some progress was made and many public postsecondary institutions ended stated admissions policies that discriminated against African Americans. However, many replaced explicit discriminatory policies, de jure segregation, with de facto discriminatory policies. De facto discriminatory policies appeared race-neutral, but in reality limited access of African Americans. An example of de jure segregation is a written policy of not admitting Black students. A de facto segregation policy would replace the written policy of not admitting Black students with admissions criteria that was guaranteed to result in something similar, e.g., requiring a minimum standardized test score on a test that is not meant to be used to determine student ability to succeed in college. In 1973, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia ruled in Adams v. Richardson that the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare order public postsecondary institutions in the ten southern states that continued to discriminate against African Americans develop plans with affirmative action to remedy the vestiges of past discrimination (Adams v. Richardson, 1973).4 Following the Bakke ruling affirmative action in college admissions remained unchallenged until 1995. In July 1995, after a year of debates, protest, and national media attention, the Board of Regents of the University of California System led by Governor Pete Wilson, voted to end affirmative action in the admissions process at its institutions. The attention Wilson brought to the issue of affirmative action helped generate financial support for a ballot initiative in California to end all affirmative action by government entities. In November 1996, 55 percent of California voters voted for Proposition 209, which banned the use of race as a factor in college admissions and state hiring (Pusser, 1999). Also in 1996, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled in Hopwood v. Texas that the University of Texas could no longer use race in its admissions process. This ruling did not directly impact many other institutions because the Fifth Circuit only has jurisdiction in three states: Mississippi,
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Texas, and Louisiana. The greatest impact of the Hopwood decision was to encourage conservative groups, like the Center for Individual Rights (CIR), to file similar suits in other states. Soon after the Hopwood decision, CIR filed suit against the University of Michigan and the University of Washington Law School. The case against the University of Michigan eventually reached the U.S. Supreme Court in 2003. In 2003, the Supreme Court issued its second ruling related to affirmative action in college admissions. The Court ruled on two cases involving the University of Michigan, Grutter v. Bollinger, which involved the law school, and Gratz v. Bollinger, which involved the undergraduate admissions policy. In Gratz v. Bollinger the Court ruled against the University of Michigan’s undergraduate admissions policy because the Court thought the policy placed too much emphasis on race in the selection process. In Grutter v. Bollinger, the Court ruled in favor of the use of race in the admissions process at the university’s law school. The two rulings made clear that within strict limitations the use of race in college admissions was permissible because racial diversity serves a compelling government interest (Schmidt, 2003).
AMERICAN HIGHER EDUCATION TODAY Through all the population changes the United States has developed into one of the largest and most diverse systems of postsecondary education in the world. Today there are 4,300 accredited, degree-granting postsecondary institutions in the United States. These institutions consist of a mixture of schools of varying size, unique missions, and scope. Using broad categories, there are four major types of institutions in the United States: private notfor-profit four-year schools (36 percent of institutions), public two-year schools (25 percent of institutions), private for-profit schools (21 percent of institutions), and public four-year schools (15 percent of institutions).5 Public four-year institutions are the smallest sector in number of institutions; however this sector consists of many large institutions. As a result public four-year schools enroll 39 percent of college students in the United States. In the fall of 2004, more than 17.2 million persons were enrolled in postsecondary institutions in the United States.6 The majority of these persons were enrolled in undergraduate programs and courses (14.8 million). The majority of undergraduates in the United States are white (62 percent) while minority and foreign students make up 30 percent and
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EUGENE L. ANDERSON AND BRYAN COOK African American 12% Hispanic 11%
Asian American 6%
White(nonHispanic) 62%
American Indian 1% Foreign Students 2%
Race/ethnicity Unknown 6%
Fig. 3. Undergraduate Enrollment in the United States by Race/Ethnicity and Nationality: Fall 2004. Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), Fall Enrollment Survey, 2004 (analysis by authors).
2 percent of enrollment, respectively (Fig. 3).7 Undergraduate students in the United States are not homogenous 18- to 24-year-olds attending in similar patterns. Women make up more than half of undergraduates (57 percent). The majority of undergraduates are under the age of 25, but a large percentage, 39 percent, are aged 25 and older. Because so many undergraduates are older students, it is no surprise that 32 percent of all undergraduates are married and/or have children. The majority of undergraduate students attend on less than a full-time, full-year basis, 54 percent (American Council on Education, 2005). Because postsecondary education institutions in the United States vary in selectivity, mission, and cost, it is not surprising that the enrollment pattern of minority students varies from white students. Among the nearly 15 million undergraduate students, more than half (56 percent) are enrolled at four-year institutions. However, the majority of Hispanic (56 percent) students attend two-year postsecondary institutions (Table 3). In addition to being the least likely to attend two-year institutions, white students are nearly twice as likely to attend doctoral/research institutions as African American and Hispanic students.
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Table 3.
All Students White African American Hispanic Race/ ethnicity unknown Asian American American Indian Foreign Students
Total Fall Undergraduate Enrollment in U.S. Postsecondary Institutions by Race/Ethnicity and Sector: 2004. Total
Public 4-Year
Private Notfor-Profit 4-Year
Public 2-Year
Private for-Profit
Other
14,780,636 9,162,653 100.0% 1,808,724 100.0% 1,553,201 100.0% 918,296 100.0%
5,407,238 3,580,017 39.1% 602,490 33.3% 453,033 29.2% 252,960 27.5%
2,347,117 1,554,509 17.0% 263,986 14.6% 137,501 8.9% 189,676 20.7%
6,243,347 3,691,397 40.3% 797,901 44.1% 869,844 0.5600331 332,607 36.2%
740,684 313,832 3.4% 137,302 7.6% 88,932 5.7% 139,786 15.2%
42,250 22,898 0.2% 7,045 0.4% 3,891 0.3% 3,267 0.4%
872,535 100.0% 151,829 100.0% 313,392 100.0%
344,579 39.5% 55,067 36.3% 119,090 38.0%
111,392 12.8% 15,013 9.9% 75,039 23.9%
388,824 44.6% 73,566 48.5% 89,205 28.5%
25,419 2.9% 6,190 4.1% 29,223 9.3%
2,321 0.3% 1,993 1.3% 835 0.3%
Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), Fall Enrollment Survey, 2004 (analysis by authors).
Enrollment patterns also differ significantly by income, which partially explains the differences that exist by race/ethnicity. Although there are many ways to categorize income, this chapter categorizes persons into three income groups which adjust based on family size, especially number of dependent children: low-income (persons with family incomes twice the national poverty level or less), middle-income (persons with family income more than twice the national poverty level and less than five times the poverty level), and upper-income (persons with family incomes higher than five times the poverty level).8 Low-income persons are the only income group with less than half of its students at four-year schools. Half of lowincome students attend two-year colleges, compared to only 42 percent of their middle-income peers, and 35 percent of high-income students (American Council on Education, 2005). Cost and accessibility are probably the main reasons why more low-income persons are likely to enroll at twoyear institutions. Within each racial/ethnic group, low-income students are most likely to enroll in two-year colleges (Table 4). Although a large
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Table 4. Undergraduate Enrollment by Institution Level, Income, and Race/Ethnicity: 2003. Income level
Total
White
African American
Hispanic
Asian American
American Indian
Low Middle High Low Middle High Low Middle High Low Middle High Low Middle High Low Middle High
Institution Level 4-year (%)
2-year (%)
Less than 2-year (%)
46.2 56.2 64.4 50.7 58.5 66.2 41.5 54.4 61.7 36.1 43.2 49.7 51.0 54.1 61.6 39.7 53.8 62.5
50.4 42.2 34.5 47.1 40.2 32.9 53.9 43.5 36.0 57.4 54.0 47.5 46.8 44.2 37.5 58.2 45.1 36.7
3.4 1.6 1.1 2.3 1.4 0.9 4.7 2.1 2.4 6.5 2.8 2.9 2.3 1.7 0.9 2.2 1.1 0.9
Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. National Postsecondary Study Aid Study, 2003–2004 (analysis by authors).
percentage of high-income Hispanics are enrolled at two-year postsecondary institutions, 47 percent, the percentage remains significantly lower than that percentage of middle- and low-income Hispanics. The college participation rates for all racial/ethnic groups have increased since 1980, but there remains a 5.6 percentage point gap between the college participation rate of whites and African Americans. The college participation rate among Hispanics is 8.5 percentage points less than African Americans. Research has shown that what appears to be a black–white gap in college participation is mostly a difference by income (Adelman, 2004). Using socioeconomic status (SES), Adelman (2006) found that nearly all (93.4 percent) of high school graduates in the highest SES group entered college within 8 years after graduating from high school (Table 5). The college participation rate declines for each group down the SES ladder, bottoming out in a college participation rate of 53.6 percent among students from the lowest SES quintile.9 Lower-income persons attend postsecondary education institutions at a significantly lower rate than higher income persons for a myriad of reasons.
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Table 5. Percent of High School 12th Graders Who Entered Postsecondary Education by End of Cohort Study: 1982 and 1992. Socioeconomic Status (SES) Quintile 81st–100th percentile (high) 61st–80th 41st–60th 21st–40th 1st–20th percentile (low)
Class of 1982
Class of 1992
Increase in Access
1982–1993
1992–2000
Class of 1982 to class of 1992
87.7
93.8
6.1
72.6 64.4 54.0 43.0
86.7 77.0 65.3 53.6
14.1 12.6 11.3 10.6
Source: Adelman, C. (2004). Principal Indicators of Student Academic Histories in Postsecondary Education, 1972–2000 (Table 2.4, p. 24). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education.
The lack of experience in postsecondary education among most low-income adults creates an information vacuum for their children. Numerous studies show a correlation between college attendance and parental education, involvement, and encouragement (Cabrera & La Nasa, 2000; King, 1996; McDonough, 1997; Stage & Rushin, 1993; St. John, 2002). Parents who did not attend college do not have the experience and usually lack the information to assist their child in preparing for postsecondary education. The lack of this experience may also lead to less encouragement because of a lack of understanding about all the benefits of a college education. In addition to parental encouragement and support, students also are impacted by support from peers and counselors (King, 1996). Family and friends, especially older persons can provide valuable information and encouragement to students. Low-income students residing in predominantly low-income communities will have limited exposure to adults and peers with extensive postsecondary experience and information. As stated previously, financial aid is a major factor. Lower rates of attendance among lower-income persons is also partially due to college cost, concerns about forgone earnings, and the perception of limited financial resources available to pay for college (Kane, 1999). Finally, lower-income persons have less access to quality primary and secondary education that can lead to postsecondary enrollment. The poor quality of primary and secondary education that many lowincome students receive in the United States does not adequately prepare them for postsecondary education (Adelman, 2006). Because funding for school districts is based primarily on local property tax revenue, districts that consist of high percentages of higher income persons have more funding at their disposal for their public schools and the opposite is true for districts
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with high percentages of lower-income persons. School districts with lower amounts of funding suffer from various problems related to their limited economic resources: teachers with less experience, larger class sizes, and less library books and computers (U.S. GAO, 2002). School districts that serve lower-income families are usually operating with less than adequate funding, the schools suffer from teacher shortages, classroom overcrowding, deteriorating classroom facilities, and limited course offerings. Many of the schools in school districts serving large numbers of lower-income families fail to meet minimum state proficiency levels in core subjects like reading and math (Center on Education Policy, 2006). At the secondary level, many of these schools do not have the resources to offer higher-level courses that can better prepare students for postsecondary education. The difference in access to important higher level courses is apparent by income; 72 percent of students in the highest income quintile attended high schools that offered calculus, compared to only 44 percent of students in the lowest income quintile (Adelman, 2006). The effect of these educational inequalities on enrollment in postsecondary education are tremendous. Today in the United States more Americans have access to higher education than ever before. However, despite gains in access for all groups, significant gaps in access between whites and persons of color persist. However, much, but not all, of this disparity is related to income and social class. The fact that lower-income students lack the preparation, resources, and support to pursue postsecondary education at rates similar to more affluent students is an acknowledgment of a nation still struggling to fulfill the promise of equal opportunity.
The Access Challenge The challenge of access facing the less than affluent will persist because of a lack of increase in government support for higher education. American postsecondary institutions are facing a funding crisis from one of their largest sources of funding. Public postsecondary institutions receive the majority of their funding from the federal and state governments. The federal government contributes 40 percent of total revenue at public fouryear institutions and state governments contribute about 36 percent. The percentage of revenue from states has declined significantly since 1980 when states contributed 45.6 percent of total revenue (U.S. Department of Education, 2005). Another way to understand the decline in state support for higher education is to look at state postsecondary educational
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appropriations per full-time equivalent students (FTE).10 In 2005, state governments appropriated less money to postsecondary education per FTE than in 1980, despite the rising cost of educational equipment and facilities such as computers and laboratories (Fig. 4). The decline in state support for public higher education is not capricious and arbitrary but usually the result of state economic conditions that limit fiscal resources (State Higher Education Executive Officers, 2005). The decrease in state funding per FTE is correlated with an increase in tuition between 1980 and 2005. In most years there is an inverse relationship between annual percentage changes in tuition and fees and state educational appropriations per FTE students. When the state appropriation per FTE decreased, tuition and fees increased. As tuitions increased to account for declines in state funding, student financial aid became increasingly important. In the first half of the 1980s, student loan programs saw considerable growth, while federal grant programs, such as the Pell Grant, declined in real value (McPhearson & Schapiro, 1998).11 From 1983 to 2003, loans per FTE increased by more than $4,000 (in constant dollars), from $1,647 to $5,840. During this same period, grant aid per FTE also saw considerable growth, from $1,660 to $3,986. Despite funding increases, the largest federal grant program, the Pell grant, actually lost buying power
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(College Board, 2005). Student financial aid from non-federal sources also increased during the 1980s. According to McPhearson and Schapiro (1991), ‘‘from 1975 to 1989, state programs grew by 53 percent, while institutionbased aid . . . grew by 78 percent in real terms from 1981 to 1989’’ (p. 29). Research on the effect of rising tuition and changes in student financial aid suggest that the impact was hardest on lower-income students, but did not adversely affect the enrollment patterns of the majority of Americans above the lowest income category. Investments in student financial aid for lowerincome students softened the negative impact of rising cost of attendance; however, the gap in the college-going rate between low-income students and high-income students widened in states with higher public tuitions (McPhearson & Schapiro, 1998; Kane, 1995). Any such college-going rate gap between low-income and high-income students is going to have a greater impact on persons of color, because African Americans, Hispanics, and American Indians are more likely to be low-income than whites. Although many public colleges and universities benefited from improvements in economic conditions in many states, the economic downturn that began in 2007 will likely lead to significant cuts in state funding. Increases in tuition are making a college education less affordable for some U.S. students, especially low-income students. Low-income students rely on the Pell Grant program as a major tool in accessing college. While the number of students utilizing the Pell Grant has increased significantly, the value of the Pell Grant has dropped sharply over the past 20 years. From 1980 to 2003, the percentage of the cost of attendance that the maximum Pell Grant award covered at public two-year postsecondary institutions declined from 99 percent to 68 percent.12 At four-year public institutions the buying power of the maximum Pell Grant dropped by 39 percentage points to cover only 38 percent of the cost of attendance. Over the same period of time the value of the maximum Pell Grant award at four-year private institutions declined from 36 percent of cost of attendance to a mere 16 percent.13 Access to postsecondary education among low-income persons is also affected by lack of information about the availability of financial aid. Nearly 60 percent of low-income students and their parents reported not having enough information about how to pay for college (Sallie Mae Fund, 2003).
CONCLUSION The relationship between globalization and education is unquestionable. The ability of a countries citizens’ to adapt to new and emerging technology is
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directly correlated to that countries ability to provide its citizens adequate access to postsecondary education. A constantly changing demographic population has put a relatively unfamiliar strain on the U.S. education system to meet the educational needs of its population. Population growth among young Americans of color will likely force an expansion of enrollments at all types of postsecondary institutions. In the coming decade postsecondary education will reflect the increasing racial/ethnic diversity of the nation. As selective elite institutions adjust their recruitment of minority students, the number of students of color at elite institutions should begin to increase. National and local efforts to raise the quality of primary and secondary education provided to low-income students if successful should increase the percentage of low-income students attending postsecondary education. However, if government support for postsecondary education does not increase, then the ability of the United States to remain competitive in a global, increasing technological economy becomes severely hampered. Access for low-income students will become even more of a pressing issue in the next decade because most of the population growth among potential college students will be among minority students who are more likely than whites to be from low-income families. The challenge of globalization may serve as a positive force on postsecondary educational opportunity for Americans from all racial and economic backgrounds. Today governmental and business leaders in the United States realize the importance of postsecondary education, especially in science, technology, engineering, and math fields, in order for the nation to maintain its place in the global economy. The U.S. government recently passed legislation aimed at increasing the number of students majoring in science and technology fields (Frist, 2006). According to a survey of 100 top science and technology companies in the United States, most of the leaders of these companies fear that a shortage of Americans trained in science and technology will jeopardize the nation’s standing in the global economy (Bayer Corporation, 2006). This heightened awareness has already resulted to special funding (both governmental and corporate) targeted at increasing the production of scientists, engineers, computer programmers, and mathematicians. Postsecondary education enrollments will continue to increase unless the United States is unable to contain the emerging issues discussed in this chapter, which could stymie this growth. The past 24 years in American higher education proved that enrollments can grow even when the college-age population declines. The expansion of college access beyond the most affluent students benefited postsecondary education by preventing enrollment declines. More importantly, the
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expansion of college access in the United States benefited the nation and allowed for more people from diverse backgrounds to obtain a higher education and succeed in the changing U.S. economy at the end of the 20th century. Future developments in U.S. higher education will once again depend heavily on the expansion of access, the changing nature of the economy and the global marketplace.
NOTES 1. It is important to distinguish between formal education, such as a course at a college or university and work-related training. Many manufacturing jobs require considerable training, for example, but do not require formal education. 2. In this chapter ‘‘white’’ refers only to white, non-Hispanic persons. 3. It should be noted that the term Hispanic refers to all people of Spanish heritage from Mexico, Central and South America and the Caribbean, no matter their race. For the purposes of this chapter, however, the Hispanic population is included in discussions of minority populations. 4. States listed in the Adams ruling: Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Florida, Arkansas, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Maryland, and Virginia. 5. In this chapter the term ‘‘four-year’’ refers to institutions that grant at least a bachelor’s degree and the term ‘‘two-year’’ refers to associate’s degree-granting institutions. 6. The U.S. Department of Education collects enrollment data for the fall semester/quarter of each year. An enrollment estimate for the entire 12 months academic year includes persons who were not enrolled for the fall semester/quarter count, but enrolled some time during the academic year. This estimate is called an unduplicated 12-month headcount. For academic year 2003-2004 the unduplicated 12-month headcount was 23.5 million students. 7. The remaining share of enrollment consists of persons of unclassified race/ethnicity. 8. The national poverty level is a sliding income scale based on family size. For example, in 2002, the poverty level for a family of four (including two children under the age of 18) was $18,244. So, for this size family low-income equals $36,388 (or less), middle-income equals $36,38991,220 and upper-income equals more than $91,220. For a single-headed household with only one child under the age of 18, the income ranges would adjust downward. 9. These college participation rates are significantly higher than the overall rate of 45 percent mentioned earlier in the chapter because the rates in Table 5 is based on enrollment in college within 8 years after high school (for students who completed high school). The 45 percent rate is a one-time snapshot of persons aged 18 to 24 years old. 10. When discussing funding for postsecondary education it is important to connect funding to student enrollment. In pure dollars state funding for postsecondary education has increased significantly over time. However, because of rising enrollment, the funding increases are actually declines. 11. The Pell Grant program is a federally funded need-based grant. It is the largest single grant program in the United States.
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12. Cost of attendance includes tuition and necessary fees at all institutions and room and board at four-year institutions. 13. ‘‘Students at lower-priced institutions could only receive grants equivalent to no more than a fixed percentage of college prices . . . After 1985, when the cap was raised from 50 percent to 60 percent, only students at public two-year institutions (and other similarly low-priced institutions) were affected. The 1992 reauthorization of the Higher Education Act revoked this limitation’’ (King, 2003, p. 5).
REFERENCES Adams v. Richardson, 356 F. Supp. 92 (D.C. 1973). Adelman, C. (2004). Principal indicators of student academic histories in postsecondary education, 1972–2000. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education. Adelman, C. (2006). The toolbox revisited: Paths to degree completion from high school through college. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education. American Council on Education. (2005). College students today: A national portrait. Washington, DC. Anderson, E. L. (2001). Johnson v. board of regents: The controversy over standards and meritocracy in American higher education. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA. Baum, S., & Payea, K. (2004). Education pays 2004: The benefits of higher education for individuals and society. Washington, DC: College Board. Bayer Corporation. (2006). Bayer facts of science education XII (Retrieved May 10, 2006, from http://www.bayerus.com/msms/news/facts.cfm?mode ¼ detail&id ¼ summary06). Cabrera, A. F., & La Nasa, S. M. (2000). Understanding the college choice process. In: A. F. Cabrera & S. M. La Nasa (Eds), Understanding the college choice of disadvantaged students: New directions for institutional research (Vol. 107, pp. 5–22). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Center on Education Policy. (2006). From the capital to the classroom: Year 4 of the no child left behind act (Retrieved May 10, 2006, from http://www.cep-dc.org/nclb/Year4/CEP-NCLB -Report-4.pdf). College Board. (2005). Trends in student aid 2005. Washington, DC. Friedman, T. (2005). The world is flat: A brief history of the twenty-first century. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Frist, B. (2006). Why we need the SMART program [Editorial]. Inside higher education. Retrieved May 5, 2006, from http://insidehighered.com/views/2006/01/26/frist Hecker, D. E. (2005). Occupational employment projections to 2014. Monthly labor review online, 128. U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved May 1, 2006, from http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2005/11/contents.htm Hobbs, F., & Stoops, N. (2002). Demographic trends in the 20th Century. U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000 Special Reports, Series CENSR-4. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. Johnes, G. (1993). The economics of education. London: Macmillan Press. Kane, T. (1999). The price of admission: Rethinking how Americans pay for college. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution/Russell Sage Foundation.
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Kane, T. J. (1995). Rising public college tuition and college entry: How well do public subsidies promote access to college? NBER Working Papers 5164. National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. King, J. (1996). The decision to go to college: Attitudes and experiences associated with college attendance among low-income students. Washington, DC: College Board. King, J. (2003). 2003 status report on the Pell grant program. Washington, DC: American Council on Education. Levy, F., & Murnane, R. J. (2004). The new division of labor: How computers are creating the next job market. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. McDonough, P. (1997). Choosing colleges: How social class and schools structure opportunity. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. McPhearson, M. S., & Schapiro, M. O. (1991). Keeping college affordable: Government and educational opportunity. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution. McPhearson, M. S., & Schapiro, M. O. (1998). The student aid game: Meeting need and rewarding talent in American higher education. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Pusser, B. (1999). The contest over affirmative action at the university of California: Theory and politics of contemporary higher education policy. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA. Sallie Mae Fund. (2003). Strengthening our commitment to access: National consumer study of parent and student financial aid awareness. Unpublished study. Retrieved April 5, 2006, from http://www.thesalliemaefund.org/news/news_nr184.html Schmidt, P. (2003). Affirmative action survives, and so does the debate. The Chronicle of Higher Education (Special Report), 49(43), S1. Slow Unemployment Decline Foreseen By Job Experts. (1982). New York Times, Secn. 12 (Sp. Secn. pg. 1, col. 1), 1. St. John, E. P. (2002). The access challenge: Rethinking the causes of the new inequality (Available from EDRS, ED 467 615). Stage, F. K., & Rushin, P. W. (1993). A combined model of student predisposition to college and persistence in college. Journal of College Student Development, 34, 276–281. State Higher Education Executive Officers. (2005). State higher education finance FY 2005. Denver, CO. U.S. Census Bureau. (1984). Use of computers at home, school, and work by persons 18 years and older (October, Table 4). Population Division, Education & Social Stratification Branch. U.S. Census Bureau. (2003). Computer and Internet Use in the United States (October, Table 7). Population Division, Education & Social Stratification Branch. U.S. Census Bureau. (2004a). Current population survey, annual average total employment data 1983–2003 (analysis by author). U.S. Census Bureau. (2004b). Current population survey, Table PINC-04, march supplement 1981 to 2002, and 2003 annual social and economic supplement (analysis by author). U.S. Census Bureau. (2005). Current population survey, school enrollment–social and economic characteristics of students (Table 1) (analysis by author). Retrieved March 15, 2006 from http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/school/cps2004.html U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO). (2002). School finance: Per-Pupil spending differences between selected inner city and suburban schools varied by metropolitan area (GAO Publication GAO-03-234). Retrieved March 10, 2006, from http://www.gao.gov/new. items/d03234.pdf Wilson, R. (1982). First annual status report on minorities in higher education, 1982–1983. Washington, DC: American Council on Education.
INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION IN A GLOBAL CONTEXT David Urias ABSTRACT This chapter examines the complex issues surrounding international education of foreign student study in the United States and the role such issues play in global societies. Analysis centers on the rationale surrounding international education, its development, its protagonists, and antagonists. In effect, who gains and what are the externalities of international education. The chapter further discusses international education as far more than a study abroad program for it encompasses a host of complex social, political, and economic variables that have impact, not only for schools, but for global societies, in a climate of global tension and uncertainty. While data on foreign student study in the United States complements the study’s analysis, larger focus will be upon the international dimensions of foreign student study. Summary discussion concludes the chapter as well as projections with respect to international student enrollment across the globe.
Given the context of heightened global conflict post-September 11th, more government regulations are coming into the forefront with not only the potential of reducing international student enrollment in U.S. higher education institutions, but with implications beyond the educational milieu. Power, Voice and the Public Good: Schooling and Education in Global Societies Advances in Education in Diverse Communities: Research Policy and Praxis, Volume 6, 307–340 Copyright r 2008 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited All rights of reproduction in any form reserved ISSN: 1479-358X/doi:10.1016/S1479-358X(08)06012-9
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The extent to which certain international students from particular countries of origin and who practice a particular religion may experience restrictions on U.S. study, may have major foreign policy implications along social, political, and economic dimensions. To date, there have not been any previous assessments on the impact(s) of federal regulations on international student enrollment. Thus, an analysis of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRAIRA) incorporated in current initiatives at different types of post-secondary institutions and how policies are operationalized at those institutions may enlighten the work of those who are attempting once again to bring the national government more vigorously into the support of international education. Moreover, there are voids in the literature and lack of research studying governments, policy implementation, international policy, and global conflict. This chapter attempts to illustrate a lessoning influence of U.S. dominance in the higher education international student market, given the context of current global conflict(s). Finally, this is a chapter of currency, i.e., its major significance is that it touches upon the dichotomy of national security versus open borders. Also, with respect to its currency, individuals are now sending out national e-mails to find resources and information on Muslim enrollment trends at U.S. colleges and universities.
BACKGROUND It was during World War II (WWII) in which the inability of the U.S. Armed Forces to communicate with its allies or other nations in any language other then English was ‘‘not only embarrassing, it was dangerous’’ (Castellanos, 1983, p. 47). The decline of modern foreign language studies, which started just before WWI did not end until 1948 when only 14% of American high school students were enrolled in foreign language studies. Made suddenly aware of the danger of its ‘‘linguistic homogeneity,’’ the U.S. government quickly organized the Army Specialized Training Program for the purpose of teaching selected military personnel by the most intensive methods on how to understand and speak other languages (Castellanos, 1983, p. 48). Thus, it became clear that if the United States was to maintain its position as a major world power, Americans would need to become better educated about other languages and cultures. Two other historical events were to cause Americans to reevaluate existing foreign language policies in the American school system. The first
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was the launching of the Sputnik satellite by the Soviet Union, a country previously considered technologically backward by U.S. standards. The second event was Fidel Castro’s assumption of power in Cuba, an event that initiated a flood of immigration of educated middle and upper class Cubans from their homeland to the United States; ‘‘an event that probably had the greatest impact on linguistic minorities in the U.S.’’ (Castellanos, 1983, p. 62). In addition, a communist presence 90 miles from the continental United States was perceived as a threat to national security (Ambert & Melendez, 1985). In recent years, the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigations) has warned Congress that state sponsors of terrorism have been funding students to come to the United States, where many are studying technology-related fields that may contribute to foreign weapons of mass destruction programs. In general, the INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service, which is now Citizenship and Immigration Services – a subset of DHS – the Department of Homeland Security) has routinely been unable to locate individuals whom it wants to deport, some of them for criminal violations. After 9/11, Former Attorney General John Ashcroft acknowledged that the FBI and INS, in cooperation with local law enforcement authorities had been unable to locate more than 1,000 foreign students from Arab and Muslim countries, about one in five of those sought for interviews related to the terrorist attacks (Borjas, 2002a, 2002b). Essentially, immigration officials have historically devoted insufficient attention to international students attending schools in the United States (Vestal, 1994) and the INS paper-based tracking system was inefficient, inaccurate, and unreliable. In 1983, the INS implemented the Student and Schools System (STSC). The system contained basic information on INS certified schools and the foreign students who entered the United States with the required Form I-20 issued by these institutions. Whether or not a foreign student actually enrolled in the school or the academic status of a student was never reported. Instead, the INS only required certified schools to manually collect data on international students attending their school. Data included: names, addresses, birthdates, visa classifications, student status, courses of study, academic disciplinary actions taken, and dates and reasons for termination. Schools were not required to regularly report this information to the INS, but were required to provide it when requested to do so. As a result, although the INS knew how many international students entered the United States, it was unable to keep track of them to ensure that they complied with their visa requirements.
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Shortly after the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, it was discovered that one of those terrorists was in the United States on an expired student visa. This discovery resulted in the formation of a multi-agency task force in 1995 with the responsibility of reviewing the INS process for monitoring international students. On September 30, 1996, Congress enacted IIRAIRA (The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act), which mandated that the INS develop an electronic system to collect foreign student information from colleges and universities. In June of 1997, the INS implemented a pilot project, the Coordinated Interagency Partnership Regulating International Students (CIPRIS) in order to test the concept and feasibility of an electronic reporting system. Although the CIPRIS pilot project officially ended in October 1999, the project continued operating as a prototype pending the development of a nationwide system. Subsequent to the pilot project, the design of the new system changed into an Internet-based system. In July 2001, CIPRISs name was changed to SEVIS (Student Exchange Visitor Information System) to reflect its difference in design. CIPRIS and then SEVIS encountered opposition from some higher education association lobbying groups, such as NAFSA (National Association of Foreign Student Affairs: Association of International Educators), who primarily objected, not to the tracking of international students, but to the imposition of an international studentprocessing fee. Because the INS was relying on fee collections to fund SEVIS, the delays in establishing the fee process affected its development and implementation (DOJ, 2003). The 9/11 terrorist attacks drew renewed attention to international students when it was determined that several of the terrorists were in the United States on student visas, had recently changed their visa status to a student visa, or had attended flight schools. On October 26, 2001, Congress enacted the USA PATRIOT Act (PL107-56), which required the INS to fully implement SEVIS by January 1, 2003. The law also mandated that the INS include information on each international student’s port of entry, date of entry, and it expanded the types of schools required to participate in SEVIS to include flight schools, language training schools, and vocational schools. Congress only provided $38.8 million in appropriations to fully fund the SEVIS implementation (DOJ, 2003). The Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2001 (PL107-173), enacted on May 8, 2002, required additional information on foreign students to be electronically reported, specifically, the issuance of the Form I-20, the issuance of the visa, and the registration and enrollment of the foreign student at the institution. This law also required schools to
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report to the INS the failure of an international student to enroll or begin studying in an INS approved school (DOJ, 2003). The most recent piece of legislation is the REAL ID Act (May 7, 2005), which is part of the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Defense, the Global War on Terror, and Tsunami Relief of 2005. It includes new requirements for driver’s licenses and state identification cards. Specifically, the law ties eligibility for a driver’s license to the maintenance of proper immigration status. For international students, this means that their license must expire at the same time his/her authorized period of stay ends – which typically has no end date. Thus, students will have to renew their licenses every year. States are now required to VERIFY documentation provided to determine legal presence in the United States. To achieve this, states must enter into Memos of Understanding by 9/11/05 with DHS to utilize the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program. Another provision in the law is DHS is given the power to pre-empt any federal or state law to construct border fences with limited judicial review. Present efforts to enable international students to attend U.S. universities have not been ‘‘proceeding quite as smoothly’’ (Rubin, 2002, p. 19) as one would have hoped. And this continues present day. Further, security measures recently established to protect the nation from terrorism have born the consequence of increasing ‘‘visa hold-ups or denials’’ on international students applying for visas to study in the United States (Rubin, 2002, p. 19). These delays/denials have focused on but are not limited to new and returning Muslim male students. The result is an erosion of foreign enrollments at several universities and English language programs (Bollag, 2004, 2005; Brown, 2005; Field, 2005). Inward flows of international students to the United States are more uncertain in this post-9/11 climate for the study abroad process has become more complicated for some groups of international students wanting to attend U.S. tertiary institutions (Koy, 2004; Harrison, 2002).
U.S. HIGHER EDUCATION AND GLOBALIZATION Currently, there is a growing awareness on U.S. campuses that higher education must teach its students more about the larger world in which they will live and work. U.S. tertiary educational institutions need to provide the knowledge necessary for students to have informed opinions about complex international problems and issues that will affect them.
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International students and exchange visitor programs are beneficial to the United States by increasing the knowledge and skills of its workforce. These students potentially boost worldwide appreciation for democracy and market-based economics and provide future world leaders with a first-hand exposure to America and Americans. At the same time, international education generates billions of dollars in economic activity every year (Open Doors, 2006). The most important benefits of international students and exchange visitors cannot be easily quantified; yet, it is assumed that such benefits lead to international understanding (HR: The INS Implementation, 2002). In the current political, economic, and social climate, the United States needs more and better efforts to enhance international understanding. One of the best ways to do this is via everyday classroom discussions that one finds on college and university campuses. Candid discussion enhances familiarity and familiarity leads to understanding. When international students and exchange visitors return home, they take with them a first-hand understanding of this country and its values. They are one aspect of globalization’s modus operandi for the transmission and exchange of knowledge. Indeed, some of America’s strongest supporters abroad are those who have spent time in this country. International students and visitors also bring knowledge and skills to U.S. classrooms, laboratories, and businesses. The sum total of their intellectual contributions is enormous. For example, the rapid developments in information technology that helped fuel the economic growth of the 1990s benefited immeasurably from international students and scholars from Southeast Asia who visited this country in the late 1980s (HR: The INS Implementation, 2002). In the same vein, a central feature of the advances in biomedical research that will pave the way for gains in the quality and length of life in the future are collaborative efforts between native and foreign-born researchers now taking place in thousands of American laboratories (HR: The INS Implementation, 2002). International students add diversity to college classrooms. For many native-born students, international students offer the first chance for a sustained friendship with someone born in another country. In the context of globalization, meaningful exposure to international students will better prepare American students to live and compete in the world economy. The term globalization may be defined in a variety of ways. A central feature of most definitions is the idea of a single inter-dependent world in which capital, technology, people, ideas, and cultural influences flow across borders and boundaries rather than being constrained for most purposes
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within nation-states or localities. The focus of globalization, defined in this broad manner, is therefore trans-national as well as inter-national in scope. It includes cross-border flows, which are largely autonomous from mediation through the institutions of the nation-state, e.g., electronic financial flows, communication on the internet, or the diffusion of popular culture, as well as cross-border flows that nation-states regulate in terms of trade, immigration, or international student education programs (Holton, 1997). Internationalization or international education, can be defined/ characterized as possessing a variety of aspects, such as: international linkages via inter-institutional connections, U.S. students’ study abroad programs, teaching and working abroad, international student and scholar exchanges, faculty exchanges, international visitors, foreign language training, corporate/university partnerships, and international development projects. Unfortunately, American students are not taking full advantage of exposure to internationalization efforts. An American Council on Education report (ACE, 2000, p. 2) states: ‘‘one global understanding measure concluded that only a very small proportion of American students command a level of knowledge necessary for even an adequate understanding of global situations and processes.’’ As a result, there are economic, political, and social consequences. During the 2004–2005 academic year, 564,766 international students studied in the United States (Open Doors, 2006). This reflects a .5% drop from the previous year’s 2.4% drop in enrollment since 2001 (Table 1). Table 1. Academic Year ’93–94 ’94–95 ’95–96 ’96–97 ’97–98 ’98–99 ’99–00 ’00–01 ’01–02 ’02–03 ’03–04 ’03–04 ’04–05 ’05–06
Percentage of Change in the Numbers of International Students. Number of International Students
Percentage Change Over Previous Year
449,749 452,653 453,787 457,984 481,280 490,933 514,723 547,867 582,996 586,323 572,509 572,509 565,039 564,766
2.5% 0.6% 0.3% 0.9% 5.1% 2.0% 4.5% 6.4% 6.4% 0.6% 2.4% 2.4 1.3 0.05
Source: Open Doors: Report on International Educational Exchange (2006).
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The following table highlights the top 20 sending countries and the percentage of change in students from the 2002–2003 to 2003–2004 academic year from the top 20 sending countries from which data was readily available. The leading host institutions by International Student Enrollment (2004–2005) are identified below in Table 2. To put these figures into perspective, look at Texas A&M University. This university is the fourth largest campus in the United States and currently ranked number 16 in the country for hosting 3,589 international students (8% of its total enrollment). The international student services offices at Texas A&M University has six full-time advisors responsible for immigration, personal, and some academic advising. Additionally, these advisors have other responsibilities, such as: responding to emergency situations (medical and/or legal), verifying that all international students have and maintain health insurance coverage while registered, as well as verifying the employment eligibility for those students seeking on-campus part-time employment. Furthermore, the office had over 22,000 walk-in appointments this past academic year – a number that does not reflect email or phone contacts with students, departments, and the outside community.
Table 2.
U.S. Colleges with the Largest Number of International Students, 2005–2006. College/University
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
University of Southern California Columbia University Purdue University, Main Campus New York University University of Texas at Austin University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign University of Michigan – Ann Arbor Boston University The Ohio State University, Main Campus SUNY-University at Buffalo University of California – Los Angeles University of Florida Cornell University University of Pennsylvania Harvard University Texas A & M University
# of International Students
% of Total Enrollment
6,881 5,575 5,540 5,502 5,395 4,904 4,649 4,542 4,476 4,072 3,979 3,749 3,697 3,689 3,669 3,589
27 23 14 10 10 12 11 15 9 15 11 7 19 16 19 9
Source: Open Doors: Report on International Educational Exchange (2006).
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POLITICAL IMPACTS In an era where many policymakers and economists worry about the huge trade deficit, international students help to reduce it. These economic calculations do not include the over 500,000 exchange visitors who come to the United States every year (Open Doors, 2006). Adding them would dramatically increase the economic impact that local communities realize from international visitors. In short, many believe the benefits of international students are unambiguous and overwhelming. It is not surprising then, that current President George W. Bush has said: ‘‘The U.S. benefits greatly from international students who study in our country.’’ Or that he has committed his Administration to ‘‘continue to foster and support international students’’ (HR: The INS Implementation, 2002, p. 14). Former Secretary of State Colin Powell stated that international education ‘‘encourages and sustains democratic practices, creates a cohort of future leaders who understand each other’s countries from the inside, and promotes long-term linkages between institutions here and abroad’’ (HR: The INS Implementation, 2002, p. 14). The list of foreign heads of state that have studied at an American college or university is long and distinguished, for examples: Philippines’ President Corazon Aquino, Israel’s Ehud Barak, the interim leader of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, and Alejandro Toledo, former president of Peru´ (Borjas, 2002a, 2002b; Harrison, 2002). There are another 46 current and 165 former heads of government and chiefs of state – 50 percent of the leadership of President Bush’s coalition against terrorism – that either studied in the United States or came as international visitors. The late Anwar Sadat, Prime Minister Tony Blair, Gerhard Schroeder, Margaret Thatcher – and so many others – come to mind. (Harrison, 2002, p. 2)
In addition, there are 28 Nobel Prize honorees, which include Kofi Annan, the United Nations Secretary General (Harrison, 2002). The State Department has concluded that fully one-half of the world leaders who agreed to support America’s war on terrorism first came to this country as an international student or exchange visitor.
ECONOMIC IMPACTS This does not mean that Americans can or should be comfortable with current procedures that govern international students and exchange visitors
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(HR: The INS Implementation, 2002). Not only do these international students pay taxes on the goods and services they purchase, but also, if allowed to work, these students pay federal and state income tax. The U.S. Commerce Department reports that during the 1999–2000 academic year, international education in the United States was the fifth-largest servicesector export (HR: The INS implementation, 2002, Open Doors, 2001). Financial contribution to the U.S. economy also includes cost of living expenses and in some cases, expenses associated with a spouse and/or dependents. Dependents’ expenditures by international students constitute approximately $462,000,000 (Open Doors, 2001). These students make a considerable contribution to local economies too. Looking at the State of Virginia as an example, as of the 2001–2002 academic year, there were 12,782 international students spending $121,480,000 in tuition and an additional $198,775,000 in living expenses and dependent expenditures. Total international student contribution to the State of Virginia, after subtracting U.S. support for financing their education, totaled $233,425,000 (Open Doors, 2001, p. 4). Tables 3–5 together identify the leading schools that host over 1,000 international students, the leading areas of study, and leading countries of origin for those international students studying in Pennsylvania. Although international student enrollment has declined post-9/11, the domestic economic benefits of these students are not trivial. According to IIEs Open Doors Report (2006), international students infused over $13 billion dollars into the overall U.S. economy. Of particular interest, the State of Pennsylvania ranks number 7 in the country in terms of numbers of international students with an approximate $626.9 million dollars input into the local economy (Fig. 1). In essence, an immediate consequence of federal policies governing international student study in the United States is a decrease in enrollment Table 3.
Top Pennsylvania Institutions with 1,000 or more International Students 2005–2006.
Institution University of Pennsylvania Penn State University – University Park Carnegie Mellon University Temple University University of Pittsburgh – Pittsburgh Campus
City
Total
Philadelphia University Park Pittsburgh Philadelphia Pittsburgh
3,689 3,199 2,602 1,847 1,618
Source: Open Doors: Report on International Educational Exchange (2006).
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Table 4.
Leading Fields of Study of International students in Pennsylvania.
Field of Study
% Total
Business & Management Engineering Math & Comp. Sci. Physical & Life Sci. Other
21.9 18.8 10.8 9.2 8.9
Source: Open Doors: Report on International Educational Exchange (2005).
Table 5.
Leading Country of Origin for International Students in the State.
Country of Origin India China, PRC Korea, Rep. of (South) Taiwan Canada
% Total
Total Number
15.0 12.0 9.9 4.5 4.1
3,364 2,698 2,214 999 921
Source: Open Doors: Report on International Educational Exchange (2006).
INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS IN PENNSYLVANIA 2004/05 (Rank # 7) ESTIMATED FOREIGN STUDENTS EXPENDITURE IN PENNSYLVANIA
22,418 (down 1.6%) $611,293,806
Fig. 1. Numbers of International Students and Expenditures in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Source: Open Doors: Report on International Educational Exchange (2006).
numbers (Bollag, 2004, 2005; Brown, 2005; Field, 2005; Urias, 2003) thereby decreasing local economic revenues. This past academic year saw a decline in international enrollment by 2.4% (Bollag, 2005; Open Doors, 2004). In the medium term, the United States will lose its competitive advantage in the global educational market to those countries with easier visa policies, again with the result of an enormous loss of revenue. Evidence of this is slowly being reported. For example, the Council of Graduate Schools is reporting a 5% decline in international graduate student applications for the 2004–2005 academic year. This follows a 28% decline in last year’s graduate
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applications. Most notable declines are from such major sending countries as China, down 13%, and India, down 9% and in the fields of engineering (7% decline) and business (8% decline) (Brown, 2005). Data showed that stringent visa regulations, fear of discrimination against Middle Easterners and South Asians (especially against Muslims) in the United States, the recession in the United States causing fewer post-study job opportunities, and the decrease in international aid being offered by U.S. institutions are all factors contributing to the increasing interest of students in academic options offered by other countries (Alam, 2003, p. 9), such as: Australia, Canada, Great Britain, New Zealand, and India (Brown, 2005; Goswami, 2004). The choice of alternative countries to the United States for post-secondary education is fueled by fear of visa procedures and the prolonged wait encountered with visa applications to the United States (Brown, 2005). The above statements thusly support the study’s second assumption that current policies concerning international student study in the United States are having a negative impact on enrollment. However, Harvard Professor George Borjas (2002a, 2002b, p. 4) reports on a study conducted by the National Academy of Sciences, which concluded: All of the immigration over the past few decades increased the income accruing to natives by less than $10 billion a year. Of that $10 billion contribution, very little – less than $1 billion – can be attributed to international students, who account for less than 2 percent of all permanent immigrants.
He continues by purporting that the net gain to the country may be small; yet, the higher education industry can substantially benefit. International students are an important part of the workforce in many universities. Annual wages and salaries in this sector are around $50 billion. If the huge influx of international-student workers lowered wages by only 5%, the payroll savings would be around $2 billion each year, transferring a significant amount of wealth from workers to management in the higher education industry. Taxpayers also lose. The tuition that colleges and universities charge is typically not enough to cover the cost of an education. Gordon Winston, former provost of Williams College, estimates that the average per-student subsidy is $6,400 in private universities and $9,200 in public universities. The 275,000 foreign students enrolled in public institutions are subsidized to the tune of $2.5 billion a year. This subsidy is so large that the foreign-student program may actually generate a net loss for the U.S. (Borjas, 2002a, 2002b, p. 5)
The September 11th attacks raise an even more important question about international students. The United States has traditionally banned the export of goods that it considers vital to national security, such as
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supercomputers, encryption technology, and material that can be used to produce weapons of mass destruction. However, no similar ban exists on the knowledge commodity acquired in American universities and exported abroad. The potential for this kind of abuse is not hypothetical. Borjas (2002a, 2002b) reports on the history of Dr. Rihab Rashida Taha who obtained her Ph.D. in biology at the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom. Her studies were funded by the Iraqi ministry of higher education, and her doctoral research was on plant poisons. ‘‘Upon returning to Iraq, ‘Dr. Germ,’ as she is now known in the British tabloids, became the head of Saddam Hussein’s bio-terrorism team’’ (Borjas, 2002a, 2002b, p. 6). Over the last half-century, the United States has been the preferred destination for international students. ‘‘The United States is a welcoming place to pursue higher education. To affirm this, in a cable sent to all diplomatic posts, the State Department provided wording to be used by [its officials] to affirm that our doors are open to international students’’ (Harrison, 2002, p. 4). Lacking a proactive policy for attracting international students to the United States, the United States is losing its dominance of the international student market by as much as 10% in the past two decades to other countries that have launched more aggressive recruitment campaigns. Such countries include the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand (NAFSA, 2002). Further, the decline in U.S. competence in the area of foreign-language and foreign-area expertise became strikingly apparent when September 11th revealed the paucity of expertise in critical languages, areas in federal law enforcement, and intelligence agencies. This decline is a direct reflection of the demise of teaching and research capacity in these subjects at U.S. academic institutions (NASFA, 2002). Post-9/11, the fundamental U.S. interest in providing opportunities, e.g., international educational and cultural exchanges that promote international understanding, for people from other countries to experience and understand the United States could not be clearer; yet, funding for exchange programs declined by 40% in real-dollar terms over the past decade (NASFA, 2002). In examining the trends in sources of funding for international students studying in the United States, personal and family funds continue to be the main funding source. It is reported that over the past 22 years, the U.S. college or university as the primary source of funding has generally increased from 9.2% in 1979/80 to 19.8% in 2000/01, while Home Governments and United States. Private sponsors as primary sources have decreased through the years from 13% to 4% (Open Doors, 2002, p. 7). The trend continues to this day.
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SOCIAL IMPACTS There is a sociological explanation for this seeming contradiction of support/lack of commitment. Even though the public appreciates the need for international education in its myriad forms, Americans live in a climate of fear that some believe is based in large part on race and religion, i.e., historically, to be different has meant to be less than. Misperceptions such as this, aid in the generation of a climate of fear. Everyday in the United States, the media informs its viewers that there is something new to be afraid of, whether it is shark attacks, killer bees, razor blades in Halloween candy, or violent acts committed by racial minorities (Hudson, 2002). We’re such in a state of panic and fear that the stranger, the other, whoever that is, is out there and may harm us . . . that manifests itself both on a personal level, in the neighborhood, and on a global level. He’s out there. He may have weapons. We don’t know. Let’s attack. (Hudson, 2002, p. 13) We have been doing a lot to discourage them [international students] from coming here, talking about how we are going to monitor them, delaying their arrivals . . . well, they watch CNN just like we do, and we have been sending all kinds of negative signals. (Ibrahim, 2002, p. B2)
According to sociologist Barry Glassner (2002), one of the reasons why America, as a society, is such a violent one is because Americans are all paranoid and their fears are irrationally based. He purports that certainly there are things to be rationally afraid of, for example, the current economic state of affairs; yet, the media is perpetuating the climate of fear. For example, the numbers of child kidnappings are down across the country. However, watching the news over this past summer, 2002, one gets the feeling that child abductions are on the rise. ‘‘As the murder rate went down 20 percent over a period of time, the reporting of it on the evening news went up by 600 percent’’ (Hudson, 2002, p. 14). There is a sense now among Americans that they are generally unsafe, and have to protect themselves as individuals and families. Hence, the proliferation of handgun purchases and violent crimes caused by handguns in the United States. There’s a kind of false reasoning that comes into play in these circumstances, and that is that we assume that if something completely unexpected, like the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, can occur, then all sorts of other unanticipated disasters will also occur. That is like assuming that because lightning struck last week, it will strike this week. We have to ask instead what the real dangers are, and whether there are patterns to those dangers, and how best to respond where there are real dangers. (Hudson, 2002, p. 16)
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Glassner (1999) reports that never has there been another era in modern history, even during wartime or the Great Depression, when so many people have feared so much. Three out of four Americans say they feel more fearful today than they did 20 years ago. Glassner (1999) continues by examining the people and organizations that manipulate one’s perceptions and profit from one’s fears. Examples include: politicians who win elections by heightening concerns about crime and drug use even as rates for both are declining; advocacy groups that raise money by exaggerating the prevalence of particular diseases; and, TV newsmagazines that monger a new scare every week to garner ratings. Such is the socio-economic climate that Americans find themselves in today, a climate that has influenced the political milieu to generate a series of legislative statutes targeting international education in the United States.
ENROLLMENT TRENDS AND STUDENT FLOWS The numbers of international students in the United States have for the most part grown steadily since 1954–1955, the year that the present form of the Open Doors Report came into being. Two of the exceptions to the periods of growth, and at times of steep growth, in the international student totals were plateaus in the mid-1980s and mid-1990s. Changes in enrollment flows have been relatively stable over the past 10 years, with significant growth since 1998. The 2000–2001 academic year shows international students total of 547,867, which represents a 6.4% increase over the previous academic year (Fig. 2). This increase is the largest percentage growth in over two decades, since 1980. Currently, however, the trend appears to be a decrease in enrollment (Open Doors, 2006). At present, even though there are over a half million international students, this translates to less than 4% of all U.S. higher education enrollments. In 1954–1955, there were 34,232 international students studying in the United States representing 1.4% of the 2,499,800 total U.S. higher education enrollments. Fifty years later, the international student population has increased tenfold but represents only 3.9% of the 14,046,659 total enrollments. However, at the more advanced degree levels, and in certain disciplines, international students comprise a high percentage of total U.S. graduate student enrollments, with 13.1% of all graduate enrollments. More than half of all international students study at the undergraduate level. Historically, international undergraduate students have always
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05/06
01/02
97/98
93/94
89/90
85/86
81/82
77/78
73/74
69/70
65/66
61/62
57/58
650,000 690,000 550,000 500,000 450,000 400,000 350,000 300,000 250,000 200,000 150,000 100,000 50,000 0 53/54
International Students
322
Year Year 1959/60 1969/70 1979/80 1989/90 2000/01 2001/02 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06
Int' Students 48,486 134,959 286,343 386,851 547,867 582,996 586,323 572,509 565,039 564,766
Annual% Change 2.6 11.2 8.5 5.6 6.4 6.4 0.6 -2.4 -1.3 -0.05
Total Enrollment 3,402,300 7,978,400 11,707,000 13,824,592 14,046,659 13,511,149 12,853,627 13,383,553 13,994,869 14,528,728*
% Int'l 1.4 1.7 2.4 2.8 3.9 4.3 4.6 4.3 4.0 3.9
*College Board Annual Survey of Colleges data on U.S. higher education enrollment
Fig. 2. Total International Student Enrollment Trends. In 2005/06, the Number of International Students Studying in the U.S. Remained Steady from the Previous Year, Totaling 564,766. Source: Open Doors: Report on International Educational Exchange (2006).
outnumbered graduate students, though in recent years the gap has been closing (Open Doors, 2006). Enrollment trends of international students during the academic years of 1954–1955 and 2000–2001 differ greatly by region of the world. Asia (consisting of those countries in East, South, Central, and Southeast Asia) has always been the leading source of international student enrollments in the United States followed by Latin America (consisting of those countries located in the Caribbean, Mexico, Central and South America) with the exception of the academic year of 1979–1980. The enrollment percentage
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from Asia has ranged from a low of 29.7% in 1954–1955 to over 55.1% in 2000–2001; the highest percentage was nearly 60% (59.4%) in 1992–1993. There have been very sharp percentage increases since the late 1970s and early 1980s, especially beginning in 1983–1984 (Open Doors, 2001). In the Americas, the general trend over the years has been a decreasing percentage of enrollments from Latin America, from 24.7% in 1954–1955 to 11.6% in 2000–2001, with fluctuations throughout the years. In the 1970s, the Middle East surpassed Latin America in its number two ranking; then in the 1990s Europe (consisting of both Eastern and Western Europe) surpassed them both. Though actual numbers have been increasing over the years, the percentage of enrollments from North America have, in general, seen steady declines from 13.8% in 1954–1955 to 4.7% in 2000–2001 (Open Doors, 2001). Percentages of enrollments from Europe have generally been in the double digits, in the range 10–15%, except in the decade from 1974–1975 to 1984–1985. These enrollment percentage decreases were taking place simultaneously with increasing enrollments from the African continent in that same decade. The percentage of total enrollment each year from Africa was in the double-digits for a decade, from 1974–1975 to 1984–1985, with the peak in the early 1980s, when enrollments doubled to 4,720 (Altbach, Kelly, & Lulat, 1985). International students from Oceania (which includes Australia, the Cook Islands, the Federal States of Micronesia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Firibati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niue, Norfolk Island, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Western Samoa, and the Pacific Islands) have always constituted less than 2% of international student enrollments; they have for the most part constituted less than 1% of the international student total in the United States since the 1991–1992 academic year. As in the case of North America, there have been numerical increases, but percentage decreases since the early 1980s (Open Doors, 2001). For current regional enrollment figures, see Table 6. The United States continues to be the destination of choice among international students wishing to either pursue or continue higher education abroad. However, the U.S. market share of international students has been decreasing from 36.7% of the world’s total enrollment in 1970 to 30.2% in 1995. The proportion of international students studying in the United States has decreased by approximately 10% since the 1980s. Reasons for this decrease in market share are varied and include internal and external factors. There has been increased competition for full-fee-paying
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Table 6.
Percent of Change in International Students by Region and by Country.
Distribution of Foreign Students in the U.S., by Region of Origin, 2003–2004 (and 1-Year Change) Asia Europe Latin America Africa Canada, Bermuda Middle East Oceania Total enrollment: 572,509
56.6% 12.9% 12.2% 7.1% 4.8% 5.6% 0.8% (2.4%)
(2.5%) (5.0%) (þ1.0%) (þ1.2%) (þ1.6%) (8.5%) (5.8%)
Countries with the Largest Number of Students in the U.S. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.
India China South Korea Japan Canada Taiwan Mexico Turkey Germany Thailand United Kingdom Hong Kong Indonesia Brazil Columbia France Kenya Nigeria Nepal Pakistan
76,503 62,582 58,847 38,712 28,202 27,876 13,931 11,622 8,829 8,765 8,274 7,849 7,575 7,009 6,640 6,640 6,559 6,192 6,061 5,759
Source: Open Doors: Report on International Educational Exchange (2005, 2006).
international students from other English speaking countries, notably the United Kingdom and Australia, which have national policies for international education and international student recruitment strategies in place. While these nations’ total international enrollments do not reach the level of enrollments in the United States, the international enrollments in these countries (Europe with 89,593 and Australia with 6,329) are proportionally
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much greater, as are the percentage increases (Europe increased by 10.1% and Australia increased by 17.9%) (Open Doors, 2001). Compared to the United States, these countries have a smaller number of institutions and enrollments in total. Additionally, a number of countries have emerged as regional players in the international student marketplace that hope to attract a growing number of students from within their world region. These countries include, among others, Australia, Japan, Malaysia, and South Africa (NAFSA, 2002). More recently, the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 have influenced international student flows, but in unexpected ways. Though the final impact on the number of students studying in the United States remains to be seen, an initial survey (ACE, 2002) indicates that there was little immediate impact. Contrary to people’s fears that international students would return to their home countries in droves after the terrorist attacks; preliminary data suggests few ‘‘negative’’ declines related to 9/11 were reported by institutions. International students are reporting, however, egregious delays and a lack of information concerning the cause(s) of the delays in acquiring U.S. student visas (Walfish, 2002). Findings reveal that the desire to seek an international educational experience has not been eradicated among international students wishing to study in the United States and American students wishing to study abroad, and that it is still considered an important dimension of education (Wheeler, 2002). Further, the number of students from the Middle East actually increased by 4.6% over the previous year’s figures, ‘‘although that rise masks drops among students from Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and a few other countries’’ (Wheeler, 2002, p. A62).
RESEARCH ON INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION It is important to note that scholarly work in international education reform across countries has only just developed in the last few years as evidenced by such studies by: Beare and Boyd (1993), Carter and O’Neil (1995), Glatter, Woods, and Bagley (1997), Whitty (1997), and Whitty, Power, and Halpin (1998). It has been stated that such work is likely to grow as states or countries are increasingly interested in policy directions elsewhere (Levin, 1998) and as scholars consider the implications of globalization and internationalization. Studies typically do not explain why they have chosen to look at particular features of change, or how these features might be related to each
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other or to larger frames of reference drawn from the relevant literature. Yet, comparative work is particularly challenging conceptually (e.g., Kohn, 1987; Archer, 1989) because of the myriad variables and perspectives that could be used to explore the issues. In essence, foreign study and international education are interdisciplinary. However, according to Altbach and Wang (1989, p. 7) this is not necessarily a positive attribute because ‘‘there are few established methodologies, and many scholars are reluctant to stray far from the confines of their disciplines.’’ Interestingly, over 70% of the literature originates from North America, the implication being that this affects the topics and methodological orientations of the research (Altbach et al., 1985; De Wit, 2002). In respect to study abroad, quite often, it is the research questions guiding the study that provide the conceptual framework for the design of the study, selection of the subjects, development of the instruments, and the approaches employed in analyzing and interpreting the data (Carlson, Burn, Useem, & Yachimowicz, 1990). According to the research literature, organizationally and conceptually, international education in America has three major problems. First, while universities are generally organized hierarchically, international education cuts laterally across institutions. Establishing and maintaining horizontal connections, including administrative structures, is very difficult and timeconsuming. Second, globalization is difficult to visualize and conceptualize. As the Stanley Foundation Report (1996, p. 45) observed about globalization in Minneapolis/St. Paul: ‘‘Globalization is profoundly affecting the Twin Cities . . . Desirable or not, it cannot be stopped . . . Globalization is not something we get to vote on.’’ Third, most international problems and issues are defined by other disciplines, notably economics, politics, business, law, technology, and information sciences. When working in developing countries or in the republics of the former Soviet Union, some educators become distressed by what Mestenhauser (1998a, 1998b, pp. 3–4) calls ‘‘reductionism by discipline,’’ where virtually everything is subsumed and explained by a single discipline. This is an outcome of ‘‘strategic’’ and policy-oriented thinking that seeks to establish priorities, which then relegates other disciplines down to lower rungs, thereby, in effect, excluding them. The dominance of these disciplines is thus a major problem for the field of education. This is due to the fact that most literature about global issues treats the issues as though they were the domains of a few fields but ‘‘is silent about education, on which most long-term solutions depend’’ (Mestenhauser, 1998a, 1998b, p. 4). Funding opportunities and programs sponsored by foundations, government agencies, and national professional
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and academic associations seldom list education as a grant-receiving activity. Educators are reduced to establishing their credibility not only to their own clientele (e.g., students, schools, and policy boards) but also to the rest of the academic community, which has its own ideas about education for economics, business, law, technology and information, and so forth. Yet all major issues are based on what individuals have learned, what and how they have been taught (formally or informally), and what they need to unlearn. The very individuals who wish to transfer knowledge from one culture to another often lack the requisite conceptual and cross-cultural cognitive skills. This makes it difficult for them to determine the relevancy and irrelevancy of the ‘‘imported’’ and ‘‘exported’’ knowledge. According to Mestenhauser (1998a, 1998b, pp. 5–7), international education is a collage of nine different pictures taken with different lenses under varying conditions. The nine different pictures are (1) the target groups; (2) the levels of education; (3) the defining disciplines; (4) theories about the nature of knowledge; (5) structure and goals; (6) ‘‘meta-knowing’’ perspectives; (7) the dramatically changing nature of changing international relations; (8) the geography of international education; and (9) the nature of change. In terms of structure and goals, it has been suggested by Arum and Van de Water (1992) that international education be categorized differentially according to its structure and its goals. By ‘‘structure,’’ they mean academic departments, international relations programs, comparative education, development programs, or branches of academic disciplines that teach about other countries. Historically speaking, defining international education structurally has been the most common approach of writers. Yet, the purposes of international education may be unrelated to the structure of universities and disciplines. Those purposes may just as easily be expressed in policy goals that focus on a range of local and universal issues, such as developing friendly relations among people; promoting democracy and a market economy; gaining competitive advantages; achieving global cooperation; promoting and protecting human rights; doing missionary work abroad; advising and monitoring international students; transferring knowledge and technology; facilitating intercultural communication; assisting developing countries; or promoting national interests. International education is often caught in the push-pull of domestic education and is enmeshed in the tensions between preserving traditions and advancing knowledge. Structural analysis cannot adequately explain how university departments are related to non-university clients, such as
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professional societies or industry. At the same time, the international goals of the university can seldom be implemented in a top-down fashion. Zander (1996) indicates that the organizational goals on which we often depend to understand the character of the organization are not sufficient to explain organizational behavior, because every unit of every organization redefines those goals to suit its own needs. Understanding such dynamics might shed light on our often obsessive concern with the ‘‘mission statements’’ of our universities. The metaphor of the camera that produces different pictures of the same scene depending on where the photographer stands suggests the importance of perspective in international education. By assuming the perspective of social psychology, for example, we can better appreciate which programs or interests are in the mainstream and which in the backwater of educational priorities. International student programs are not part of the educational mainstream because they compete not only with the interests of ‘‘domestic’’ populations, but also with other international programs that are based on compelling ‘‘national interests’’ (e.g., business and international relations). The curricular perspective on international education is dominated by various theories and approaches. McNeill (1990) describes four: (1) The technological approach is based on the currently popular ‘‘outcome’’oriented instruction; (2) The ‘‘traditional academic’’ curricular perspective is dominated by content-oriented instruction in traditional disciplines; (3) The humanistic approach is student centered and based on cognitive and moraldevelopment theories of psychology, which include consideration of emotions and behavior; and, (4) The constructionist approach is associated with various causes stemming from prior victimization; adherents of this approach seek the total restructuring and reorganization of education. However, another research perspective is economic and relates to the cost of education, as the politics of international education are concerned with how to influence public policy – or, vice versa, how public policy affects international education. International programs usually need to explain how they are funded and whether such funding is excessive in relation to other programs. Finally, the administrative and structural perspective is related to how international education is organized within the university, what kind of leadership it needs, and how it should relate to the rest of the institution. The typical questions raised in this connection ask if a ‘‘top-down’’ or ‘‘bottom-up’’ organization is better suited for promoting international education. Davies (1992) related this approach to a more sophisticated scheme in which he distinguished whether international education is ‘‘systemic’’ or ‘‘ad hoc’’ and whether it is central or peripheral.
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Thus the field of international education can be placed in a four-celled matrix: (1) ad hoc marginal; (2) systemic marginal; (3) ad hoc central; and (4) systemic central. Mestenhauser (1998a, 1998b, p. 10) asks: What kind of leaders do we need in international education? I am concerned with what educational leaders actually know about the world and about international education. Presently, international programs are implemented and administered by educational leaders who know very little about them. International education needs leaders who are systemic, vertical as well as lateral, widely consultative across disciplinary domains, open to discourse, and conducive to sharing concepts and paradigms.
One of the problems with the research on international students and international study is that it is not in the mainstream of any field. Because of this, it is, in a way, surprising that an enterprise that involves millions of students worldwide, which spends significant amounts of money and which deals with important issues of knowledge transfer and international educational relations has generated only a modest research literature. While a significant segment of the literature focuses on policy issues relating to foreign study, there is little evidence that policymakers take this analysis seriously. Policy issues relating to international students are evident at the level of individual academic institutions in the host countries, which must provide needed services for international students, must provide needed services for international students, and must organize international study efforts. Governments are also faced with policy issues. Sending countries must weigh the implications of foreign study, i.e., economic, political, curricular, etc., and there is very little research to assist in guiding those decisions (Altbach & Wang, 1989).
ANALYSIS The events of September 11 changed much in this country. Many of the policies and practices that have evolved over the last two decades have been the subject of careful examination and sustained discussion, and the process by which international students and exchange visitors enter the country and are monitored once they have arrived is no exception. For as long as colleges/universities and exchange visitors programs have been sponsoring international students and exchange visitors, such institutions have collected and maintained information about those individuals. As required by law, this information has been transmitted to the INS and DOS. It has always been a paper-intensive effort to maintain this data. For
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example, a copy of each new visa eligibility document, such as the I-20 form, goes to these agencies upon admission of a student or exchange visitor, and all applications that would result in a change of status or reinstatement of a student-visitor are approved by the appropriate agency. Formerly, schools prepared annual reports concerning enrollment numbers and student status, etc. The annual report on international students was, as required by regulation, shared with the INS. In 1988, however, the agency was drowning under mounds of reports that they could not use or process and the INS instructed colleges to maintain the information on campus for the agency’s use when it needed or wanted information. Universities and colleges continue to do this, and an average university has dozens of file cabinets full of information on international students. In the mid-1990s, the INS began to develop an electronic system that would allow the information on these students to be shared instantly. For a variety of reasons, implementation of this system lagged behind schedule. However, in light of the September 11th attacks, Congress mandated that the INS implement the system, now known as the SEVIS and appropriated $36 million to make this possible. SEVIS is an extraordinarily large and complex information technology system. It links all U.S. embassies and consulates, all INS (now USCIS-United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) ports of entry in this country, the State Department’s Office of Exchange Coordination and Designation and the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, every institution of higher education that sponsors international students, and every exchange visitor program. Despite the progress, commitment, and desire that the USCIS has made to see SEVIS functioning, deep concerns existed with respect to the fact that schools and exchange visitor programs faced enormous difficulties when compliance was required by August 1, 2003. Just prior to and shortly after the mandated deadline, schools and exchange visitor programs had very little information to enable them to implement this new system on campus. Government policies work best when those who must administer them know exactly what is required and have at least a modest amount of time to prepare (HR: The INS Implementation, 2002). With respect to SEVIS, implementers did not know what was to be required. Since September 11th, 2001, the legislative and executive branches of the U.S. government have been introducing legislation at a prolific rate; issuing Presidential directives and signing legislation into law, legislation with the intent of changing the compliance environment in which the university operates relative to the enrollment and/or employment of internationals.
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Security measures recently established to protect the nation from terrorism have born the consequence of increasing delays and difficulties in obtaining visas by international students and exchange visitors (Rubin, 2002). These delays and denials, according to the Institute for International Education’s August 2002 survey, have focused on, but are not limited to new and returning Muslim Male students. The result is an erosion of international enrollments at some universities and English language programs. According to Bowen and Foley (2002), many universities have cut their international recruitment efforts because of budget deficits. Issues of closer communication, faster and better technology, and more experienced people requires human, financial, and technical resources to be directed toward international students. ‘‘University administrators may begin to perceive the international student as being too costly and decide not to devote the necessary resources to simply maintain their international student numbers’’ (Bowen & Foley, 2002, p. 31). The War on Terrorism and the new laws and regulations affecting international students’ entry to the United States are, in effect, separating international students and the campuses that hope to welcome them (Bowen & Foley, 2002). In looking at the impact of SEVIS on international student recruitment, Bowen and Foley (2002) report several consequences. First, mastering the intricacies of immigration regulations, as they relate to the issuance of visa application Forms I-20 and DS-2019, is not always the admissions office’s responsibility. New visa regulations will require more electronic work. This, in turn, requires experienced information technology help. Further, closer communication between admissions offices and their counterparts in the services units may become crucial to the ability of the admissions offices to issue fast, accurate immigration paperwork under changing regulatory conditions. Speed in admission decisions is crucial in the context of international student study. Fast and accurate admission decisions followed by fast, accurate immigration documentation yield not only the most students, but also illustrates a school’s interest in a student. It, moreover, allows a student to arrange travel and prepare for an extended overseas stay, but more importantly, it allows a student time to apply for and receive a visa. Second, there is the possibility of higher-level university administrators being caught unprepared for SEVIS. Third, if SEVIS is implemented as planned, the requirements will complicate student transfers as well as a student’s choice of school. Under proposed regulations, only one transfer I-20 per SEVIS student will be allowed. Transferring a student’s immigration status from another U.S. institution may deter transfer admissions if a school determines that
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students from outside the United States are easier to matriculate than those international students already in the United States. It may come down to simply weighing the practical factors of cost and effort for the school to accomplish transfers for an international student. The benefit of adding that one student might come at the cost of admitting multiple students from outside of the United States who are easier to assist in obtaining a visa. (Bowen & Foley, 2002, p. 32)
Fourth, like higher education, government mandates for new services or policies are not always fully funded. Moreover, the computer systems for the respective federal governmental offices have not been the fastest or most easily accessible. Currently, there are some technical issues with signing on to SEVIS. According to users who have recently begun using the system, logging onto SEVIS has not been without its problems, and completing the online, I-17 has also proven to be troublesome (Bowen & Foley, 2002). Issues with ISEAS, for example, happened at both the university and government ends. Some schools were not able to log on, and some consulate and embassy offices reported difficulty logging on or accessing information. The result was a delay in the issuance of visas. Further, ‘‘any project that is bound to collect millions of records from 3,000 or more universities and colleges, to be used by two distinct branches of the government, with little to no end-user testing is bound to have major difficulties when implemented’’ (Bowen & Foley, 2002, p. 33). Finally, a fifth impact concerns the lack of clarity of whether or not DOS will only accept one I-20 per student. There is a duplicate record issue here, e.g., how will DOS distinguish between Indiana University’s Chen Wang with a birth date of September 21, 1974, from New York University’s student of the same name and date of birth? This issue reinforces the notion that the university that admits the student the fastest and, thus, provides DOS with the electronic I-20 first has the best chance of having that student at its campus. The urgency, and pressure, to issue I-20s will ultimately fall on the shoulders of admissions offices to quickly admit more students (Bowen & Foley, 2002). In essence, the planned implementation of SEVIS and continued changes in federal policies will influence international student enrollments in the United States, and as a result, university and college admission offices will have to quickly respond to new regulations. It is presumed there will be added pressure on universities to admit international students faster as well as a need to obtain more resources to do so. Admissions officers may find themselves having to struggle with their own institutions for staffing, technology, and funds while at the same time communicating with
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anxious students and complying with government policies (Bowen & Foley, 2002). Further complicating the international education landscape in the United States is the recent creation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on November 25, 2002. The legislation, H.R.5005, that created the DHS, has moved the country’s immigration functions into three bureaus in the new department. The language instituting this change is vague, thereby allowing for flexibility in the actual implementation of the governing provisions. ‘‘This legislation sets in motion what promises to be a chaotic implementation process. There is no question that the legislation is hostile to exchange’’ (NAFSA News, 2002, p. 2).
FINDINGS Current federal policies are making it more difficult for international students to study in the United States. As earlier mentioned, there are economic, political, and social consequences. From an economic standpoint, the United States suffers from an international trade gap which has a debilitating effect on its economy in the short-term, and which seriously threatens its future well-being. American international businesses that are not adequately prepared to meet the cultural and linguistic needs of their foreign clientele very often lose the big account, and contribute in a substantial way to this economic problem. For example, when General Motors marketed its Chevrolet Nova in Puerto Rico and Latin America, no one realized that Nova, when spoken as two words (no va’) in Spanish, means ‘‘It doesn’t go.’’ Sales were quite low until the company changed the name for greater appeal. As international trade becomes a more integral part of the U.S. economy, the need for sales and marketing representatives who are fluent in the language of their buyers and who understand their buyers’ culture becomes increasingly important. Having international students on campuses can aid in alleviating this problem of American businesses inadequate cultural/linguistic preparation by creating opportunities for American students to learn first hand from international students certain cultural/linguistic norms not taught in the classroom. Also mentioned was that during the 2000–2001 academic year, over 547,000 international students studied in the United States. The domestic economic benefits of this number are not trivial. According to the Institute for International Education (Open Doors, 2002), international students infused over $12 billion into the overall U.S. economy (Open Doors, 2004).
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Urias (2003) assumed that a short-term consequence to federal policies governing international student study in the United States would be a decrease in enrollment numbers thereby decreasing local economic revenues. Data from his study presents a different picture. Overall international student enrollments have increased, while decreases from certain regions, i.e., Middle Eastern and South Asian countries were reported. Knowing exactly what international enrollment figures are is proving to be problematic. Difficulty with the data is how colleges and universities are not reporting the same data. Although institutions are becoming more consistent with their reporting and reporting criteria, we will not know for certain for several years on actual comparative numbers. For example, Open Doors reports that the University of Virginia has 1,200 international students, and yet, the admissions office at UVA reports 1,815. Such discrepancies exist due to how students are identified and labeled as international students and when students are reported for data tracking. For example, at Northern Virginia Community College, permanent U.S. residents who were foreign born are calculated in the total number of F-1 students on campus. The most immediate concern to the United States relative to SEVIS is that the United States will lose its competitive advantage in the global educational market to those countries with easier visa policies, again with the result of an enormous loss of revenue. Evidence of this is slowly being reported. A high-level staff official at the American Council on Education stated that international students are becoming a more rarefied commodity on campuses. The stringent visa regulations, fear of discrimination against South Asians (and especially against Muslims) in the United States, the recession in the United States that causes fewer post-study job opportunities, and the decrease in international aid being offered by U.S. institutions are all factors contributing to the increasing interest of students in academic options offered by other countries (Alam, 2003, p. 9). Countries that appear to be gaining international student enrollments are: Australia, Canada, Great Britain, and New Zealand, and India. Alam (2003) further states that the choice of alternative countries to the United States for post-secondary education is fueled by fear of USCIS procedures and ‘‘fear of the prolonged wait now encountered with visa applications to the United States’’ (p. 9). Some university officials believe the international student composition has changed, especially from the Middle East and South Asia, because of the complexity in acquiring a visa.
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Adverse effects of a federal policy such as IIRAIRA are also political. ‘‘The INS needs to do a better job [in enforcement, services, administration] so that it does not become burdened with discrimination and bigotry, ethnic rivalry, and violence’’ (Impact of Federal, 1995, p. 4). Data shows (Urias, 2003) that current federal policies aimed at tracking international students while studying in the United States give the impression to the international community, that such policies are stereotyping foreigners as terrorists, specifically Muslim students and students from the Middle East (Arnone, 2002; Borjas, 2002a, 2002b; Harklau, 1998; NAFSA, 2002; Rubin, 2002). A middle-eastern student at the University of Virginia stated that many Arab students are choosing not to come to the United States primarily because of the degrading treatment that they experience at America’s doorstep. I don’t know if there’s anything particularly degrading about the actual process, depending on how you feel about mugshots and fingerprints when you have committed no crime, but the idea of keeping people for hours on end and registering them because of their country of origin and religious affiliation may be the reason why they feel that the experience is humiliating. (Urias, 2003)
Add to this ethnic and religious stereotyping and the spillover effects, externalities, and consequences of present U.S. military incursions and policies in Afghanistan and Iraq could be egregious, thereby furthering global tensions and misunderstandings between nations. Another political consequence is that students in scientific fields are being restricted, even from NATO friendly countries with the implications being that these potential scientists are going to study and research elsewhere and then the United States will lose its competitive edge. There are also political implications in terms of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). According to the agreement between the United States, Mexico, and Canada, NAFTA is supposed to be a free exchange of ideas, people, etc., across boarders. Restricting certain individuals because of their educational field of interest is in violation of the agreement and it remains to be seen what the consequences will be. Cultural incompetence, as part of the political environment, poses a serious threat to U.S. national security. Better intelligence about other countries and better communication with them are keys to political well-being. In his 1965 State of the Union Address, President Lyndon B. Johnson said: The growth and the spread of learning must be the first work of a nation that seeks to be free . . . We know today that certain truths are self-evident in every nation . . . that ideas,
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not armaments, will shape our lasting prospects for peace; that the conduct of our foreign policy will advance no faster than the curriculum of our classrooms . . . Only when people know about and care about each other will nations learn to live together in harmony.
It is also relevant to note the congressional testimony of Secretary of State, Colin Powell after September 11th: International students enrich our communities with their academic abilities and cultural diversity, and they return home with an increased understanding and often a lasting affection for the United States. I can think of no more valuable [political] asset to our country than the friendship of future world leaders who have been educated here.
The cultural isolation that results from a lack of exposure to foreign languages and cultures deprives U.S. students of a well-rounded global, liberal education, which includes knowledge about the fine arts, literature, history, and geography of other parts of the world. Additionally, U.S. refusal as a nation to recognize the need for foreign language competence and cultural awareness contributes to the widely held image of the arrogant American seeking to impose his language and culture on the world at large. The ability to speak other countries’ languages with an awareness and understanding of their cultures is obviously crucial to effective international communication. By nature, laws and regulations are ambiguous and leave room for interpretation. Immigration laws are no less complicated with its statutory/ regulatory language often ambiguous and unclear. In addition, advisors of international students are counseled to use their own discretion to interpret areas of practice that might be deemed gray areas of the law (NAFSA, 2002). Ambiguity is at the heart of legal interpretation of immigration law. Ambiguity is often found in statutory terms. Laws affecting immigration are not written by those charged with their implementation, but rather by politicians who seek to accomplish a myriad of objectives. Therefore, there is also frequent ambiguity in regulatory language (NASFA, 2001; Edelman, 1985). Specific legislation affecting international student study in the United States is so ambiguous that it can be characterized as reading the Talmud. Adding to this is the fact that IIRAIRA is tied to the implementation of other laws, such as the US Patriot Act. This wedding of laws leads to more confusion and interpretation among the various levels. Moreover, confusion is augmented by the increase in powers given to the Department of Homeland Security to utilize the FBI and other agencies in the investigation of international students on U.S. campuses. Just like the problems associated with unfunded mandates, when the federal government makes
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rules for other agencies/departments and lower echelons to carry out, regardless of having the resources to do so, it is not clear who should be blamed when policies are not implemented as intended.
RECOMMENDATIONS Projections and recommendations for the future include the following: The media needs to change its tone and present the image to the world that the United States is a welcoming and safe nation for international students to come and study. Additionally, the process of acquiring a visa needs to be more efficient and ‘‘pleasant.’’ This can only be achieved if the proper resources are in place, which is a question of priorities. If this is a priority, then, what are the things higher education institutions have to do in terms of the tone and resources to make it work? Colleges and universities need to ‘‘get out of’’ the function of policing international students and acting in the role of ‘‘big brother.’’ International Studies Office staff and relevant college and university officials could then fulfill their humanitarian obligation and responsibility to properly socialize international students into the campus and surrounding community via language training and other relevant services. It is also advised that anyone charged with college/university admissions of international students should be made well aware of and be well versed in the relevant laws and the implications such legislation has at their respective institution. It is in America’s interest to welcome and continue to enhance U.S. openness to international students as integral to America’s security in today’s world. The conviction that educating the world’s future leaders is part of the solution to terrorism, not part of the problem. Educational exchanges are part of what Harvard scholar Joseph Nye has called ‘‘soft power.’’ They depend on a willingness and openness to the world that may seem at first glance to be incompatible with today’s security imperatives. However, openness to these students is as much of a necessity for U.S. safety as is greater scrutiny to identify those few who harbor harmful intentions. Welcoming international students to our nation constitutes a crucial longterm investment in American leadership and security. Such openness has long been a bulwark of U.S. foreign policy and is a proven means to fight against the uninformed stereotypes, fear, and ignorance that are at the heart of the crisis we face today. To conclude, there is a need to find a balance between national security concerns and a welcoming atmosphere for international students. Improved
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and streamlined procedures at all levels will help improve the situation. The true challenge will be to combat the perception abroad that the United States is not an inviting place for internationals, that our tuition fees are higher than other competitor countries such as Australia and Canada, or that visa approval is a challenging process. The above underscores the need for continued efforts at all levels to ensure that the United States remains the premier destination of choice for the best and brightest students from around the world.
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Borjas, G. J. (2002b). Rethinking foreign students: A question of the national interest. National Review, 6(17), 2–5. Bowen, J. A., & Foley, C. J. (2002). The impact of sevis on the U.S. admissions office. International Educator, XI(4), 31–33. Brown, H. (2005). Council of graduate schools finds decline in international graduate student applications for the second consecutive year. Council of Graduate Schools News Release. Carlson, J. S., Burn, B. B., Useem, J., & Yachimowicz, D. (1990). Study abroad: The experience of American undergraduates. New York: Greenwood Press. Carter, D., & O’Neill, M. (Eds). (1995). International perspectives on educational reform and policy implementation. London: Falmer. Castellanos, D. (1983). The best of two worlds: Bilingual-bicultural education in the U.S. New Jersey: New Jersey State Department of Education. Davies, J. L. (1992). Developing a strategy for internationalization in universities: Towards a conceptual framework. In: C. B. Klasek (Ed.), Bridges to the future: Strategies for internationalizing higher education. Pullman, WA: AIEA Secretariat at Washington State University. De Wit, H. (2002). Internationalization of higher education in the United States of America and Europe: A historical, comparative, and conceptual analysis. London: Greenwood Press. DOJ. (2003). Review on the immigration and naturalization service’s efforts to track foreign students in the United States through the student and exchange visitor information system. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, Evaluation and Inspections Division. Report Number I-2003-003. Edelman, M. (1985). Political language and political reality. Policy Studies, 18(1), 10–19. Field, K. (2005). Visa delays stemming from scholars’ security clearances are down since last year, report says. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Available at http://chronicle.com/ daily/2005/02/2005021806n.htm Glassner, B. (1999). The culture of fear: Why Americans are afraid of the wrong thing. New York: Basic Books Publishing. Glatter, R., Woods, P., & Bagley, C. (Eds). (1997). Choice and diversity in schooling. London: Routledge. Goswami, U. A. (2004). Students learn to keep off US: Visa, security tangles send enrolment figure to new low. Times of India (October 11), 8. Harklau, L. (1998). Newcomers in U.S. higher education: Questions of access and equity. Educational Policy, 12(6), 634–655. Harrison, P. (2002). Educational exchange for international understanding. International Educator, XI(4), 2–4. Holton, R. J. (1997). Advancing international perspectives: Some myths about globalization. Retrieved January 4, 2008. Available at http://www.roma.unisa.edu.au/herdsa97/ holton.htm Hudson, D. A. (2002). The oprah winfrey show (November 1). Chicago, IL: Harpo Productions. Ibrahim, A. (2002). Foreigners’ enrollment stays steady some decline reported in mideastern students. The Washington Post, B1(October 12). Kohn, M. (1987). Cross-national research as an analytic strategy. American Sociological Review, 52(4), 713–731. Koy, H.-K. (2004). Open doors report on international educational exchange. Washington, DC: Institute of International Education.
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IMPACT OF JAPANESE COLONIAL LEGACY ON GLOBALIZATION OF KOREAN EDUCATION Kim Hyunsook Song Japanese colonial occupation of Korea has left deep patterns of governance and organization, and values that have continued to prevail in contemporary South Korean education (Song & Ozturgut, 2006; Seth, 2001; Lee, 2002; Kim, 2005). Since emancipation from Japan in 1945, Koreans have gone through several educational reforms, i.e., U.S. military controlled reform (1953–1960), internal military controlled reform (1961–1992), and civilian government reform (1993–2003). Despite these reforms, an examination of the process by which South Korean education was debated and reformulated reveals the continued influence of the pre-war Japanese colonial education system (Seth, 2001). This study examines how the globalization of Korean education has evolved and/or has not evolved through the historical and theoretical analyses of Korean education from Japanese colonization until 2003. A pilot study is added to provide documentation on how Japanese colonial education is still practiced in Korean schools.
Power, Voice and the Public Good: Schooling and Education in Global Societies Advances in Education in Diverse Communities: Research Policy and Praxis, Volume 6, 343–365 Copyright r 2008 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited All rights of reproduction in any form reserved ISSN: 1479-358X/doi:10.1016/S1479-358X(08)06013-0
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THEORETICAL ANALYSIS OF GLOBALIZATION Fujikane (2003) indicates that there are three goals of globalization as educational imperatives. They are: (1) the intensity of interdependence in all aspects of human life, (2) the changing pattern of actors on the world stage, and (3) the growing moral sense of ‘‘oneness’’ transcending national borders. The new worldviews behind the contemporary movements are fundamentally different from the rationalists’ perspective, which supported early educational efforts for international education (Fujikane, 2003). That perspective intended to develop national citizens who could understand, sympathize, and help others in order to create international harmony. In contrast, the revised imperatives are now embracing the idea of new world citizens who acknowledge interdependency, act independently of their own nation states, and are constructing universal morality in order to create a more just global society (Shin, 2003). A theme of globalization regards the emergence of transnational capital – financial and industrial – that freely – seeks out profits and efficient production sites (Fudge & Glasbeek, 1997). The integration or ‘‘fit’’ of domestic economies into the global economy, however, may place the nation states insecure because the concept of the globalized world citizen may impact on losing the national identity (Ratinoff, 1995). A nation state must not only conform its restructuring process to that of a global economy, but must also secure its domestic role at an affordable level (Ohmae, 1990). Two theories will be reviewed to explain why and how the nation state has to adopt globalization: (1) convergence theory and (2) social Darwinism. In addition, the collectivist notion of the nation state will be explained in order to examine why an educational system, especially that of developing countries such as South Korea, has to be converted to fit into what a global economy or borderless economy requires in a globalization era. Convergence Theory While the boundaries between countries remain clear on ‘‘political maps,’’ the boundaries have largely disappeared on ‘‘competitive maps,’’ ones that show the real flow of financial and industrial activities (Berger, 1996). Through capital mobility, competition, and diffusion of best practices, globalization is said to produce ‘‘convergence’’ across nations, both in the structures of production and in the relations among economy, society, and state. Such interplay creates a highly integrated and homogeneous world economy (Ohmae, 1993). According to Koizumi (1993), globalism is a fact of social life;
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there is no place for a sense of national identity based on one land, one language, or one race. Proponents of globalization expect transnational forces of later modernity gradually to supersede nations and nationalism (Shin, 2003). One example is the industrial trade that South Korea started with China in the 1990s. Even though China still practices ‘‘socialism,’’ which remains clearly different on a ‘‘political map’’ from South Korea, the industrial boundaries have disappeared on a competitive market map. It is very hard not to find ‘‘made-in-China’’ items as well as some of their produce – garlic and onions – in South Korean markets. China also has a lot of popular South Korean items such as cell phones, and cameras by Samsung and Lucky Gumsung (LG) companies. Another example is Korean electronic products in the US markets, e.g., Samsung cell phones and LG refrigerator. Functions, designs, and names apparently no longer indicate a product’s nationality. Social Darwinism A social Darwinian understanding of the world promotes an instrumentalist understanding of globalization that in turn facilitates its nationalist appropriation. At the height of imperialism in Europe, during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, social Darwinian principles of competition and survival of the fittest were identified as major forces of globalization (Shin, 2003). Mittleman (2000) argues that free-market competition has been elevated to an ideology, and this icon represents an important element in the globalization matrix. Moreover, the current competition is more intense than ever before (Harvey, 1990). Seen from a social Darwinian perspective, therefore, globalization offers both opportunities and threats. It must be properly utilized for one’s national interests to survive in this world of ‘‘hypercompetition’’ (Shin, 2003). The school curricular, for example, need to be restructured to help students fit into this hyper-competitive world: teaching the subject areas in English, liberalizing the curriculum to foster creative mind and critical thinking skills, and learning about American culture and their business world. The globalization in education, however, can be threat to a collective notion of the nation state. The students may not value Korean tradition and culture as much as their parents did. Collectivistic Notion of Nation To the extent that nationalist appropriation is a collective response to threats or opportunities associated with globalization, it is often facilitated
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when concepts of society and nation are organic, ethnic, and collectivistic (Shin, 2003); South Korea fits into to this category. It has been shown that in times of crisis (e.g., immigration, foreign wars, terrorist, dictatorship), ethnic factors tend to overshadow the civic elements (Kuzio, 2002). Likewise, where globalization is viewed as a new form of dominance and threat, collectivistic notions of nation and society are likely to emerge. This in turn promotes a nationalist appropriation of globalization, a collective notion of nation – based on common blood and ethnicity – which produces an intensely felt sense of oneness. Keeping the balance between globalization and national appropriation (Shin, 2003), thus, is what the educators need to consider when they restructure the curricula in this era.
HISTORICAL ANALYSIS OF KOREAN EDUCATION On the basis of the above theoretical analyses of globalization, it is certainly necessary for a nation or state to reform its education system to survive in this hyper-competitive world. The globalization process of Korean education is not easy to understand because of the complex political issues Korea has gone through. In this section, Korean History from 1910 to 2003 will be briefly reviewed in order to examine those issues. The development of modern education in Korea has been related to its politics and economics. Modern South Korean education can be divided into four periods of social change (Park, 2002). Each period is based on a change in governing groups, and each change generated new social and educational needs. Fig. 1 illustrates the four periods of social and governmental change and significant events in each period. 1. Colonization Period (1910–1945). The Japanese colonial system established a formal education system in Korea. Their regime controlled the whole education system and its processes, including educational objectives, content, methods, and organization (Park, 2002; Seth, 2002) (see Table 1). The Japanese intent was to use their colonial education mission to control the consciousness of the Korean people. 2. Modernization and Economic Development Period (1945–1970). In 1945, Korea was emancipated after Japan was defeated in World War II. A new government in Korea was built after two years of military governance by the USA. The last years of colonial rule had shaken up traditional Korean society, and this society was further shaken by the political turmoil and civil war that followed liberation. After the Korean War, from 1950 to
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Historical Context of South Korea, 1910–2003
1953, there was an emergent need to rebuild the country. The communization of North Korea and the partition of Korea allowed the government to place an emphasis on spiritual education for anti-communism. In 1961, General Park set up a military government, with a strong economic development strategy focusing on industrialization of the country (Park, 2002; Kim, 2005). 3. Democratization Period (1970–1990). In 1979, the death of President Park caused severe political conflict. The military government intended to continue their power. The people wanted to rebuild a democratic government. Resistance against the military government was at its pitch, and many people were sacrificed as a result, e.g., Gwangju massacre. The Gwangju massacre refers to a violent uprising in the city of Gwangju,
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Table 1.
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Five Japanese Colonial Education Missions and Descriptions.
Japanese Colonial Education Mission Mission 1. Colonial education was well disciplined
Mission 2. Colonial education had an impressive level of professionalism
Mission 3. Colonial education emphasized the importance of class bonding. Mission 4. Colonial education adopted a uniform administrative system. Mission 5. Colonial education promoted competitive entrance exams.
Description of Mission
The Japanese officials required ritual performance, neat uniforms, lining up smartly at the morning assembly, and performing student duties, such as keeping classrooms and lavatories clean. All these promoted the school as a model of discipline and orderliness. These practices have been continued in Korea during the colonial period, contributing to the regimented and disciplined nature of the nation’s schooling. Teacher qualification standards were high and rigorously enforced. By the 1930s Korean teachers had to adhere to the same standards for qualification as their Japanese colleagues, which meant, at the minimum, attending a three-year educational secondary school (shihan gakko). The high standards of teacher training served to strengthen traditional respect for teachers and enhanced the teacher’s authority in the classroom. Perhaps just as significant for Korea’s future was the disciplined, almost martial quality of teacher training. Until this day elderly Koreans recall their Japanese teachers with a sense of awe and respect. The forging of these bonds was assisted by the emphasis on extracurricular activities, which enabled academically weaker students to excel at something nonacademic, e.g., sports, singing, art, and provided a basis for shared experiences and mutual respect among students. Japanese colonial government kept tight control over curriculum, textbooks, and teacher training, and consistent education standards. Korean authorities continued these concepts for creating a uniform basic education for all Koreans. Students needed to take exams to enter middle school, college, and university.
South Korea from May 18 to May 27, 1980. For the period of Chun Do Hwan’s reign, after Park’s death, the incident was officially regarded as a rebellion inspired by Communist sympathizers. But after civil rule was reinstated, the incident received recognition as an effort to restore democracy from military rule (Wikipedia, 2006). Also in the 1980s, big corporations began to set up business education centers within their
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companies; they recognized the economic importance of education for workers (Park, 2002). 4. Globalization Period (1990 to present). In 1993, South Korea had a democratic (nonmilitary) government. It was not until the mid-1990s that the term ‘‘globalization’’ became widespread. The government adopted ‘‘globalization’’ (segyehwa – becoming part of the world) as its policy. From the mid-1990s, the government began to restructure the Korean education system to make it fit into a globalized and hyper-competitive world (KACE, 1995; MOE, 1998). The main objective of restructuring was the establishment of an open learning system for a lifelong learning society. The other objective was the strengthening of a competitive labor force and professional manpower (Park, 2002; Kim, 2005) (see Fig. 1).
JAPANESE COLONIAL LEGACY ON GLOBALIZATION OF CURRENT KOREAN EDUCATION The historical and/or national root of Japanese imperial education will help explain the characteristics of its colonial legacy and how it impacts South Korea’s current education system. Japanese Imperial Education and Colonial Education in Korea Shinto ideology and Confucian concepts were two main pillars of Japanese imperial education. Shinto was the spiritual foundation of the educational system of imperial Japan, as well as the national religion. Many eastern and western scholars (Aston, 1905; Holtom, 1938; Hong, 1988; Picken, 1994) pointed out that Shinto cannot be separated from Buddhism and Confucianism, which contained religious and ethical components of a high order (Lee, 2002). In 1870, Japanese Emperor Meiji issued a decree defining the relation of Shinto to the state and to the government. Meiji’s decree led the Japanese Government to formulate three principles of instruction in 1872: (1) compliance with the spirit of reverence for God (Shinto ideology), (2) clarification of the principles of heaven and the way of man (Shinto ideology), and (3) exaltation of and obedience to the Emperor Imperial Court (Confucian concept) (Tsunetsugu, 1964). State-Shinto or National-Shinto merged with Confucianism, dictated an administrative structure in the Japanese imperial government as well as in
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education that enforced a strict stratification system, centralized governance, and intellectual conformity (Lee, 2002). These features were reinforced further during the Japanese occupation and colonization of Korea from 1910 to 1945. With the enforcement of the cultural assimilation policy and practice, Japanese colonizers used Shinto ideology and Confucian concepts to eradicate Korean nationalism that followed disciplinary action against Koreans. Some examples of eradication of Korean nationalism were: obeying to Japanese authority, eliminating freedom of speech, and clamping down on colleges and universities. The imperial Japanese government wanted Koreans to ‘‘fit’’ into their colonial plan (Shin, 2003). The imperial Japanese government attempted to design a new educational and administrative structure suitable for the execution of their colonial policy (Lee, 2002). The imperial Japanese government set the education goals: (1) to produce a few intelligent elites they could utilize for the promotion of their political agenda, and (2) to produce semi-professional or nonprofessional laborers (Seth, 2001). The entire academic structure of colonized Korea was established in accordance with the Japanese prototype. The curriculum was almost identical to the Japanese imperial schools (see Table 1). The Japanese administrators appointed all faculty and assigned them working positions, and controlled students’ activities and academic freedom (The GovernmentGeneral of Choson, 1935). This closed organizational system – rigid and authoritative leadership, a hierarchical centralized formal structure, closed communication networks, and administrator-centered education – formed the structure and culture of contemporary Korean education. A centralized system and a linear rank structure are still the backbone of the Ministry of Education (MOE) and higher education institutions in the current Korean education system (Kim, 2005; Lee, 2002; Seth, 2001).
Unsuccessful Educational Reform in South Korea, 1993–2003 The conflict in the process of integrating globalization into national education includes resistance from conservative teachers, parents, and community leaders who do not want changes to the status quo. They do not want to lose Korea’s nationalism again. Some of them consider ‘‘globalization’’ to be another ‘‘colonization,’’ this time by the United States (Kim, 2000). More important than this conflict, however, is the crucial role played by Korea’s internal political system (Kim, 2005). How has South Korea’s established static political economy influenced educational policy making and implementation in an era of globalization?
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Statism in South Korea is a legacy of Japan’s colonial rule, 1910–1945: it shares certain general features with those in Japan (Kim, 2005). An important common feature of this type of statism is that the state maintains big power, bureaucracy and institutional networks. The state controls and manages the activity of its citizens in order to make the nation wealthy and its military strong (Kim, 2005). During the three decades since Park Chung Hee’s military government was installed in 1961 followed by Chun Do Hwan and Ro Tae Woo, the military elite has confronted repeated challenges to the legitimacy of their power. In response, they adopted the Japanese colonial system that tightly controlled the population through use of the state bureaucracy. The principal concern of the military elite was the maintenance and legitimization of their power through the control of civilian activity, and the suppression of resistance by means of the state apparatus. They justified these policies through constant reference to the ‘‘imminent’’ invasion by North Korea, and this was beneficial for the short term (Park, 2002; Kim, 2005). In order to secure power for the long term, however, another venue was needed: a mobilization strategy (Brown, 1998) that would draw the unsupportive population to their side and fully legitimize their power. Military elite’s education policies were generated through planned education development venues followed by a huge expansion in education. The military elite sought to ensure that all educational institutions, public and private, as well as the teaching staff, operated as instruments to carry out their decisions (Kim, 2005). The measures taken for this included the legal stipulation of educational institutions as public institutions in the case of the public schools, and as public legal bodies in the case of private schools. All teachers were designated as public agents in the field of education. With this legal arrangement, the military elite controlled the major operational spheres of all educational institutions just as the Japanese colonizers did: institutional licenses, student quotas, student selection, the curriculum and textbooks, examinations and tests, employment and management of the teaching personnel, and even day-to-day operations (Kim, 2005). In order to control the public and private schools, the military government had to provide them state funds. To provide educational finance at the lowest possible level and prevent potential pressure for increased state funding for education, they needed to reduce the supply of student places (Kim, 2005). The policy regarding reduction of available places for students took immediate effect in the form of intensified entrance examination. The military elite introduced a state entrance examination in 1962 (Seth, 2001) for each level of schooling and instructed all educational institutions to admit students according to the
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scores from the state examination (Kim, 2005). This measure fell far short of addressing the growing problem. Competitive entrance competition quickly expanded beyond the school gate to after-school cramming classes and home tutoring, which caused financial burden to the families. By 1993, structural problems had deteriorated to such a degree that many South Koreans considered their educational system to be in a major crisis. In that year, the military government was replaced by President Kim Young Sam’s civilian government. Also in that year, globalization became a burning issue among the debaters in education reform as well as among policy makers (Kim, 2000). Naturally the debaters and the policy makers both considered the structural problems of education in light of how to cope with the new environment created by globalization and civilian democracy. The nation state now had to restructure the educational system to reduce its own role in education by employing such reform measures as liberalization, decentralization, and termination of entrance examinations (Kim, 2005). Liberalization meant that excessive state control of education and those working to keep it would be withdrawn. Schools and universities, teachers and professors, and students and their parents would be allowed to operate freely and responsibly. Decentralization implied the transfer of power from a central authority to local residents including teachers, parents, and students. Termination of entrance examinations meant the abolition of established state policies that controlled the curriculum and textbooks, student selection, tuition fees, and student quotas. The civilian government had to prepare a well-trained, flexible, and versatile workforce by reinforcing primary and secondary education. They also had to secure a cadre of highly trained professionals by improving the quality of higher education (Kim, 2005). The debaters shared a common opinion that the existing educational system needed a large-scale overhaul if it was to be visible in the new age (Kim, 1993). President Kim Young Sam (1993–1997) incorporated this view into his political platforms to liberalize and decentralize the educational system, to solve the entrance competition questions and to upgrade educational facilities and performances to global standards (e.g., segehwa). In 1994, he appointed reformminded educators to a Presidential Commission on Education Reform (PCER) with a mandate to develop policies for the promised education reform. Kim Dae Jung (1997–2003), the elected president after Kim Young Sam, promised a globalized education reform with goals remaining the same: liberalization, decentralization, and termination of entrance competition (Kim, 2005).
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Negative Internal Condition In spite of such a favorable environment, the globalization reform measures that the civilian government employed did not bring significant changes to the existing educational system. The most important reason for this was their obvious underestimation of the magnitude of promised reforms: liberalization, decentralization, and termination of entrance examination. The civilian government leaders were not completely civilian by nature of their powerbase. The military elite’s effort to build supportive groups: they created group egoism and regional egoism. The group egoism, chibdan igijuyi, means that the groups who have similar backgrounds, e.g., military groups, and those who graduated the same high schools and/or colleges, even elementary schools, would support ‘‘their’’ people. For example, Park received a majority bulk votes from military people and most of his cabinet were his military ‘‘buddies.’’ The regional egoism, chiyog igijuyi, means that people from certain regions, especially two southern provinces of South Korea, Kyungsang Province and Cholla Province, would support the candidates from their regions regardless of the issues (Kim, 2005). The heterogeneous constituencies within the power groups, and the complicated regional group affiliations, practically forbade liberalizing and decentralizing the educational system. Years of military control and management of education had also left a huge body of bureaucrats. Moreover, the civilian leaders’ lack of experience in running the state apparatus gave rise to the bureaucrats’ importance in policy making and implementation within the existing static political economy (Kim & Jung, 1994; Kim, 1997). The education reform, however, needed to endorse the nation’s economic prosperity by rectifying the structural problems of the existing educational system (Kim, 1997, 1999, 2005). The problems were: a. entrance competition, b. rote learning and drill in fragmentary knowledge that wiped out creativity and diversity and superficial instruction in schools and universities, c. heavy parental financial burden for after-school cramming classes (in 1994, the cost accounted for 5.8% of the gross national product in comparison with the state education budget that remained at 3.8%), d. the state’s uniform control of education, e. disappearance of moral character – selfishness of students. The approach of the civilian government to solving the problems did not differ from that of the previous military elite. The solution was to widen the
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narrow university gates by increasing student quotas and university licenses until the supply met the demand. This solution improved efficiency but did not stop the competition for certain universities that students and parents favored. By 1998, the total number of student quotas in higher educational institutions had grown to accommodate 94% of the year’s high school graduates. These institutions of higher education, however, managed to attract only 84% of them (Kim, 2005). There were many empty classrooms waiting for the students, but persistent entrance competition to certain universities was not stopped. In addition, there still existed financial problems after the reform. According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the total expenditure of South Korea’s educational institutions, including state funds and parental expenses (excluding after-school cramming fees), was the highest of all OECD nations in term of its proportion of the gross domestic product (GDP): 7.4% (OECD, 2000). These problems alone, i.e., competitive entrance examination and financial burden, aside from other equally serious ones, would be sufficient to warrant a prediction that as globalization progresses, the current educational system would be unable to ensure the continuity of public education, the production of a flexible and versatile workforce or a cadre of highly trained professionals (Kim, 1993).
PILOT STUDY Purpose of Pilot Study In this section, a pilot study is added to provide empirical documentation of the Japanese colonial impact on current Korean education. South Korea, with its rapid economic growth since the 1960s, its shift to democratization in the 1980s and globalization in the 1990s, is a good example of how education bolstered a country’s economic development and political mobilization (Shapiro, 2004). The Korean education system has been influenced by the political agendas of outside forces such as China, Japan, and Western countries including the United States (Adams & Gottlieb, 1993). Research indicates that Korean education still uses or adheres to elements from the Japanese colonial rule that deeply influence her basic education paradigm (Shin & Koh, 2005; Seth, 2001). The purposes of this study are to examine if Korean elementary schools still adhere to the Japanese colonial missions and to determine if Japanese
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schools adhere to those missions as much as Koreans do. The focus of this study is Korean education, and the data gathered from Japanese teachers will be used to determine which education system, Korean or Japanese, has retained more of the colonial education missions. The result shows that Japanese colonial educational missions have an impact on current Korean education even though it has been more than 60 years since Korea was liberated from Japanese occupation in 1945.
Methods of Pilot Study Theoretical Framework To explore the impact of Japanese colonial education on South Korean Education, five missions of Japanese colonial education are used as a framework (Seth, 2002). These five missions are (see Table 1): (1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
Colonial Colonial Colonial Colonial Colonial
education education education education education
was well disciplined. had an impressive level of professionalism. emphasized the importance of class bonding. adopted a uniform administrative system. promoted competitive entrance exams.
Subjects The subjects of this pilot study were 37 elementary school teachers: 20 from South Korea and 17 from Japan. All subjects were volunteers. Surveys were sent in January 2005 to two teacher educators in Kongju in South Korea who took the surveys to their partner schools and gave them to volunteer teachers. Each of the volunteer teachers sent the survey to the researcher individually. The surveys were sent to two principals in Osaka, Japan, who gave them to volunteer teachers. Each of these participants returned their survey to the researcher. Forty surveys were sent to each country and 37 returned. Thirtysix participants were female and 1 male: 16 participants had teaching experience of 1–3 year(s), 2 of 4–6 years, 1 of 7–9 years, and 18 of 10 years or more. Seven were 1st grade teachers, seven 2nd grade teachers, seven 3rd grade teachers, three 4th grade teachers, six 5th grade teachers, and seven 6th grade teachers. Instruments A survey was developed by the researchers and translated into Korean and Japanese by native speakers of each language. It consisted of demographic
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information and 18 questions (see Table 2). The demographics included gender, school location, diversity of students, and availability of lunch programs. The questions were based on four of the five missions of Japanese Colonial education (Seth, 2002): (2) social status and professionalism, (3) importance of class bonding and the emphasis on extracurricular activities, (4) uniform and tight control over curriculum, and (5) competitive entrance exams (see Table 2). The first mission of Japanese colonial education, i.e., rigorous discipline, was researched by interviewing Korean elementary school teachers in June 2005 during a visit to Korean elementary schools. The interview questions were about school lives of teachers and students. The researcher’s field notes are summarized in the next section. The pilot study survey was sent to the same schools where the interviews were conducted.
Table 2.
Japanese Colonial Missions and Instruments.
Colonial Mission
Mission 1. Colonial education was well disciplined. Mission 2. Colonial education had an impressive level of professionalism.
Mission 3. Colonial education emphasized importance of class bonding through extra curricular activities. Mission 4. Colonial education adopted a uniform administrative system.
Mission 5. Colonial education promoted competitive entrance exams.
Instruments
Field notes – interviews of Korean teachers and students about their school lives Incentives of choosing teaching as career and satisfaction with salary Professional development seminars – how often and what topics? Extracurricular special activity classes
Number of Survey Items and Field Notes Field notes
2 items
2 items 2 items
Number of hours students are at school Number of students Subject areas (curriculum) they teach – all subjects or special subject(s)? Number of classes a day
1 item
Private tutoring in after-school academic institutions – how often, and what subjects?
4 items
3 items 3 items
1 item
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Results of Pilot Study Descriptive Analysis The demographic responses obtained from the participants are summarized in this section. Most schools in Korea are still over-sized and most classrooms are over-crowded. The average number of students per class was 36, the same number as the MOE and Human Resources Development (HRD) reported for primary schools in 2004 (MOE & HRD, 2004). There are no teacher aides for classroom teachers. Elementary school attendance in both countries is mandatory, related expenses paid for, and no screening or test is needed for entry. Parents pay for lunch because neither country has a free-lunch program. All Korean and Japanese participating teachers have duties in addition to teaching. Those duties include work in the following areas: preparing school festivals and drama, leading reading and science clubs, supervising classroom cleaning and decoration, teaching standardized test preparation classes, leading boy scout and girl scout groups, working with the student government, editing school newspapers, preparing and facilitating activities for both students with learning disabilities and gifted students, maintaining audiovisual equipment, and organizing teacher professional development sessions. Japanese teachers also listed library, English education for teachers, health education, international relations, cultural events, administrative duty, student activity planning, student life, and community service activities. Korean students go to school six days a week (half a day on Saturdays), and Japanese students go to school from Monday through Friday (no school on Saturdays). All Korean participants replied that they did not have any different racial/ethnic students. Three Japanese participants replied that they had a few Korean students in their classes. The students in Korea and Japan were pretty homogeneous in terms of racial and ethnic construction. Analysis of the Field Notes and Survey Items Among 40 surveys sent to each country, 20 (50%) were returned from the Korean participants and 17 (42.5%) from the Japanese. The data from the survey responses were analyzed using frequencies. The field notes were also used to describe the Japanese colonial impact on Korean education. The five colonial missions were selected as variables to determine if the elementary schools in Korea and Japan still practiced colonial missions (see Table 1). Mission 1.
Teachers and students are well disciplined.
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Result 1. Field notes were used to report this mission for Korean education. There was no source to report on Japanese education for this mission. A researcher visited two elementary schools in Korea and interviewed two principals, classroom teachers, and students. According to the field notes from the interviews, teachers in Korea still have meetings with all of the administrators every morning before class begins. The teachers do not leave schools before 5:00 p.m. although students leave at 2:30 p.m. They often go to teacher meetings after school, either a whole group meeting, or grade-level teacher meetings. They have many after-school duties including club activities, e.g., computer club, science club, mathematics club, and reading club. School children are responsible for cleaning the classrooms, hallways, and lavatories in Korea. Homeroom teachers supervise and/or clean the classrooms with the students. For kindergarten and 1st grade children, parents take turns cleaning the classrooms and lavatories. Korean students have an assembly at least once a week at the playground. Most instruction consists of teacher lectures, with only rare interruptions for questions. It is considered ‘‘rude’’ or ‘‘destructive behavior’’ if students ask questions. If students have questions, they might speak to the teacher after class (Diem, Levy, & VanSickle, 2005). Discipline problems were infrequent, and great respect for teachers was evident. Students bowed, as custom required, when passing teachers in the halls and appeared hesitant to enter faculty offices. Korean teachers and students are generally well disciplined as reported in the field notes. For missions 2 through 5, the survey responses from Korean and Japanese elementary teachers were used. Mission 2.
Teachers have pride and keep high standards of professionalism.
Result 2. Two Japanese teachers chose teaching because of family recommendation while 7 Koreans did; 12 Korean (60%) and 15 Japanese (88.2%) teachers chose teaching for personal satisfaction. Eight Korean teachers (40%) were satisfied with the salary and 12 (60%) were not. Two Japanese (11.8%) were satisfied, 14 (82.4%) were not. It seems that a majority of the participants chose teaching as their career for self-fulfillment. More Korean teachers were satisfied with the salary than Japanese teachers. The responses about professional development activities were reported to describe high standards of professionalism. It is required by the MOE to participate in enhancing teachers’ professionalism in Korea. Fifteen Japanese teachers (88.2%) responded that they had professional development sessions more than four times a year and two Japanese teachers reported that they had these professional development sessions more than three times a year.
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Nine Korean teachers (45%) responded that they have professional development sessions twice a year; four teachers said they had more than four times a year; three of them, once a year; two said, three times a year; and two responded that it depended on the current needs. Japanese respondents indicated that their professional development sessions covered Japanese, Science, Home economics, child development, health, and information technology. Korean respondents indicated that their sessions covered computer, information technology, classroom management, teaching methods, and roles of teachers. The responses from the participants, however, did not provide any significant source to prove the high standards of teaching profession besides a list of professional development topics and how often the sessions are offered. Mission 3. The classmates are bonded through various in-school extracurricular activities. Result 3. Korean teachers and students participate in more than 30 activities, examples of which are computer, photography, painting, music (violin, flute, and piano), gifted student science project, speed reading, English, and so forth. Thirteen Japanese teachers (76.4%) either answered that they did not have any special student activities or did not respond; four respondents answered that they have community service, student government meetings, character education, and track meets. Korean and Japanese elementary schools provide more extracurricular activities than American elementary schools. It seems that the Korean elementary schools have more systematic extracurricular activities as part of their regular curriculum than the Japanese. Mission 4.
The government-controlled curriculum.
Result 4. The Korean government decides on the subjects and hours that teachers will teach. All of the Japanese teachers (n=17) and 17 Korean teachers (85.0%) have 4–6 h of class a day; two Korean teachers have less than 4 h a day and one Korean teacher has more than 6 h a day. Sixteen Japanese (94.1%) and 18 Korean (90%) teachers teach all subjects; one Japanese respondent and two Korean respondents are not homeroom teachers. The participants responded that they did not have planning periods during the class day, they use after-school time for planning. Mission 5.
The students have to pass competitive entrance exams.
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Result 5. Items on private tutoring were used to respond to this mission (see Table 1). Nineteen of 20 Korean and 12 of 17 Japanese teachers responded to how many students attend after-school academic institutions, ‘‘hagwon.’’ Two to 20 Japanese students in a class go to private academic institutions, and 15–38 Korean students in a class do. Seven out of 17 Japanese teachers responded to how many students have tutors, they responded 0–6 students (around three students a class), and 16 of 20 Korean teachers responded that 0–20 students have tutors (more than five students in one class). More students in both countries go to after-school academic institutions than private tutors. More Korean students go to ‘‘hagwon’’ and private tutors than Japanese students.
DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATION The result of the pilot study indicated that the curricula in Korea are still controlled by the MOE (McGinn, Snodgrass, Kim, Kim, & Kim, 1980; Kim, 1999). Teachers are still using lecture, i.e., direct instruction, as the major teaching delivery strategy (Kim, 1999; Diem et al., 2005). The survey responses and field notes provided clear evidence that current Korean elementary education still follows Japanese colonial missions (missions 1, 3, 4, and 5, see Table 2) even after 60 years of liberation from Japan. For almost half a century, the Japanese colonial government and the military dictatorial government had enhanced its power through centralization that still has a vast implication for every aspect of the Korean society (Seth, 2001; Kim, 2005). Uniformity was regarded as the major characteristic of the educational paradigm during this period. Education meant teaching the subjects and contents that were assessed from the supplier or ruler’s point of view in such a way that was thought effective (Jeong & Armer, 1994). Consequently, consumers or students were completely excluded from the decision-making process regarding curriculum (Kim, 1999). Students were regarded as simple beneficiaries of the education suppliers (MOE & HRD, 2004). Globalization was not what the military elite had in their educational policy even though that was the era in which Korean companies increased their markets in other countries, especially in the US, through exporting their products. Instead of liberating the mind of the students, hours and hours were spent in memorizing knowledge needed to pass college entrance exams. Once South Korea’s civilian government was established, the political leaders tried to restructure education to ‘‘fit’’ into the global competitive markets
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(Shin, 2003). Kim Young Sam and Kim Dae Jung had on-going educational reform initiatives, i.e., liberalization, decentralization, and termination of entrance examinations, in order to survive in the globalized economical and competitive world. It is rather obvious, however, as it was shown in the pilot study, that Korean education has not been liberalized and/or decentralized and that the highly competitive college entrance exam has remained. The curricula needed to produce flexible and versatile global citizens and highly trained professionals do not yet exist. Parents’ financial burden is still unsolved because the static political system continues to favor the elites from certain universities even though there are many higher education institutes with empty classrooms. Kim (2005) argues that there is only one solution that may work: a big surgery on the static educational system through substantial liberalization and emancipation of private education. The South Korean Government has started opening the doors from ‘‘expensive’’ private elementary education to ‘‘free’’ private secondary education in late 1990s (Kwak, 2001) and there have been some success stories. Currently there are a few elementary and secondary schools in Korea, mostly private schools, whose students do not go to after-school tutors because their parents trust the schools and are assured of their children’s academic success. They still have to prepare their students to pass the college entrance examinations, but their curricula include a lot of higher order thinking skills, project-based, and hands-on activities. The students and teachers stay after the regular school hours to experiment with their science projects, for example. Parent involvement is a big agenda item in many private schools. English is taught in Kindergarten classes by native speakers and some of the classes are taught in English only. One such school is the Korean Minjok Leadership Academy (KMLA) established in 1996 by the president of the private corporation. It is a private high school where they use the liberalized, decentralized, nationalized, and globalized (segyehwa) curriculum. The education goals for the school are to produce Korea’s future leaders who are well equipped with the information, technology, and knowledge needed in a global society, and to instill in them a strong national identity (KMLA, 2006). At the KMLA, all courses, except Korean language and Korean history, are taught in English. Students are required to use English in the classes and outside the classroom except on weekends. English is considered the necessary means to secure Korea’s position as a first-rate world nation (Shin, 2003). It is, therefore, essential for future Korean leaders to master this global language (Kwak, 2001). English, however, is a tool for conversation, but not a means to measure the students’
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academic capability. The KMLA curriculum strongly emphasizes Korean national identity. The curriculum includes Confucian ethics, traditional music, sports, and rituals. Students are required to master how to play a traditional musical instrument in their high school years (KMLA, 2006). The KMLA produces the elite, future leaders, who do not think only of their own success, but who will benefit society. The KMLA exemplifies a larger trend in education – the well-balanced mixture of two seemingly contradictory forces, nationalism and globalization. The globalized and nationalized curricula are decentralized and liberalized in the KMLA. Korea is a leading nation in its usage of high technology and telecommunications. More than half of Korea’s 15 million households have broadband service, and more than 60% of Koreans carry cell phones. The country is so wired that an issue of Business Week called Korea ‘‘a nation of digital guinea pigs’’ (February 4, 2002 in Shin, 2003). Many Koreans send their children overseas for education. Korea has seen an influx of foreign workers over the last decade and leading Korean companies such as Hyundai Car, Samsung, and LG Electronics operate huge overseas businesses, sometimes with a greater number of employees outside than within the country. Seoul, the capital city of South Korea, has become a global city, just like New York, London, Tokyo, and/or Paris. The globalization of Korean education is a ‘‘must’’ rather than an option. The Korean companies are looking for their employees outside of the country (Kim, 2005; Shin, 2003). College graduates are now enrolled in private English institutes, hagwon, to pass a company’s entrance examination because English scores have become a most important criterion. The KMLA is an exemplary school where the curriculum provides a balance between nationalization and globalization. The KMLA also practices liberalization as well as decentralization of their curriculum. Their curriculum also provides a balance between academic or cognitive and social/ psychological development. However, when a question on social equity in education is raised, there may not be a positive answer to it. The students in KMLA must go through many screening processes to be accepted, and parents must provide financial support for ‘‘field trips,’’ and room and board, which ranges from $1,200 to $2,000 a month (Kwak, 2001) even though there is no tuition for the classes. KMLA may prepare a very few elites who are already academically and financially ready for this well-balanced education. The Korean government needs a reform to change the existing system. As the pilot study demonstrated, the current Korean education systems are still practicing centralized, controlled, and highly competitive education even more than in Japan. The goal of globalization in terms of educational
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initiatives should be to embrace the idea of new world citizens who acknowledge interdependency, act interdependently of their own nation states, and are constructing universal morality without terminating national morality (Shin, 2003). Korean education needs to even move beyond castigation of policies to a more specific analysis of a complex and evolving ‘‘interplay between globalization dynamics’’ (Kim, 2000, p. 18) and Korean structural politics. Restructuring teacher education institutes is the first thing this educational reform has to consider. Instead of depending on private schools where only a few elites can be accepted, the public education system needs teachers and administrators who can prepare students with a curriculum that has balance between globalization and nationalization. Liberalizing the curriculum and decentralizing the administration are key elements of educational reform, as is the practice of socially equal and academically rigorous curriculum. The teachers need to be trained to prepare multiple instructional strategies that foster creative minds and well balanced social and psychological attitudes that fit into our competitive world through the liberalized but rigorous curriculum. Rather than a short-term plan, the government needs a longterm reform plan that leads to student learning. For example, instead of increasing the number of the higher education institutes, they could focus on developing quality teacher education programs that can produce graduates who can raise the level of public school students to that of private schools such as the KMLA.
REFERENCES Adams, D. K., & Gottlieb, E. (1993). Education and social change in Korea. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc. Aston, W. G. (1905). Shinto (The way of the gods). New York: Longmans, Green, and Company. Berger, S. (1996). Introduction. In: S. Beerger & R. Dore (Eds), National diversity and global capitalism (pp. 1–25). Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Brown, D. (1998). Globalization, ethnicity and the nation state. Australian Journal of International Affairs, 52(1), 35–46. Diem, R., Levy, T., & VanSickle, R. (2005). South Korean education focusing on the future: An update. Available at http://www.askasia.org/Korea/r7.html. Retrieved on July 2, 2005. Fudge, J., & Glasbeek, H. (1997). A challenge to the inevitability of globalization: The logic of repositioning the state as terrain of contest. In: J. DryDyk & P. Penz (Eds), Global justice, global democracy. Winnipeg: Society for Social Studies. Fujikane, H. (2003). Approaches to global education in the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan. International Review of Education, 49(1–2), 133–152.
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Harvey, D. (1990). The condition of postmodernity. Oxford, UK: Basil Blackwell. Holtom, D. C. (1938). The national faith of Japan. New York: E. P. Dutton & Company. Hong, W. (1988). Relationship between Korea and Japan in early period: Paekche and Yamato Wa. Seoul: Ilsisa. Jeong, I., & Armer, J. M. (1994). State, class, and expansion of education in South Korea: A general model. Comparative Education Review, 38(4), 531–545. Kim, K. S. (1997). Ajig kwa-oe-rul ku-man-du-ji ma-ra. Seoul, Korea: Minumsa Publishing Company. Kim, K. S. (2005). Globalization, statist political economy, and unsuccessful reform in South Korea, 1993–2003. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 13(12), 1–24. Available at http:// epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v13n12.html. Retrieved on June 1, 2006. Kim, K. S., & Jung, J. G. (1994). Kyoyukkaehyogronyi-yi choragjog yogsajog tojabgi. Seoul, Korea: Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI). Kim, S. (1993). The historical development of Korean adult education and the problem of the rights for learning. Korean Journal of Adult Education, 18, 125–128. Kim, S. S. (2000). Korea and globalization (Segyehwa): A framework for analysis. In: S. S. Kim (Ed.), Korea’s globalization (pp. 1–28). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Kim, Y. H. (1999). Recent developments in Korean education: School effectiveness and school improvement. Journal of Korean Education Development Institute, 10(1), 5–71. Koizumi, T. (1993). Interdependence and change in the global system. Lanham: University Press of America. Korean Advisory Committee of Education (KACE). (1995). Educational reform for establishing new educational system. Seoul, Korea: KACE. Korean Minjok Leadership Academy (KMLA). (2006). Korean Minjok Leadership Academy. Available at http://www.minjok.hs.kr. Retrieved on May 5, 2006. Kuzio, T. (2002). The myth of the civic state: A critical survey of Hans Kohn’s Framework for understanding nationalism. Ethnic and racial studies, 25(1), 20–39. Kwak, D. J. (2001). The Korean Minjok Leadership Academy. Available at http://www. donga.com/docs/hagazine/new_donga/200112/nd2001120350.html. Retrieved on June 10, 2006. Lee, J. (2002). Japanese higher education policy in Korea during the colonial period (1910–1945). Education Policy Analysis Archives, 10(14). Available at http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/ v10n14.html. Retrieved on May 20, 2006. McGinn, N., Snodgrass, D., Kim, Y. B., Kim, S. B., & Kim, Q. Y. (1980). Education and economic development in the Republic of Korea. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Ministry of Education (MOE). (1998). Lifelong education white paper. Seoul: MOE. Ministry of Educating (MOE) & Human Resources Development (HRD). (2004). Education in Korea. Available at http://www.moe.go.kr/en/etc/hrd.html. Retrieved on April 22, 2004. Mittleman, J. (2000). The globalization syndrome. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Ohmae, K. (1990). The borderless world: Power and strategy in the inter-linked world economy. New York: Harper Business. Ohmae, K. (1993). The rise of region state. Foreign Affairs, 72(2), 78–87. Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). (2000). OECD Kyoyugjipyo 2000: Korean edition of education at a glance 2000. Seoul, Korea: KEDI. Park, S. (2002). The change of South Korea adult education in globalization. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 21(3), 285–294.
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Picken, S. B. (1994). Essentials of Shinto: An analytical guide to principal teachings. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. Ratinoff, I. (1995). Global insecurity and education: The culture of globalization. Prospects, 25(2), 147–174. Seth, M. J. (2001). Japan’s colonial legacy on South Korean education. The Virginia Review of Asian Studies, 3, 163–180. Seth, M. J. (2002). Education fever: Society, politics, and the pursuit of schooling in South Korea. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Shapiro, M. (2004). Review of education fever: Society, politics, and pursuit of schooling in South Korea (305pp), by Michael J. Seth (2002). Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Shin, K. S. (2003). The paradox of Korean globalization. Available at http://APARC.stanford. edu. Retrieved on June 2, 2006. Shin, S., & Koh, M. (2005). Korean education in cultural context. Available at http:// www.usca.edu/essays/vol142005/koh.pdf. Retrieved on July 6, 2005. Song, K., & Ozturgut, O. (2006). Impact of Japanese colonial missions on Korean education. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Education Research Association, San Francisco, April 6–11. The Government-General of Choson (GGC). (1935). A history of 25 year administration. Keijo, Japan: GGC. Tsunetsugu, M. (1964). Studies in Shinto thought. Tokyo, Japan: Ministry of Education. Wikipedia. (2006). Gwangju massacre. Wikipedia, The free encyclopedia. Available at http://en. wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwangju_Massacre. Retrieved on July 30, 2006.
GLOBALIZATION, EDUCATION, AND CULTURAL CHANGE IN THE NAVAJO NATION: SNAPSHOTS OF SITUATED APPROPRIATION AND ADAPTIVE INTELLIGENCE IN THE U.S. SOUTHWEST Edward J. Brantmeier ABSTRACT The situated appropriation of the content of globalization by Navajo people and institutions in their unique U.S. Southwest context is the focus of this chapter. The local is transforming the content of the global for local ends; this conversation narrative posits situated cultural exchange rather than a conversion narrative that implies a uni-directional mode of cultural assimilation. Reflections on cultural change in both formal and non-formal educational contexts based on the author’s years of experience in the Navajo Nation provide data to freshly examine a conceptual framework for explaining cultural change amid contemporary globalization. The concepts of situated appropriation, adaptive intelligence, and mutual appropriation are employed in the analysis of cultural conflict and change in this chapter. Power, Voice and the Public Good: Schooling and Education in Global Societies Advances in Education in Diverse Communities: Research Policy and Praxis, Volume 6, 367–389 Copyright r 2008 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited All rights of reproduction in any form reserved ISSN: 1479-358X/doi:10.1016/S1479-358X(08)06014-2
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INTRODUCTION The situated appropriation of the content of globalization by local Navajo people and institutions in their unique U.S. Southwestern context is the focus of this chapter. The notion that globalization is uniformly homogenizing local cultures without local re-articulations of cultural content is challenged. Brantmeier and Jones (2002) maintain that top-down narratives of the process of cultural globalization should be challenged in order to further understand complex processes of cultural exchange amid globalization. This chapter does just that by presenting how local people rearticulate the content of globalization through their own means and for their own ends. There is no denying that new economic and political motives and alignments steer the process of globalization, but instead this chapter focuses on how empowered local actors – through an adaptive intelligence – receive incoming cultural content and in turn, generate new cultural hybrids through the process of situated appropriation. This position assumes that globalization is not an inherently negative phenomenon, but rather a complex negotiation among various actors and forces. What exactly is globalization? The term globalization attempts to describe a process of increasingly interdependent human lives amid the contemporary realities of condensed space and time. With new information highways such as the Internet and technologies such as the television, the airplane, and the cell phone, the world is a much smaller place– both spatially and temporally. Undoubtedly, the processes of globalization have interdependent economic, political, ecological, and cultural dimensions that are influenced by condensed space and time. For example, increased economic trading increases cultural trading. For the purpose of this chapter, cultural globalization can be understood as the mutually occurring export and import of material goods, values, habits, and dispositions in an era of condensed space and time. How ‘‘glocal’’ cultural change occurs in a Navajo educational context is the focus of this chapter.1 An examination of both formal and non-formal education based on the author’s years of experience in the Navajo Nation2 provide insight into the phenomena of situated appropriation and cultural hybridization. In 1997, I student taught in middle school and high school English classrooms with predominately Navajo students at a Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding school3 in the Navajo Nation in the U.S. Southwest. Later in 2000, I became an Administrative Associate Instructor for Indiana University’s Cultural Immersion Projects. Associate Instructors for the American Indian Reservation Project prepare and then guide
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predominately white, Euro-American students through their student teaching experiences in communities in the Navajo Nation. During my two-year tenure with the American Indian Reservation Project, I helped guide future teachers to be culturally responsive to the unique cultural assets and needs of Navajo students. Associate Instructor duties included coteaching a year-long preparatory course at Indiana University that focused on Navajo culture and community issues that impacted the classroom. Overseeing about 50 student teachers by providing written feedback to lengthy on-site field reports and by conducting four supervisory visits to over a dozen Navajo Nation schools during that two-year period were also part of my duties. Observations and claims in this chapter stem from these experiences and subsequent engagements with scholarly literature about Native American education and contemporary globalization. How the local is re-articulating the global is vital for understanding cultural change in complex times. Considered a global society for the purposes of this chapter, the Navajo Nation has a complex history of integrating external knowledge flows, material culture, and cultural practices in processes that form unique local cultural hybrids. For example, sheep were introduced to the Navajo by the Spanish in the early years of colonialism in North America and have since become integral to the Navajo economy and to Navajo cultural practices. As a global society in the past and in the present, the Navajo Nation presents snapshots that inform our understanding of how educational sites, both formal and non-formal, are sites of organic incorporation and negotiation of culture. The term education here is understood formally as schooling and non-formally as socialization – the transmission of values, habits, and dispositions. In this chapter, the author maintains that the processes of cultural globalization, specifically the concepts of situated appropriation and adaptive intelligence, need to be further developed and nuanced to better understand cultural change in educational sites amid globalization.
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK Cultural Assimilation and Cultural Hybridity Briefly, cultural assimilation is the making of one culture like another culture or the absorbing of one culture into another. The cultural formations of the object of assimilation are subverted and dominant cultural knowledge flows, social formations, and material culture prevails.
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This uni-directional narrative of cultural change situates the power in the hands of a dominating subject, thus deeming the objects of cultural imposition helpless to momentum from the center. Such narratives just might be self-inflating in their denial of local agency to absorb and rearticulate the forces of the center. Studies of the processes of cultural change via the historical lens of colonialism and via the contemporary lens of globalization tend to focus on how dominant hegemonies are imposed on colonized or marginalized people, thus creating ‘‘abuser-victim’’ and/or ‘‘subject–object’’ dichotomies (Luke & Luke, 2000). A subject–object dichotomy posits that power flows in a uni-directional way. The use of these dichotomies squelches the realities of resistance and the re-articulations that emerge in the ever-complex process of meaning-making at the local level. Perhaps an ‘‘abuser-victim’’ narrative better explains the imposition of culture via policy and practice that occurred during an era of colonialism, but in contemporary globalization ‘‘subject–object’’ narratives not only disempower the ‘‘recipients of globalization’’ by viewing them as helpless objects on which cultural change is imposed, it reifies the actual power of the subjects – the globalizers. The very term globalization assumes and maintains the dominance of the West on the rest of the world. The validity of this assumption should be questioned. To understand the complexities and subtle nuances of cultural change, hybridity needs to be merged with conceptions of culture. Spradley (1997) conceives culture as ‘‘the acquired knowledge that people use to generate and interpret experience’’ (p. 14). This conception, coupled with a constructivist notion that acquired knowledge is not accumulated passively but socially organized and re-engineered to create new meaning by cultural members, articulates a very different view of the process of cultural change compared to what is traditionally painted in cultural assimilationist portraits. The hybridization of local and global cultures mutually occurs to form unique blends of the traditional and contemporary in an era of globalization. Cultures borrow and absorb aspects of the other – thus creating new cultural hybrids (Holton, 2000). Cultural hybridity provides a more elastic and realistic conceptual model for understanding the complexity of cultural interaction that arises when the knowledge flows and cultural practices of one culture co-mingle with another.4 Cultural hybridity embodies the notion that cultures integrate elements of the ‘‘other’’ in interactive feedback loops. Because cultural hybridity implicates more of a conversation among empowered actors than a conversion of cultures, the concept challenges the narrative that the
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‘‘subjects’’ of globalization, the ‘‘West,’’ are uniformly homogenizing ‘‘NonWestern’’ world cultures.5 The term cultural hybridity describes ‘‘cultural globalization’’ (Luke & Luke, 2000) as a process of negotiation among various empowered actors, not as a uni-directional and fatalistic conversion of one culture into another. In the conclusion of this chapter, an examination of mutual appropriation will further support the claim that this conversation narrative more accurately explains cultural exchange.
Situated Appropriation and Adaptive Intelligence Undoubtedly, individuals within the local cultures re-articulate the content of globalization, through a local lens, to create new cultural practices and knowledge flows – defined as engineered and/or conditioned ideologies for interpreting and generating experience. This conception of local agency somewhat aligns with Luke and Luke (2000) in A Situated Perspective on Cultural Globalization: We maintain that only through situated, local, and self-critical analyses, can we begin to see the two-way, mutually constitutive dynamics of local-global flows of knowledge, power, and capital, of systematic as well as unsystematic and uneven ‘‘effects,’’ and of local histories that always embed ‘‘the new’’ in existing and generative materialeconomic and cultural conditions. (p. 276)
Luke and Luke (2000) argue that Thailand’s rich history of situated appropriation of Asian and other regional cultures, and now the globalization of Western culture, more accurately describes the process of cultural globalization. The concept of situated appropriation synthesizes Luke and Luke’s (2000) notion of a ‘‘situated perspective’’ with Sutton and Levinson’s (2001) notion of ‘‘educational appropriation’’ to point at the process of local cultural interpretation and re-generation of the content of globalization. In an educational policy context, Sutton and Levinson (2001) define the word appropriation: the way creative agents ‘‘take in’’ elements of policy, thereby incorporating these discursive and institutional resources into their own schemes of interest, motivation, and action. Appropriation is a kind of taking of policy and making it one’s own. (p. 3)
Acknowledging the agency of local actors, the recipients and implementers of policy, Sutton and Levinson (2001) describe the complex process of cultural negotiation in local socio-cultural arenas while they challenge the
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validity of a top-down approach to explain the policy formulation and implementation processes. Local cultural groups, through the faculty of adaptive intelligence, adapt, modify, co-opt, and integrate the cultural content of globalization to local cultural formations, needs, and circumstances. In the context of cultural globalization, the term adaptive intelligence can be defined as an individual or cultural group’s capacity to modify, adjust, and/or co-opt changing circumstances that are presented by the interface of the global with the local. Hickman (2002) of the Centre for Dewey Studies writes: Dewey thought that the goal of life was in the growth of ‘‘intelligence,’’ which he understood as the primary means by which organisms adapt to changing environmental conditions. (p. 3)
The use of the term adaptive intelligence here aligns with Dewey’s understanding of intelligence, though it places more emphasis on the ‘‘adaptive’’ dimension of intelligence that will be explored more in-depth in this chapter. Re-thinking how local cultural groups use adaptive intelligence re-situates agency within local people and institutions and highlights the strength of the local in ‘‘glocal’’ dynamics.
GLOBALIZATION’S CONTENT IN A NAVAJO (DINE´ 6) CULTURAL CONTEXT Assimilationist Narratives in American Indian Education Reyhner and Eder’s (1992) project in their foundational piece, ‘‘A History of Indian Education,’’ appears to be the exposure of the corrosive policies of the U.S. government and the legacy of imposition of culture via educational policy and practice. Does this assimilationist narrative apply to the negotiation of cultural content occurring in the context of contemporary globalization? Does a past assimilationist narrative applied to the present depict sufficient agency to contemporary local Native American people and institutions? The answers to these questions remain ambiguous and nonetheless important because the implications suggest something about the process of cultural change. Perhaps a uni-directional, top-down imposition is not necessarily how the negotiation of cultural content occurs amid contemporary globalization.7 Reyhner and Eder’s (1992) portrayal of U.S. government and Native American relations depicts a narrative of assimilation through the means of
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major social institutions. Early attempts at ‘‘civilizing’’ and assimilating the American Indian centered on two social institutions, churches and schools. English, French, and Spanish colonial powers competed to ‘‘Christianize’’ and educate American Indians for a variety of purposes: to trade; to assimilate them into their respective cultures; and to obtain land. However, local people resisted systematic efforts at cultural assimilation. Early resilience to external forms of education can be found in Ben Franklin’s depiction of the 1744 Iroquois rejection of a U.S. governmental offer to send Iroquois children to the College of William and Mary in Virginia. Franklin (1784, as cited in Reyhner & Eder, 2004) relays the words of a defiant Iroquois leader: If the Gentleman of Virginia will send us a dozen of their sons, we will take great care of their education, instruct them in all we know, and make Men of them. (p. 194)
This Iroquois leader verbalized direct resistance to the form of education promoted by the U.S. government as well as recognition of the positive attributes an Iroquois education might offer to Colonial youth. Another example of active resistance to Colonial efforts at cultural assimilation can be found in a statement about linguistic adaptation by a Cherokee man in 1824, ‘‘We want our children to learn English so the white man cannot cheat us’’ (McLoughlin, 1984, p. 155, in Reyhner & Eder, 1992, p. 40). However, forced assimilation and relocation through U.S. government policies had negative consequences for many Native American tribes, despite significant resistance. President Andrew Jackson’s 1830 Indian Removal Act forced many American Indian tribes to relocate to Oklahoma and other designated lands. The most notable relocation march is the Cherokee ‘‘Trail of Tears’’ in which about 4,000 of 11,500 Cherokee died while traveling (Reyhner & Eder, 1992). In Oklahoma, the United States government established seminary schools to teach the relocated Native people. The 1868 federal report of the Indian Peace Commissioner’s (as cited in Reyhner & Eder, 1992) suggests: Schools should be established and children should be required to attend; their barbarous dialect should be blotted out and English should be substituted. (p. 41)
Schools were established with the intent ‘‘to civilize and Christianize the heathen’’ through religious and linguistic subjugation. Some argue (Zinn, 2003; Deloria, 2003) that first the Colonials, then the United States federal government, and various Christian religious institutions conducted a systematic campaign of cultural and linguistic genocide.
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An advocate for contemporary international movements toward assuring linguistic human rights, Skutnabb-Kangas (2003) pushes for the ‘‘unconditional right to a mother tongue medium education’’ (p. 1). Through the eyes of Skutnabb-Kangas (2003), the U.S. government’s history of mother tongue obliteration in relation to Native American people would look remarkably similar to contemporary U.S. efforts at what she claims to be linguistic genocide. Skutnabb-Kangas (2003) writes strongly about a monolingual English language campaign: Domestically, promotion and maintenance or even use of languages other than English in the United States is not supported by the federal state, and linguistic genocide in education is occurring daily and systematically in schools. (p. 1)
Monolingual attitudes and systematic policies to eliminate the mother tongue of Native American people were part of a larger campaign of total cultural assimilation.8 When conveying this narrative of cultural assimilation, Reyhner and Eder (1992) trace historic changes in U.S. government policy that directly impacted the education of American Indian students. They maintain that the creation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1870 marked an attempt to assimilate American Indian students (Reyhner & Eder, 1992, pp. 44–45). In established schools, Native tongues and cultural practices were banned. Improvements in amounts of funds for schools on tribal lands resulted from the 1934 Johnson-O’Malley Act, a program labeled part of the Indian New Deal. A twist of logic occurred in 1953 with the Termination Bill; members of the U.S. government believed terminating reservation lands would provide true ‘‘freedom’’ for Native people; these attempts at termination were ultimately defeated in federal court. The 1975 Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act was an attempt to move toward self-determination by designating and promoting more local Indian control of schools on tribal lands (Reyhner & Eder, 1992, pp. 54–55). The recent 1990s conversion of Bureau of Indian Affairs Schools into grant, contract, and/or community schools in the Navajo Nation follows this self-determination trend by changing financing in school systems and by providing for much more local and tribal control in school policies. However, this movement toward self-determination could seriously be hampered by the U.S. federal educational initiative, the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). NCLB demands adequate yearly progress in student achievement on standardized tests and assumes the power to re-structure and re-staff failing schools in Indian Country – just as it does in other failing schools around the country. A revitalized paternalism present in the current
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NCLB threatens the movement toward self-determination established by the 1975 Indian Self-Determination and Educational Assistance Act.
‘‘Power’’ in a Dichotomous Narrative Reyhner and Eder’s (1992) depiction of Native American education places the American Indian9 as the oppressed with the oppressor originally being first the Colonial powers, then the U.S. government. Such historical narratives focus on the needed exposure of corrosive U.S. government policy and the facts of cultural imposition and assimilation that arguably stripped First Nation people of cultural pride and dignity for some time. However, revitalization is occurring. In the conclusion of their more recent book, Reyhner and Eder (2004) conceptualize traditional Native culture and popular culture in binary opposition when claiming that tribal schools are renewing the traditional: Tribal schools and colleges are helping to change the negative environment on many reservations to an environment of hope. The renewal of traditional Native cultures in and out of school is reestablishing a sense of community and is fighting the materialistic, hedonistic, and individualistic forces of the popular culture. (p. 328)
This claim gives agency to local cultural institutions in the ‘‘renewal’’ of the traditional and aligns with an overarching ‘‘local agency’’ argument made in this chapter. However, the dualistic opposition of traditional culture and popular culture is an interesting construct employed to explain the tensions of change in contemporary times. It perhaps explains the type of change desired by some traditionalists, but it does not necessarily describe a blending of the traditional and popular that perhaps better explains the processes of cultural change and cultural hybridity that are occurring. There is no denying the severe damage done to and atrocities committed against Native American peoples (Wilkinson, 2005; Zinn, 2003; Deloria, 2003). The bloody and silent history of attempted cultural imposition and of the denial of fundamental human rights to Native American people by the U.S. government remain as formidable scars in the hearts of many – both in the hearts of the oppressed and the hearts of the oppressors. However, when used to explain contemporary globalization, a subject–object narrative neglects to give sufficient agency to the ‘‘local’’ in transforming the content of colonialism and assimilationist efforts. Because the intent is to expose past governmental injustice, the narrative thus follows as an abuser and victim construct. The danger in this assimilationist narrative applied to the
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processes of contemporary globalization lies in the denial of agency to local cultural actors and institutions. A focus on the strength and resiliency of Native American people challenges the effectiveness and modern realities at attempts of past cultural assimilation. Before and since the 1975 Self-determination Act, First Nation peoples adapted to external ‘‘knowledge flows’’ and practices in ways that accentuated local needs. Dichotomous historical narratives of assimilation tend to neglect the innovative and responsive integration of cultural content by Native American people. They focus solely on the power of the center to change local cultural formations via oppressive policy and practice imposed at the periphery. Such a narrative neglects local agency at the periphery and reifies the perceived power base of the center. The victimization of the ‘‘object’’ of cultural imposition perpetuates a power differential that may neglect the adaptive intelligence of local cultural actors and institutions to co-opt cultural content in a globalized world. Trends of local situated appropriation of external forms of knowledge, values, and material goods continue today. The strength of Navajo and other Native American people is abundant and invigorating.
Situated Appropriation in Formal Educational Contexts Rhodes (1994) writes of the need for school reformation in A Navajo Education System for Navajo Students: The schooling system should be developed from a Navajo approach to education, developed for and from the culture. By re-inventing schools for Navajo students instead of trying to make Navajo students fit into other schools designed for other purposes, there is a much better chance of organizing meaningful learning. (p. 40)
Evidence of a Navajo approach to education via the ‘‘appropriation’’ of the mainstream U.S. education system exists. As part of the 1997 social studies curriculum at Black Mesa Boarding School,10 Navajo students attended a Navajo language and culture class and had the option to take a Navajo Government class. However, in an essay written about school curriculum when student teaching in 1997, I am critical of the lack of Navajo cultural content integrated into the general curriculum: Currently, we [several Navajo teachers, an Anglo external consultant, and I] are working on re-structuring the curriculum here at Black Mesa Boarding School. I am an active member on the curriculum committee. The current Black Mesa curriculum is a direct adaptation of the White Ruins School curriculum. Vague, over-general and inaccessible
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objectives plague the curriculum. Worse yet, not one place in the whole guide discusses a Navajo curriculum for Navajo students. Then one more variable appears. Navajo students in the 6,7,8th grades are very polarized. Some students speak fluent English. Others are strongly in need of an English-as-a-Second language based curriculum. Currently, the curriculum targets areas that may not contribute to opening of avenues of development for Navajo children. (FA 2/25/1997)11
The ‘‘avenues of development’’ are a curriculum that embraces Navajo language and culture. I had/have conflicting feelings about teaching Navajo students in English, but recognized the perceived necessity by some Navajo parents and teachers that Navajo students need to be able to adapt to the bilingual, bicultural worlds that they live in. Trying to be supportive of Navajo culture and language as English teacher at Black Mesa Boarding School was contradictory, paradoxical, and challenging. I attended Navajo language and culture class with my students whenever possible; they thought it was funny when I mispronounced Navajo words. This tension between my English-speaking, mainstream white-American cultural background and the diversity of my students’ backgrounds was perhaps my biggest struggle when student teaching in the Navajo Nation. I include a lengthy quote here that describes the diversity within the student population and the material conditions of the Bureau of Indian Affairs federal dormitory: There are many differences among the Navajo youth of Shash Hall. Some wear Nike sneakers, sport Adidas regalia, and travel to the metropolis of Flagstaff or Gallup on weekends. Others spend days back in the twisting canyons, herding sheep, goats, and cattle, only to return home to the smell of juniper from the tin smokestacks of a redearth hogan [traditional Navajo home]. Some have gang logos carved into their hands; others wear simple clothes and give shy glances of curiosity. Most of the staff wear military faces with underlying smiles. It seems that Navajos from all walks of life converge here in pale blue Shash Hall. The material comfort of Shash Hall seems fully adequate to meet the basic needs of Navajo youth residing here. On an emotional level, Navajo youth both suffer and rejoice in this federally established dormitory. Monday morning comes and sad eyes hunker up to the steel rail [of the cafeteria where I served food to children in the morning]; the kids curiously search the kettles to see what breakfast will bring. Their eyes are sad because they have left the security zone of the home to ‘‘get an education.’’ Emotionally, the kids suffer with the morning star rising, they see the smile and feel the jabs and pokes of their Boarding School friends and the sadness of leaving home slips their minds. With new ideas stemming from their varied friends, it’s time to start the day. (FA 2/19/1997)
Student teaching at a federally established Bureau of Indian boarding school brought me face to face with a historical legacy of cultural degradation. Originally, Navajo children were taken from their families and forced to
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attend boarding schools. Linguistic and cultural assimilation policies and practice were implemented in attempts to ‘‘civilize’’ and ‘‘educate’’ a group of people that had a deep and textured cultural history. However, many contemporary Navajo Nation schools – institutions that comprise the economic backbone of many communities – have shifted their policies and practices to be more culturally inclusive and responsive. In 1997 Black Mesa Boarding School provided mandatory Navajo Language courses for its predominately Navajo students. However, the general curriculum lacked Navajo cultural content; that was part of the reason why we were re-structuring the curriculum. In other words, additive elements to the curriculum such as a Navajo Language and Culture Course offered on Fridays and the Navajo Government Course were strides to be inclusive and responsive to Navajo culture. But the general and ‘‘normal’’ school curriculum, in my assessment, seemed to be lacking in Navajo cultural content. As a white-American I struggled to find my role on the curriculum team with mostly Navajo women teachers; I also make claims about Navajo empowerment in the 1997 essay: Is it my place to suggest that the curriculum should directly state that teaching will be focused around Navajo culture? I am an Anglo student teacher; this makes my status pretty low here on the Reservation. The only way that a Navajo curriculum will be established is if a Navajo faculty member makes it so. Healing, like a curriculum guide, comes from the inside. Self empowerment is the key to success. A Navajo based curriculum implemented by a Navajo person will nurture future generations of Navajos in blooming. (FA 2/25/1997)
During a 2001 supervisory visit as an Associate Instructor for Indiana University’s American Indian Reservation Project, I re-visited Black Mesa Boarding School. Four years after I completed my student teaching, I observed that culturally relevant art activities and some language and culture courses were conducted in a hogan, a traditional Navajo octagonshaped dwelling, newly built among the drably painted, pale blue, square, cinder-blocked housing constructed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, United States Department of Interior. Things were changing at Black Mesa Boarding School; that change included more culturally responsive curriculum, pedagogy, and buildings. Several other contemporary Navajo Nation schools, through pedagogy, curriculum, and building construction and decoration, were attempting to raise Navajo cultural consciousness and pride as well. Culturally responsive and inclusive education is an interactive and often contradictory process. I also observed policies, personnel, and practices that denigrated Navajo culture. Some examples included: policies that place
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improved standardized tests scores above Navajo cultural content; a Bureau of Indian Affairs High School that denied students the right to check out American Indian books; and teachers that overtly or subtly denied Navajo language use in their classrooms.
Appropriating the Outcome-Based Learning Movement for Cultural Ends Culturally inclusive and responsive education in Navajoland comes in many forms. Outcome-based learning in U.S. schools has been coming down the educational pipeline for some time now. A focus on state standards and standardization tests aims to assure that all students acquire fundamental abilities and knowledge banks according to age-appropriate designations. Sometimes regarded as a culturally neutral endeavor because of falsely ‘‘universal’’ assumptions about ‘‘standard’’ forms of knowledge and abilities, the production and consumption of such state standards and standardized tests is highly problematic and contested cultural terrain. Nonetheless, outcome-based learning in the American mainstream has been creatively appropriated by Navajo institutions and people as a means toward cultural ends. The Dine´ (Navajo) Cultural Standards for Students (DCS), a policy document with specific cultural standards that define what it means to be Dine´ at given developmental levels, provides a powerful snapshot of situated appropriation in the Navajo Nation. In June of 2000 the governing elites of the Navajo Nation – the Office of Dine´ Culture, Language, and Community Service (2000) in collaboration with the Navajo Nation Executive Branch, education staff, Education Committee, school board associations – and other teachers and community members, created and distributed the DCS. The intent and purpose of these cultural standards are: to convey principles and to place values on the meaning of Dine´ K’ehgo Nitsahakeeesgo Bee Iina, so that learners are empowered to comprehend and respect their cultural heritage through self-identity. (p. 10)
In other words, cultural values and meaning become the social goods that are distributed to students through schools with the hopes that self-identity solidifies through comprehension and respect of tribal cultural heritage.12 The preface of the DCS labels the existing education system as ‘‘Western’’ and suggests that this system can be used: with a goal that will empower our people in westernized education while maintaining and retaining a strong bond to a unique ethnic culture. (p. 1)
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Co-opting a schooling system used historically by the U.S. government for the purposes of cultural assimilation and subjugation illustrates the practice of situated appropriation quite well. Using this ‘‘Westernized Education’’ as a means for the satisfaction of Navajo cultural ends is illustrated nicely in the Dine´ Cultural Standards for Students. Both the schooling system and national trends toward standardization of knowledge are being appropriated by Navajo institutions. Outcome-based learning in the form of cultural standards provides a snapshot of how the situated needs and desires of local Navajo institutions and people take on the form of U.S. mainstream schooling and the education therein, but the content of that education remains uniquely Navajo. The imposed policy processes and institutions of an external sociopolitical context, the United States Government in the case of the Dine´, have been used to promote Dine´ cultural heritage and foster Dine´ self-identity. Through local adaptive intelligence to the changing American educational policy environment, the transformation of the ‘‘Western’’ education system to suit local cultural needs is presently occurring. However, the Dine´ Cultural Standards for Students are meeting formidable obstacles in Navajo Nation Schools. Compliance measures in the Bush Administration influenced 2001 NCLB present potentially dangerous repercussions for Navajo schools and the cultural content of education in those schools. If adequate yearly progress is not achieved according to a prescribed percent of improvement in state standardized test scores, the federal government reserves the right to intervene through re-structuring school organization and replacing staff. In extreme cases, the threat of school closure looms on the horizon. If administrators and teachers are pressured to annually increase test scores on state standardized tests in schools that have a history of low-test scores, how much Navajo cultural content permeates the teaching and learning processes? When asked about the incorporation of Dine´ Cultural Standards for Students and Arizona state standards in her lesson planning at a 2003 national conference on education that I attended, a Navajo middle school teacher shrugged her shoulders and said, ‘‘Yah, we include them.’’ Evidence of how was lacking from her answer. The extent of inclusion of the Dine´ Cultural Standards for Students and the competition with teaching to state standardized tests complicate the incorporation of culturally inclusive and appropriate curriculum in classrooms in the Navajo Nation. Though the situated appropriation of outcome-based learning may be occurring, those who define what the ‘‘legitimate and appropriate’’ outcomes are and those
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who enforce federal compliance measures wield considerable power over the schooling process in the Navajo Nation.13
Non-Formal Education: Appropriating Material Culture On a spring 2001 supervisory trip to visit Indiana University student teachers in communities on the Navajo Nation, the author observed cultural hybrids first hand. The rainbow, sparkly side of CDs were attached to the shoulder pieces of fancy-dancers’ brightly colored regalia at a powwow at the Shiprock Fair in The Navajo Nation. As the Northern and Southern drums sang their songs, the radiant sparkles of light bolted from the CDs on the fancy-dancers’ shoulders; several dancers wore Aqua-Socks instead of more historic footwear. The situated appropriation of CDs for their sparkly qualities and Aqua-Socks as footwear provides an example of cultural hybridity. CDs used on fancy-dancer’s regalia represent the appropriation of material culture for a very different use than originally intended by the CD manufacturer. Material culture has been situationally appropriated and re-articulated for Navajo purposes. Navajo adaptive intelligence fuels this situated appropriation. Interestingly, the powwow tradition itself has origins as a cultural hybrid; in the online Encyclopedia of North American Indians (2005), it states that that local tribes appropriated the social-ceremonial gathering and gave it unique local meaning. From grass dancers of the Plains cultures to the gourd dancers originating in the Cheyenne, Kiowa, and Comanche men’s societies, tribes have put their unique marks on the now pan-Indian tradition. The powwow, traditional Navajo song and dance, and a booth that promoted Indian Rap were among the music and dance attractions at the 2001 Shiprock Fair. Local Navajo people, both adults and youth, organically incorporate elements of other cultures while celebrating a unique, situated cultural identity. The cultural symbols of mainstream media are appropriated habitually to suit local intentions, needs, and cultural constructions. As observed on a student at Many Farms High School, the Nike swoosh symbol had been appropriated. Hand-embroidered on one Navajo students hat, a feather in the shape of a Nike swoosh made a fashion statement – Navajo style. Highly sophisticated, yet seemingly simple Native American humor also co-opts acronyms. F.B.I. is normally considered the acronym for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, an agency of the United States Government.
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Written on shirts and hats, the letters F.B.I. are worn proudly by Native Americans in the Navajo Nation and in other circles. The F.B.I. shirts are translated, Indian-style, to ‘‘Fry Bread Inspector’’ or ‘‘Full Blood Indian.’’ Such creative and comical forms of resistance against a historically oppressive federal agency perhaps suggest a very different story than unidirectional cultural assimilation. Local people are not necessarily the ‘‘victims’’ of globalization, but the active creators of cultural hybrids that combine unique local symbols and practices to resist in some cases and to integrate in others, the influx of images, objects, and ideas presented through the process of globalization. The use of humor by Navajo and other Native American people acts as a tool to re-articulate oppressive historical and contemporary realities that impact people and communities today. Surely a double-edged sword, processes of cultural globalization both present opportunities for resistance and intense pressures of homogenization that result in cultural change – for the better and for the worse. For instance, Navajo language proficiency among youth is decreasing, consumerism seems to be increasing, and identity crisis seems to be prevalent. In Language Shift Among the Navajos, House (2002) paints a realistic and stark portrait of mother tongue language loss among Navajos. House maintains, within a narrative of hegemony and counter-hegemony, that the ‘‘Navajo-ization’’ of ‘‘Western’’ institutions still resides within ‘‘hegemonic containment’’ (p. 16). Though resistance to hegemonic imposition can be found in Navajo appropriations of Western schooling, the system itself remains powerful enough to continue the assimilation process. House (2002) proposes a solution to the lack of both Navajo and English language fluency in the Navajo Nation; a bicultural and bilingual ‘‘Sa’ah Naaghai Bik’eh Hozhoon Paradigm’’ (p. 91) that appears to be in congruence with the Dine´ Cultural Standards for Students. The struggle of defining, re-defining, creating, and re-creating Navajo cultural identity continues in schools and Reservation communities, as well as in cities off the Reservation where a growing number of Navajo people reside today.
Information Systems: Newspaper, Internet, and Situated Appropriation On the front page of the January 24, 2002 edition of the Navajo Times: The Newspaper of the Navajo People (Navajo Times, 2002), a photograph shows several Native American children marching. One child holds a sign with a photo of Dr. Martin Luther King imposed on an eagle head with a feather mandala next to this symbol. The sign reads, ‘‘Dream, Unity’’
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(Abasta, 2002, p. 1). Another photo shows the lighting of sweetgrass, ‘‘Lit for cleansing following a morning prayer before the start of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. march from the powwow arena to the Council Chambers at Window Rock’’ (Abasta, 2002, p. 1). Sponsored by the Native American Leadership Institute of Gallup, New Mexico, the march was a forum ‘‘devoted to equality, non-violence, social justice’’ (Abasta, 2002, p. 1). Complexly appropriated cultural symbols are illustrated in this newspaper article; Dr. Martin Luther King’s photo is imposed on an eagle head. The very use of the tribally owned and operated media to publicize such an event and a political march that illustrates cultural hybridity itself both relay how Navajo people adapt information systems to raise consciousness and to mobilize citizens to participate in transformative action. The Navajo Times can also be found on the Internet. Kellner (2000) writes: While on one level, globalization significantly increases the power of big corporations and big government, it can also empower groups and individuals who were previously left out of democratization and social justice. (p. 301)
The ‘‘March on Window Rock’’ described previously and the use of newspaper and the Internet as a means of consciousness-raising and mobilization remind us of the power of the local in the global-local dynamic. Kellner (2000) asserts the complexity of the nexus of the global and the local and the resulting homogenization and heterogeneity: Certainly, culture is especially complex and contested terrain today as global cultures permeate local ones and new configurations emerge that synthesize both poles, providing contradictory forces of colonization and resistance, global homogenization and new local hybrid forms and identities. (p. 305)
A brief examination of several Internet sites featuring Dine´ language and culture provide an example of the contradictory forces of colonization, resistance, cultural hybridity, and situated appropriation. The Thai scholar Soraj Ho"ngladarom (2000) argues that communication technologies, particularly the Internet, are not necessarily homogenizing Thai culture; rather, Thai cultural agents co-opt the Internet, to some degree, for cultural purposes in a process of negotiation between the global and the local (p. 1). Similarly, cultural actors at educational institutions such as Dine´ College in the Navajo Nation use the Internet to promote Navajo culture through their historically ‘‘Western’’ structured educational system (Dine´ College, 2005). Courses offered include a plethora of Navajo and other American Indian topics for study. Situated appropriations of schools
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and Internet sites for cultural ends indicate new forms of cultural preservation and creation, as well as new forms of resistance to colonialism. Numerous other examples of adaptive intelligence via Internet appropriation for Navajo cultural ends exist.14 Information and sound bytes from the Voice of the Navajo Nation: KTNN Radio Station (2005) can be found online. Livestock reports, rodeo reports, religion announcements, and Native music can be heard on the radio in the Navajo Nation on a daily basis. The radio station broadcasts in the Navajo language in the morning and then in a mix of Navajo and English for the rest of the day. The Cultural Heritage Preservation Institute (1998) sponsored by Dine´ College and taught by graduate students from the University of Michigan, taught both Navajo people and Anglos basic Internet skills with the aim to ‘‘document and record their cultural heritage’’ (para. 1). The Internet is being used an effective means of cultural reproduction and generation. A brief online search using the words ‘‘Navajo products’’ produces a plethora of Internet websites that include Navajo dictionaries, Navajo language kits, Navajo rugs, silvery jewelry, and more. Who operates these Internet sites and who benefits from the sale of Navajo products is another important question to be considered given a history of cultural piracy and exploitation by outsiders. From border town and Navajo Nation trading posts owned by whites,15 to the Internet sites of Amazon.com, Navajo products are marketed and sold by businesses and they garner considerable income in a global market economy.16 The use of contemporary media such as newspapers, radio stations, and the Internet as a site of Navajo cultural creation and struggle emerges as both a curse and a blessing. Media are means through which Navajo cultural is preserved, maintained, and created. Also, Navajo culture is exploited by outsiders and insiders with economic motives and interests. Cultural globalization is a two-way street, but some vehicles use more of the road than others.
DISCUSSION Mutual Appropriation and the U.S. Military A conversation analogy for describing cultural change posits an exchange, though not always equal, between two distinct primary cultures. Evidence presented here validates the claim that Navajos are situationally appropriating U.S. mainstream education trends and media technologies for
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cultural means and ends. The reverse is also true. The U.S. mainstream has appropriated Native American culture for hundreds of years. A contemporary example of mutual appropriation is the recent movie ‘‘Windtalkers’’ starring Nicolas Cage and Adam Beach. The movie commemorates the contributions of the Navajo CodeTalkers in to the U.S. campaign during World War II. The CodeTalkers were Navajo marines who used the Navajo language to help the United States gain strategic military advantage in the South Pacific during World War II. The movie tells the story of how Navajo CodeTalkers were incorporated into the U.S. marine campaign and honors Navajo contributions to U.S. military history. The U.S. military has blatantly co-opted Native American names to bolster military prowess on the battlefield. The ‘‘tomahawk’’ cruise missiles that destroyed parts of Baghdad in the ‘‘shock and awe’’ campaign as part of U.S. military aggression are named after a Native American war hatchet called the tomahawk. The ‘‘Apache’’ attack helicopter equipped with ‘‘Longbow Hellfire’’ missiles are named after the Apache tribe of the Southwest, known for its fierce warriors. The Kiowa helicopter is named after the Kiowa tribe. The U.S. military has appropriated the names of various tribes and specific traditional Native American tools, the tomahawk and the longbow. This appropriation perpetuates the noble/savage stereotype because it constructs Native Americans as noble warriors in some instances and savage in other instances. Through the eyes of many mainstream Euro-Americans, images of Native Americans ‘‘at one with nature’’ are juxtaposed by a fierce warrior ethos. Movies such as ‘‘Dances with Wolves’’ perpetuate these stereotypical images of Native Americans as both noble and savage. Such perpetuations of stereotypic images create a dualism of the ‘‘noble’’ and the ‘‘savage’’ Native American in the minds of the mainstream. The reason for sharing these examples here is twofold. The first is to stretch the boundaries of what is considered education in order to understand how larger cultural apparatuses such as the movie industry and the military-industrial complex co-opt cultural history and cultural themes – the military prowess of various Native American tribes – in the process of educating the U.S. public. The second is to suggest that perhaps situated appropriation should be labeled ‘‘mutual appropriation’’ because cultural groups that have distinctive cultural traits often borrow unapologetically from one another and the results are the creations of cultural hybrids. Mutual appropriation, though mutual implies an even exchange that needs to be scrutinized, perhaps more accurately captures the complex nexus of material culture, norms, values, habits, and dispositions occurring in processes of ‘‘glocal’’ cultural exchange.
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Adaptive Intelligence and Re-Thinking Cultural Change Narratives The narrative of the dominating and homogenizing globalizer and the passive recipient of the cultural content of globalization is a mismatch with the realities of situated appropriation in the Navajo Nation. The adaptive intelligence of actors and institutions within local cultures should not go underestimated. The content of globalization is being appropriated to situated and local needs that often escape scholarly understanding when simple ‘‘subject–object’’ binary constructs are applied to the phenomena of cultural change. The strength of the power and voice of local cultural actors and institutions might be underestimated in grand narratives about the homogenizing effects of globalization. Simultaneous processes of homogenization, polarization, reproduction, and appropriation seem to be more accurate descriptors of cultural change amid globalization. Positive and negative forces of the global impact the local, the forces of the local impact the global, and the actors within both contexts attempt to control cultural identity and promote their nested interests. Various educational sites such as schools, media, and economic markets need to be more closely examined in order to more fully comprehend the interplay of the economic, political, ecological, and cultural dimensions that comprise contemporary globalization. Such an examination might prove insightful for uncovering spaces of local resistance, agency, and integration in the portrayal of a more realistic conception of cultural change amid globalization. Adaptive intelligence in the form of the situated appropriation of dominant ideologies and hegemonic discourses fuels selfdefined change in an era of condensed time and space – an era in which the forces of homogenization are very powerful. A closer examination of cultural change in other ‘‘glocal’’ contexts might prove insightful for more clearly understanding the processes of situated appropriation and mutual appropriation. Adaptive intelligence to changing environmental circumstances not only promotes survival, but can provide the opportunity for transformative innovation leading to new conceptions of ‘‘self ’’ and ‘‘other.’’ Should change be embraced and harnessed for quickened growth, or should change be controlled and slowed to maintain existing socio-cultural and economic orders? Who decides and who should decide? The answers are intermingling, elusive, and context dependent. The simultaneous integration and resistance to the forces of globalization are intense. The adaptive intelligence of local cultural members and cultural institutions fuel
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responsiveness to the shifting cultural landscapes of a world drama brought home to everyone’s front door.
NOTES 1. ‘‘Glocal’’ here refers to the intersection of global and local dynamics. 2. The Navajo Nation is typically referred to as the Navajo Reservation by members of the Euro-American mainstream and by some Navajo cultural insiders. The term ‘‘Reservation’’ is a reference to the reserved land in ‘‘provisions’’ made by the U.S. Government to Native American people; surely those who recognize that First Nation peoples lived in the Americas for thousands of years prior to European contact debate the legitimacy of the term ‘‘Reservation.’’ The term Navajo Nation indicates the sovereign nation status of federally recognized tribal government in the United States. 3. The Bureau of Indian Affairs is part of the U.S. federal government’s Department of the Interior. The Bureau of Indian Affairs established boarding schools in the past and interacts with tribal governments and authorities. 4. Thus far, there is a focus on group to group interactions in the conceptual discussion of cultural change. Discussion of subjective or individual differences within cultural groups is also important to understand how culture changes from within rather than from interaction with external cultural groups. 5. As a counter-argument, the constructs of ‘‘Western’’ and ‘‘Non-Western’’ are argued to be mere word packets that imply and perpetuate a somewhat outdated asymmetrical power dynamic when explaining cultural change processes in an era of globalization. 6. Dine´ is the indigenous word for Navajo. Dine´ translates to ‘‘the People’’ in this indigenous language. The word ‘‘Navajo’’ was probably derived from Spanish. However, it is commonly accepted to refer to this group of people as ‘‘Navajo.’’ Some cultural insiders do demand the use of the term Dine´ . . . The terms Navajo and Dine´ are used interchangeably in this section. 7. Some would also argue that the answers to these questions reveal the political motives for the creation of an oppressed-oppressor historical narrative. Perhaps the very real material and cultural needs of the present steer the interpretation of the past. Nonetheless, economic (and military) power was unbalanced and concentrated in the hands of the U.S. Government in the l800s, up to the late 1900s, and arguably still is concentrated there. 8. Perhaps the past informs the present. Some might argue that contemporary legislation labeled ‘‘English-Only’’ policies in states such as California and Arizona as well as provisions in the federal 2001 No Child Left Behind Education Act mirror past U.S. governmental attempts at cultural assimilation via linguistic means. 9. Native American, American Indian, and First Nation people are used interchangeably here. Some people and some scholars have different preferences for a variety of reasons when choosing these terms to describe modern people with indigenous ancestry in the United States. 10. Pseudonyms are used for all place and school names to ensure anonymity of the research site.
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11. The notation FA 2/25/1997 means field assignment, conducted on February 25th, in the year of 1997. 12. The inclusion of multiple actors and interests in the creation of the DCS remains suspect. From my own observations, Navajo communities tend to be intensely local and diverse in their approaches to ‘‘traditional’’ culture and this may prove as problematic when adopting a centralized set of cultural standards. 13. Despite external pressures toward standardized knowledge and better test scores, the Navajo middle school teacher I talked to displayed multiple examples of culturally relevant pedagogy and culturally relevant student products – assignments that integrated the Navajo clan system, Navajo mathematics, and other elements of Navajo culture. Though no clear links to the DCS were made, the curriculum content and pedagogical techniques were clearly culturally inclusive and responsive. 14. In the past an interesting article about dispute over a Navajo family holding a Lakota-style Sundance on Hopi partitioned land could be found in The Navajo Times Online. Entitled ‘‘The Right to Pray,’’ the article provided an engaging snapshot of how local Navajos appropriated a ceremony from the Lakota and how they invoke the United Nations Charter, Article 18, to defend their right to hold the Sundance. 15. White people are referred to as ‘‘Anglos’’ or Bilagaana by Navajos. 16. Cultural exploitations by non-Navajos involved in the commodification of culture need to be at the forefront of a deeper analysis of the process of situated appropriation; Navajos are not the only ones who are co-opting elements of other cultures through their own means and for their own ends.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Much gratitude is extended to Michael E. Jones for the help with the development of an earlier manuscript from which this chapter sprouted. Michael and I co-presented, ‘‘Cultural Preservation within Globalization? Reflections on Education and Cultural Change in Navajoland and Thailand’’ at the 2002 Comparative and International Education Society Conference in Orlando, Florida. I am grateful to Bradley Levinson who commented on an early version of this manuscript and to the Cultural Immersion Projects at Indiana University for opportunities to experience life in the Navajo Nation.
REFERENCES Abasta, R. (2002, Jaunary 24). March, forum mark day devoted to equality, non-violence, social justice. Navajo Times: The Newspaper of the Navajo People. p. A2. Brantmeier, E. J., & Jones, M. E. (2002). Cultural preservation within globalization? Reflections on education and cultural change in Navajoland and Thailand. Presented at the Comparative and International Education Society Conference, Jacksonville, FL.
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Cultural Heritage Preservation Institute. (1998). Retrieved October 12, 2003, from http:// www.si.umich.edu/chpi/navajo/about.html Deloria, V. (2003). God is red: A native view of religion. Golden, CO: Fulcrum. Dineu College. (n.d.). The higher education institution of the Navajo. Retrieved June 15, 2005, from http://www.dinecollege.edu/ Encyclopedia of North American Indians. Powwows [Electronic Version]. Retrieved June 14, 2005, from http://college.hmco.com/history/readerscomp/naind/html/na_031300_powwows.htm Franklin, B. (1784). Two tracts: Information to those who would remove to America and remarks concerning the savages of North America. Dublin: L. White. Hickman, L. (2002). The lasting legacy of John Dewey. Boston Research Centre Newsletter, 19(Spring/Summer). Holton, R. (2000). Globalization’s cultural consequence. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 570(1), 140–152. Hongladarom, S. (2000). Negotiating the global and the local: How Thai culture co-opts the Internet [Electronic version]. First Monday, 5(8), 2000. House, D. (2002). Language shift among the Navajos: Identity politics and cultural continuity. Tucson: University of Arizona Press. Kellner, D. (2000). Globalization and new social movements: Lessons for critical theory and pedagogy. In: N. C. Burbules & C. A. Torres (Eds), Globalization and education: Critical perspectives (pp. 299–322). New York: Routledge. Luke, A., & Luke, C. (2000). A situated perspective on cultural globalization. In: N. C. Burbules & C. A. Torres (Eds), Globalization and education: Critical perspectives (pp. 275–298). New York: Routledge. Mcloughlin, W. (1984). Cherokees and missionaries. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. Navajo Times: The Newspaper of the Navajo People. (2002). January 24th, p. 1. Office of Dineu Culture, Language, and Community Service. (2000). Dineu Cultural Standards for Students (Available from the Division of Dineu Education, Window Rock, AZ 86515). Reyhner, J., & Eder, J. (1992). A history of Indian education. In: Teaching American Indian students (pp. 33–58). Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. Reyhner, J., & Eder, J. (2004). American Indian education: A history. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. Rhodes, R. W. (1994). A Navajo education system for Navajo students. Journal of Navajo Education, 12(1), 40–46. Skutnabb-Kangas, T. (2003). Intercultural cooperation without linguistic human rights – a recipe for exclusion? Proceedings of the UNESCO Conference on Intercultural Education. Jyvaskyla, Finland. Spradley, J. (1997). Culture and ethnography. In: J. Spradley (Ed.), Conformity and conflict: Readings in cultural anthropology (9th ed., pp. 18–25). Boston: Little, Brown. Sutton, M., & Levinson, B. (Eds). (2001). Policy as practice: A sociocultural approach to the study of educational policy. Westport, CT: Ablex. Voice of the Navajo Nation: KTNN Radio Station. Retrieved on June 15, 2005, from http://www.ktnnonline.com/index.html Wilkinson, C. (2005). Blood struggle: The rise of modern Indian nations. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. Zinn, H. (2003). A people’s history of the United States. New York: Perennial Classics.
GLOBALIZATION’S STRATEGIC UNION: DECENTRALIZATION, EFFICIENCY, AND THE IMPLICATIONS FOR EDUCATIONAL GOVERNANCE IN SPAIN Laura C. Engel INTRODUCTION In recent years, there have been major changes in educational governance and the organization and management of primary and secondary education. This is particularly the case as indicated by debates and deliberations over notions of ‘‘good governance’’ and ‘‘public management,’’ accountability, transparency, effectiveness of public services, performance, and the generation of benchmarks and cross-national comparative data. Among these trends is the debate over educational decentralization, which in the past several decades has become a mode of governance strongly advocated by international policy organizations, such as the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), International Monetary Fund
Power, Voice and the Public Good: Schooling and Education in Global Societies Advances in Education in Diverse Communities: Research Policy and Praxis, Volume 6, 391–417 Copyright r 2008 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited All rights of reproduction in any form reserved ISSN: 1479-358X/doi:10.1016/S1479-358X(08)06015-4
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(IMF), World Bank, and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural (UNESCO). Educational decentralization is often promoted to enhance local and subnational political power, respond more effectively to local and sub-national matters, reorganize educational finance for greater efficiency and equity, increase educational quality and innovation, and overall, create a more effective educational system. This is particularly the case as educational systems are facing global pressures to increase educational enrollments and create flexible, innovative human capital to meet the demands of the knowledge-based economy (OECD, 1998). Against this backdrop, this chapter examines issues surrounding primary and secondary educational decentralization in order to better understand the complex pressures of globalization on educational governance, especially as it pertains to social good and social equity. Exploring the terrain of global pressures and educational decentralization, I argue that global ideological discourses are increasingly advocating educational decentralization in the name of efficiency. Ultimately, this has significant implications for realizing goals of social good and social equity, as well as undermining the potential for increased autonomy of local and sub-national educational decision-making. The case of educational decentralization in Spain is explored in detail in order to extend analysis of global pressures on new forms of educational governance.
DECENTRALIZATION New forms of governance have become a central topic in educational reform debates in systems around the world. A World Bank (2005) report stated that [t]he past decades have witnessed significant changes in the way legislation has been used to regulate education—changes in resource control and utilization, and movement toward the devolution and decentralization of school administration. New management practices at the central and local levels have been introduced to support the implementation of these changes. (pp. 167–168)
Underlying reforms of educational governance are fundamental aims of education, including the enhancement of social good and social equity. As an example, Mark Bray (1999) discussed issues surrounding educational governance as being about ‘‘matters of control, about the distribution of resources, and, in the education sector, about access to opportunities that
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can fundamentally influence the quality of life for both individual and social groups’’ (p. 227). Central to these views on educational governance and the fundamental aims of education is decentralization. One of the most promising and conflicting aspects of examining educational decentralization involves its very usage and underlying meanings. The most readily assumed view is that with decentralization, there is increased citizen participation, local control, ‘‘bringing the government to the people,’’ and an overall enhancement of democratic principles. However, decentralization is also used as a strategy of governance, in which it is believed that less central bureaucracy enhances system efficiency. Likewise, decentralization also may signify a strategy of fiscal management in order to ease the financial burden of the central state, to generate greater public expenditure on education through the transfer of financial responsibilities to local and sub-national levels, or simply as means of achieving greater efficiency in fiscal matters. In both scholarly literature and policy documents, multiple meanings, such as those above, are often blurred into a single definition of decentralization as a transfer of educational responsibility and management from central to ‘‘subsidiary levels of government, such as states and municipalities’’ (Alexander, 2002, p. 27). Moreover, it is frequently the case that both decentralization and devolution are used as ‘‘catch-all term[s] for the granting of greater decision-making authority and autonomy’’ (OECD, 1995, p. 157). Given the wide variety of uses and meanings of decentralization,1 I propose several definitions, as noted in Table 1. The first definition, political decentralization or devolution, signifies that the central state transfers major decision-making power to sub-national and local levels. In educational governance and management systems, when a form of political decentralization is advocated, it is often associated with efforts of democratization to maximize the participation of citizens (Hanson, 2000; Rizvi, Engel, Rutkowski, & Sparks, 2005; Rondinelli, 1990). As such, political decentralization includes a promotion and reinforcement of democratic ideals, greater receptiveness to local needs, capabilities of addressing local problems, and empowerment at a community level (Astiz, Wiseman, & Baker, 2002). The push toward political decentralization may also stem from pressures emanating from sub-national and local levels based on particular political histories and linguistic and cultural heritage. Examples of politically motivated decentralization include Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Russia, and the Sudan (Bray & Mukundan, 2003). In terms of administrative or functional decentralization, there is a transfer of central agency responsibilities, managerial tasks, and funding
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Table 1.
Definitions of Decentralization.
Political decentralization or devolution
Significant power shifts away from central governments to local and sub-national levels for the purpose of enhancing democratic participation, local control, and community decision-making. Greater reinforcement of democratic ideals, greater receptiveness to local needs, and empowerment at a community level Administrative or functional Transfer of central agency responsibilities and managerial tasks decentralization to local and sub-national level government agencies for the purpose of efficiency, accountability, good governance, and public management. It has also been referred to as ‘‘centrally controlled, decentralized system’’ Fiscal or financial The central government no longer collects and distributes decentralization funding sources. Local and sub-national agencies control the collection and distribution of their own financial resources for greater efficiency, management, and the generation of additional revenue Source: Original table copyright UNESCO has been adapted with permission, both for print and electronic versions, from Rizvi, Engel, Rutkowski, and Sparks (2005).
allocations to local level government agencies (Hanson, 2000; Rizvi et al., 2005; Rondinelli, 1990). However, sub-national and local systems of educational governance are more likely to be ‘‘steered from a distance,’’ according to priorities of the central state and global pressures. One illustration, among others, is the New Labor era in England, in which education was decentralized, yet remained under the strict control of the central government (Biesta, 2004). Under this type of governance, local and sub-national educational systems are held to increased accountability standards by the central state. Often efficiency in governance is the cited reason underlying administrative decentralization. Fiske (1996) has argued that the transfer of responsibilities to ‘‘regional or local levels will result in a more efficient system because it eliminates overlays of bureaucratic procedure and motivates education officials to be more productive’’ (p. 25). Advocated in the name of efficiency, administrative decentralization is often linked to technologies of accountability and transparency as a part of the broader notions of public management and/or good governance. Sub-national and local governments may experience an increase in their capabilities and competencies for governing and decision-making. However, these capabilities function within a particular context of unification, accountability, and work toward a set of standard benchmarks and goals dictated from a central
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administrative body. This is often linked to the changing needs of the central state, as well as its fiscal organization. It is typically argued that in educational policy reform efforts, administrative decentralization requires the application of a form of fiscal or financial decentralization to be applied. As one example, Behrman, Deolalikar, and Soon (2002) stated that both administrative decentralization and fiscal decentralization have to be implemented together in order to achieve effective end results. Moreover, pressures leading towards administrative decentralization are closely related to those of fiscal decentralization. Fiscal decentralization entails a transfer of power over the generation and distribution of financial resources to local and sub-national levels. This signifies that the central government may no longer collect and distribute funding sources; therefore, local and sub-national agencies control the collection and distribution of their own financial resources. While there may be multiple, diverse financial restructurings that fall under the general umbrella of fiscal decentralization, it is often an attempt to increase the costeffectiveness of education and generate greater revenue. One clear example is the shift toward fiscal decentralization in the Brazilian education system in the 1970s and 80s (Gorostiaga Derqui, 2001). Given the arguments surrounding fiscal decentralization of greater efficiency and effectiveness (including greater cost-effectiveness), it is noteworthy that fiscal decentralization reforms may not actually lead to an increase in educational spending. Drawing on the example of Brazil, data indicate that overall educational expenditure at the federal level was reduced from $8.1 billion to $3.9 billion between the years of 1988 and 1991, while the portion paid by municipalities rose to $4.7 billion from $3.2 billion (Behrman et al., 2002, p. 31). Still, the federal cut in public expenditure in education resulted in a net $2.7 billion loss. Therefore, even with increased local and sub-national funding, overall public expenditure in education may decrease, leaving public education systems at the primary and secondary levels without adequate funding. As local and sub-national levels do not always have sufficient resources to put into schools, goals to enhance social good and social equity may be undermined. Privatization may also become a readily advocated and accepted option as educational systems face increased educational demands and local and sub-national financial resources are strained. Similar to administrative decentralization, fiscal decentralization is a response to the changing organization of the state. Fiscal decentralization is often advocated in conditions in which the central state is unable economically to supply adequate public expenditure in education. In this
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way, a scaled-back role of the central state, in the generation, collection, and distribution of financial resources, provides increased financial responsibility at sub-national and local levels. However, this does not necessarily signify an increase in local or sub-national decision-making over the ways in which funding resources are spent and/or control over policy production. Similar to administrative decentralization, there are typically accountability and transparency strategies in place to audit the ways in which financial resources are allocated. A brief example drawn from the case of fiscal decentralization in the Philippines’ education system provides another illustration. Under the Local Government Code of 1991, fiscal decentralization was implemented, followed by large increases in local level expenditures on education. Behrman et al. (2002) wrote ‘‘local government expenditures on education rose nearly sevenfold – from P0.8 billion in 1991 to P5.7 billion in 1996. This resulted in a large increase in the percentage of public spending on education accounted for by LGUs – from about 2.1 percent in 1990 to 8.3 percent in 1994’’ (p. 34). However, the authors went on to note that the central government in the Philippines still maintained all governmental responsibilities in education. In fact, some central governments take a stance in prohibiting local level policy production, in areas of setting standards and/or making decisions over the curriculum (Behrman et al., 2002). Even with increased fiscal responsibilities at local and sub-national levels, the state maintains an important role in policy production, which has particular implications for local and sub-national decision-making. Clearly, this form of decentralization undertaken is administrative, in which local-levels are increasingly responsible for fiscal matters, although they remain ‘‘steered’’ by the state in matters of decision-making, standard-setting, and financial matters. In fact, in many examples, fiscal responsibilities decentralized to sub-national and local levels are mandated by central state governments. This leaves sub-national and local levels to gain little autonomy over educational decision-making matters. While these three conceptions of decentralization are helpful in framing underlying purposes, meanings, and conditions of educational decentralization, it is important to note that decentralization is above all a dynamic and complex process, and not a static concept (Bray & Mukundan, 2003). It is clear that in the process of educational decentralization, there are multiple pressures, including historic and contextual specificities, which shape the form decentralization takes. As such, one, two, or all three of the above conceptions of decentralization may be combined in the process of educational decentralization. In order to illustrate the complexity surrounding the
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impact of global pressures on educational governance, empirical evidence will be drawn from the case of decentralization in Spain, which has become one of the most politically and educationally decentralized states in Europe. As such, it is a clear and interesting example of new forms of governance emerging in relation to global pressures. However, first drawing on these conceptions of decentralization, the following section examines the impact of global processes on forms of educational governance.
GLOBAL PROCESSES AND EDUCATIONAL DECENTRALIZATION While it is clear that decentralization is utilized in education systems in different contexts and for multiple purposes, the ways in which scholars have framed and conceptualized educational decentralization has been as a fluctuating relationship between the ‘‘center’’ and ‘‘periphery.’’ For example, Karlsen (1999) wrote, ‘‘[t]he term ‘decentralization’ has no precise meaning, but normally refers to a spectrum of phenomena that have one thing in common: they all refer to a dynamic relationship between the center and periphery’’ (The Phenomenon of Decentralization section, para. 3). However, global pressures on education are vastly changing and undermining conceptions of center and periphery in issues of educational governance, and making processes of policy production increasingly complex. This is clear with the increasing pressures on states to reorganize and reconfigure themselves in relation to mounting global pressures, which has profoundly impacted the forms and structures of educational governance. Scholars have discussed decentralization as a governance strategy related more broadly to the deregulation of the state (Kamat, 2000; Karlsen, 2000). In a post-Fordist economy in which employers seek to cheapen labor costs and governments are pressured to scale back on public service expenses, while looking to increase efficiency of these services, new forms of governance are required. This includes the structure, organization, and management of primary and secondary education. Beginning in the 1980s, states were ‘‘rolled-back’’ from the public sector to create a leaner, more efficient government system (Tickell & Peck, 2003). The scaling-back of the state in the public sector has arguably had an impact on the decentralization of public education, often leaving fiscal and administrative responsibilities to sub-national or local levels. In relation to global pressures on the role and
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organization of the state in educational policy production, Kamat (2000) wrote: decentralization portends a different configuration of state sociospatial organization to manage the precarious equilibrium of global capital trade, investment, and speculation. Such a configuration is one in which the state is at once decentered by opening the state to multiple other actors who must coordinate and conduct the everyday business of education and simultaneously, is strengthened by organizing the field of possibilities, and laying the boundaries for local policy. (pp. 6–7)
Additionally, frameworks of center and periphery are no longer appropriate in analyses of educational decentralization, as policy production involves a ‘‘multiplication of all kinds of governance,’’ including institutions of the state apparatus, intergovernmental organizations (IGOs), supra-state organizations, firms, corporations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), social movements, and local citizens (Rosenau, 2003, p. 230). Analyses of the diverse and complex ways in which global pressures impact educational decentralization must take into account these various actors, which ultimately do not fit within center and periphery frameworks. Furthermore, in recent years, it is clear that international policy organizations have become important players, entering into policy debates as central actors, and shaping new governance terrains in education (Dale & Robertson, 2002; Henry, Lingard, Rizvi, & Taylor, 2001). It is worth mentioning that global pressures on state policy production have increasingly led to the cooperation and participation of state, sub-national, and local governments in international and multi-lateral policy organizations. This includes their educational policy programs, which are mechanisms of aligning policies with one another, sharing ‘‘best’’ practices, and initiating a set of common performance benchmarks and indicators. Of the many examples is the Open Method of Coordination (OMC) in European Union (EU) countries. The OMC is a forum for constructing and aligning the education systems of EU Member States through the use of a common set of benchmarks, objectives, and best practices. In these international and multilateral policy environments, it is often the case that educational decentralization is strongly advocated as a sound educational practice. It is often the case that administrative forms of educational decentralization are more likely to be implemented. With the increase in pressures on states to participate in international programs of performance indicators and benchmarks, such as the Programme for International Student Achievement (PISA) and Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), this can further pressure the alignment of sub-national and
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local standards with international performance indicators. Therefore, even with increased pressure to decentralize education as a best practice, local and sub-national levels must align by state-driven objectives, goals, and standards in light of international and multi-lateral educational programs. In addition, international policy organizations have placed pressures on states to prioritize primary education for all. As a result, one of the consequences is the increased demand on primary and secondary educational systems, which in turn is reconfiguring educational governance. One clear illustration is the Millennium Development Goals and the World Education Forum’s Education For All (EFA) goals, which include the achievement of universal primary education by 2015. One of the deep-seated underlying aims of these projects is to increase and enhance the social good and social equity of educational opportunities. In light of this global goal, there are increasing pressures on state education systems to advance the participation of all students, both girls and boys, in primary education. In advocating compulsory and in some cases, free compulsory education for all students at the primary level, there is a massive increase in demand on public education systems (Rizvi et al., 2005). Table 2 illustrates the change in
Table 2. Net Enrollment Ratio in Primary Education: Primary-Level Enrollees per 100 Students of Enrollment Age.
World Developing Regions Northern Africa Sub-Saharan Africa Eastern Asia Southern Asia South-Eastern Asia Western Asia Oceania Commonwealth of Independent States Commonwealth of Independent States, Asia Commonwealth of Independent States, Europe Developed Regions Least Developed Countries Landlocked Developing Countries Small Island Developing States
1990/1991
2001/2002
Change
81.6 79.5 81.7 53.9 97.2 72.7 92.4 81.0 74.2 89.0 84.7 91.1 96.2 53.0 54.1 66.1
84.2 82.6 91.9 62.2 94.9 79.3 90.9 82.9 76.0 91.1 94.4 88.3 95.7 62.0 64.9 82.9
2.6 3.1 10.2 8.3 2.3 6.6 1.5 1.9 1.8 2.1 9.7 2.8 0.5 9 10.8 16.8
Source: United Nations Statistics Division (2005). World and Regional Trends. http:// unstats.un.org/unsd/mi/mi_worldregn.asp
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regional net enrollment ratio in primary education from 1990/1991 to 2001/2002. Regions making the largest increase in primary school enrollments include the two regions in Africa, Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries, and Small Island Developing States. These data must also been seen in the context of global pressures to increase educational access of girls. Table 3 illustrates the ratio of girls to boys in primary education from 1990/1991 and 2001/2002. In most regions of the world, the ratio of girls to boys in primary education illustrates that participation of girls is increasing, with large gains in Northern Africa, Eastern and Southern Asia, and Least Developed Countries. The increase in girls’ education at the primary level is not surprising in the context of global pressures on states to provide education ‘‘for all’’ at the primary level, as well as the increase in attention given to gender equality and equity in education (Rizvi et al., 2005). With the growth of educational demand, as illustrated in Tables 2 and 3, states continue to struggle with concerns over educational governance and the management of educational services, particularly in light of educational aims of social good and social equity, as well as social efficiency. Table 3.
Ratio of Girls to Boys in Primary Education.
World Developing Regions Northern Africa Sub-Saharan Africa Latin America and the Caribbean Eastern Asia Southern Asia South-Eastern Asia Western Asia Oceania Commonwealth of Independent States Commonwealth of Independent States, Asia Commonwealth of Independent States, Europe Developed Regions Least Developed Countries Landlocked Developing Countries Small Island Developing States
1990/1991
2001/2002
0.89 0.87 0.82 0.83 0.98 0.93 0.76 0.96 0.83 0.90 0.99 0.99 1.00 0.99 0.78 0.81 0.96
0.93 0.92 0.93 0.86 0.98 1.00 0.85 0.97 0.89 0.93 0.99 0.98 0.99 1.00 0.87 0.85 0.97
Change 0.04 0.05 0.11 0.03 0.00 0.07 0.09 0.01 0.06 0.03 0.00 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.09 0.04 0.01
Source: United Nations Statistics Division (2005). World and Regional Trends. http:// unstats.un.org/unsd/mi/mi_worldregn.asp
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The mass increase in primary education enrollments has placed a great deal of pressure, both financially and administratively, on state systems. Also related to the increase in demand on primary education is a subsequent pressure on secondary education, which has particular implications for governance. This is specifically the case in states with limited educational budgets. The World Bank (2006) has addressed this point, stating that: The escalating demand for secondary education increases the pressure on national budgets in an already constrained financial environment . . . Nations must find new ways of increasing funding for secondary education through public, private, or community sources, and at the same time, maximizing efficiency and effectiveness in resource allocation and utilization. (Financing section, para. 1)
Above all, it is argued that the increase in educational demand at primary and secondary levels requires new forms of educational governance, of which decentralization is often advocated and utilized in state education systems around the world. OECD (2004) data illustrated that in four educational areas: the organization of instruction, personnel management, planning and structures, and resources, all 25 OECD countries included in the data set had some form of educational decentralization, whether at a state, provincial/ regional, sub-regional, local, or school level. Moreover, an EFA Global Monitoring Report of 2003–2004 presented data that ‘‘80% of developing countries, plus some of the transitional economies of Eastern and Central Europe, are experimenting with some form of decentralization’’ (p. 20). The report went on to state ‘‘In 1999, 96 out of 126 countries had at least one elected sub-national level of government, while 42 countries had two or more levels’’ (p. 20). These data suggest that educational decentralization is a significant process of reconfiguring educational governance around the world. As briefly discussed above, part of this pressure also stems from international policy organizations, which are pressing for a particular mode of educational decentralization more aligned with a social efficiency view of education.
DECENTRALIZATION: A SOCIAL EFFICIENCY PERSPECTIVE International policy organizations, such as the OECD, IMF, World Bank, and UNESCO advocate for increased decentralization as a form of improving educational governance and increasing both efficiency and
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effectiveness of educational opportunities and resources. Broadly stated, the World Bank’s position on educational governance is directly related to its conception of the organization and management of the state. The World Bank advocates that the state requires a minimalist role as ‘‘a strong and interventionist state is . . . said to hinder rather than promote economic growth and the general well being of the population’’ (Kamat, 2000, p. 1). In this framework, their position on educational governance is related to the principles of administrative, as well as fiscal decentralization. The World Bank (2006) has discussed governance in secondary education, noting that: Long-established forms of governance based on a system of publicly authorized, publicly funded, and publicly operated schools supported by centrally defined norms and regulations are being replaced by an array of governance arrangements in which the central government continues to play a central role in steering and monitoring the system, but lower-level governments and private sector share in the funding and operation of schools. (Governance section, para. 1)
The World Bank encourages flexibility of educational governance in response to a changing state structure and demands of the global marketplace. Adding to this perspective are policy reforms advocated by the Washington Consensus. Although the term Washington Consensus often is used to represent neoliberal globalization and neoliberal policy, the Washington Consensus is a term, originally developed by John Williamson (1990), in the promotion of a series of ten reforms. These reforms, as outlined in a World Bank (2000) Annual World Poverty Report include: fiscal policy discipline, the redirection of public spending toward education, health and infrastructure investment, tax reform and broadening the tax base and cutting marginal tax rates, interest rates that are market determined and positive (but moderate) in real terms, competitive exchange rates, trade liberalization, meaning the replacement of quantitative restrictions with low and uniform tariffs, openness to foreign direct investment, privatization of state enterprises, deregulation, which signifies the abolition of regulations that impede entry or restrict competition, except or those justified on safety, environmental and consumer protection grounds, prudential oversight of financial institutions, and legal security for property rights. Based on these policies, prescriptions for economic policies of deregulated, liberalized markets, increased privatization, and the model of a scaledback state government were widely issued in countries around the world (Nederveen Pieterse, 2004). Central to the Washington Consensus is the
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attention given to efficient public services and resources, with adequate systems of accountability, which the IMF refers to in terms of ‘‘transparency’’ of financial markets and the World Bank describes as ‘‘good governance,’’ in its concern with enhancing accountability within other economies. Of these principles, examples can be noted particularly in educational governance within the application of a Structural Adjustment Program in New Zealand from 1984 to 1990 (Kelsey, 1995), the 1988 Reform Act in Thatcher’s England (Biesta, 2004), Latin American states (Gorostiaga Derqui, 2001), and in developing countries. Fundamental in these reconfigurations of educational governance are forms of both administrative and fiscal decentralization. In examining the OECD in light of educational decentralization, their position is illustrated clearly in a 1995 report, Governance in transition: Public management reforms in OECD countries. In the report, there is an outline of practices of effective management and governance, in which accountability, transparency, and decentralization, it is argued, are central practices of good governance. The overarching conception of reform for educational governance in public systems is efficiency. This is a cornerstone of principles of New Public Management, which has been considered a global trend in governance encompassing principles, such as a reduction in public spending, stress on efficiency and output, and an overarching framework geared toward global competition (Hood, 1991). The principles of New Public Management, in light of educational governance, focus on social efficiency and overall effectiveness of education systems. Decentralization is advocated in order to achieve both greater efficiency, as well as a mechanism for cutting back on public expenditure. Given the focus on efficiency, under New Public Management pressures, educational governance structures are governed as a ‘‘centrally controlled decentralized system,’’ which is often the case with administrative and fiscal decentralization. As noted in the examples above, efficiency is often the underlying rationale for international policy organizations, which in turn, press for educational decentralization. This general view was summed up well by Behrman et al. in a 2002 Asian Development Bank (ADB) report, ‘‘decentralization results in the elimination of superfluous layers of bureaucracy, thereby improving the chains of command in decision-making and delivering a larger proportion of financial and human resources directly to local governments, schools, and students’’ (p. 24). The overarching concern is creating more efficient and effective educational systems by scaling-back on central administrations. In addition to principles of
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effectiveness and efficiency, international policy organizations often advocate educational decentralization to enhance the overall quality of education, including goals of social good and social equity. However, it is noteworthy that international policy organizations often situate quality as stemming from increased efficiency. For example, UNESCO, in the EFA Global Monitoring Report (2003–04) stated that ‘‘[d]ecentralization for better education rests primarily on the assumption that the quality of education will be improved as a result of greater efficiency in the use of resources and better responsiveness to specific problems’’ (UNESCO, 2003–2004, p. 19). It is clearly stated in this report that the enhancement of quality is linked to the increased efficiency that educational decentralization provides. In this case, decentralization is assumed to unite both quality and efficiency together. Decentralization is also thought to increase parental and community-level participation, which in turn creates additional pressures of accountability and quality assurance. It is believed that the added pressures of accountability will spark greater performance and educational achievement among all students. Many large urban school districts advocate decentralization, citing these very reasons. The case of the 1988 reform efforts in the Chicago Public School system in the US is one illustration of the aspiration for a better quality education through decentralization. A more recent example from the US is the post-Katrina developments in the New Orleans public education system. In a city and state faced with economic crisis, following Hurricane Katrina, decentralization is advocated as a core mechanism for the re-opening of public schools, and a key ingredient in the rebuilding of the Crescent City. Similarly, in facing global pressures to reconfigure governance and financial structures, many systems look to decentralization to increase the quality, effectiveness, and efficiency of primary and secondary education. This is especially the case in areas facing economic crisis. As mentioned above, administrative and fiscal decentralization are often means to meet the educational demands in states simultaneously facing fiscal crisis and/or pressures to scale-back on public expenditure. Although pressures vary, many state systems around the world show an increase in fiscal decentralization. Paqueo and Lammert (2000) have argued that decentralization is often employed as it is thought to ‘‘generate revenues for the education system by taking advantage of local sources of taxation, as well as reduce operating costs . . . This rationale is particularly appealing for developing countries, since they often find themselves faced with severe financial constraints’’ (p. 1). Furthermore, the EFA Global Monitoring
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Report of 2003–2004 illustrated that in developing and transitional economy countries in 1997, ‘‘52 countries had a measure of fiscal decentralization’’ (p. 20). Decentralization of financial and administrative responsibilities is often the case when states are unable to meet the demand placed on educational systems. One example is the case of Indonesia, which in a UNESCO (1999) document, the Director-General of primary and secondary education stated, ‘‘decentralization is a must,’’ and also noted that, ‘‘[w]hat the [Asia financial] crisis has done is speed up the process’’ (Indonesia decentralizes section, para. 5). It is clear that in states facing economic crisis, local, sub-national, and community financing of education is implemented to meet the increase in educational demand (Bray, 1996). Additionally, Behrman et al. (2002) discussed community financing as a form of fiscal decentralization. The authors made a similar argument that due to economic crisis, states are no longer able to meet the financial needs of primary and secondary education. Thus, fiscal decentralization, and in particular local and community-based financial arrangements are advocated. As one example, communities of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) employed ‘‘41 percent of all full-time primary teachers and 10 percent of all full-time secondary teachers . . . [and i]n Nepal, communities operated 18 percent of secondary schools in 1991 with little or no support from the Government’’ (Behrman et al., 2002, p. 27). Therefore, administrative and fiscal forms of educational decentralization often are implemented according to the changing structure and organization of the state in light of global pressures. In order to further analyze new forms of educational governance emerging in light of global processes, I have selected the case of educational decentralization in Spain as one empirical illustration. This case study clearly has specific historical contingencies, which shape and impact the particular forms of educational decentralization implemented. Nevertheless, it offers a rich illustration of the impact of globalization and the changing role of the state on new forms of educational governance, particularly in light of goals to enhance social good, social equity, and social efficiency within primary and secondary education. It also illustrates the overlap and tensions between political, administrative, and fiscal decentralization.
SPAIN Over the past three decades, Spain’s democratization efforts have vastly changed the structure of the Spanish state from strict centralization to a territorially and politically decentralized organization of 17 autonomous
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communities (CCAA). In the process of democratization, a mass primary and secondary education system was also developed. The reinvention of the Spanish state (Engel, 2007) and the construction of a mass education system generate and are clearly generated by processes of decentralization. After being centrally ruled by a fascist dictator, General Francisco Franco, from 1939 to 1975, Spain’s transition to democratization and decentralization is often regarded as the ‘‘Miracle’’ model. This ‘‘Miracle’’ is most recently discussed in the context of the transition of Central and Eastern EU countries once behind the Iron Curtain of communism. With the adoption of the Spanish Constitution into law in 1978, Spain has been internationally commended for the peaceful and eased embracing of a democratic organization and civic values (Hanson, 2000). These changes stand in stark contrast with the social, cultural, and political vision that underpinned the Francoist state and the Spanish educational system for almost 40 years. These changes also illustrate the dramatic pendulum swings between centralization and decentralization that have continued to shape the organization of the Spanish ‘‘state’’ since the 15th century, and Spanish educational governance since the mid-19th century. After centuries of conflict amongst Spain’s diverse territories held together since the 15th century by the Spanish Monarchy, the French Bourbon Monarchy attempted to enforce a centralized Spanish state structure. These attempts were met by opposition mainly from Catalonia and the Basque Country on the grounds of their respective cultural and linguistic heritage. These regions each have undergone periods of increased autonomy, continuously followed by periods of strict centralization. Examples of shifts toward centralization include the outlawing of Catalonia’s political institutions in the 1714 ‘‘Nueva Planta Decree,’’ and the revoking of the ‘‘fueros’’ in the Basque Country in the laws of 1838 and 1876. In the processes and aftermath of the loss of autonomy and independence in these regions to centralized rule, there were efforts of resistance and attempts to regain greater decision-making powers. Indeed, beginning in the mid-19th century, there were calls for greater decentralization and the construction of a Spanish federal state. Paul Heywood (1995) noted that ‘‘most [of these attempts] have ended in failure’’ and shifts toward decentralization were most often followed by strict and repressive militarized rule (p. 142). Nonetheless, Spanish political processes at the turn of the 20th century were stamped with pressures emanating from Catalonia and the Basque Country to regain political power. This movement lasted until 1925, with the first dictatorship of General Primo de Rivera, who rejected the regional claims of autonomy and self-government.
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Primo de Rivera’s dictatorship (1923–1930) was followed by another stage of decentralization, the Second Spanish Republic. Although brief, the Second Spanish Republic is of great importance to understanding the current state of decentralization in Spain. The democratically elected Second Spanish Republic lasted from 1931 to 1936, followed by the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939. In the Second Republic, sub-national regions, such as Catalonia and the Basque Country were formally recognized. For example, the Statute of Autonomy in Catalonia was established in 1932, the Statute of Autonomy of the Basque Country was established in 1936, and the Statute of Autonomy of Galicia was developed although never fully brought to fruition during the Second Republic. However, the ideological and political turmoil of the first third of the 20th century that eventually led to Civil War between the nationals (led by Franco) and the Republic (supporters of the Second Republic), ended in strict centralization and uniformity across the Spanish territories. Following the Civil War of 1936–1939, the Spanish regions were largely treated as occupied territories. After the Civil War victory in 1939 of Franco and the nationalists, backed by the old aristocracy, upper class, and the Catholic Church, the Francoist regime was established. The Francoist regime was interested in constructing a state that would reflect the following central values: nationalist rhetoric, little political and cultural freedom, the creation of a strong central state concentrated on the political and military power of one man, ‘‘el generalı´smo,’’ the declaration of the state as officially Catholic, and cultural and educational control of the Catholic Church (Mun˜oz & Marcos, 2005, p. 151). This resulted in a lack of political mobility among citizens, and intellectual and cultural poverty as a result of censure and the exile of many intellectuals. Following the Civil War, one of the first actions taken by the Francoist regime was the dismantling of ‘‘the flexible, liberalized education system of the democratically elected Second Republic’’ (Hanson, 2000, p. 13). During the Francoist years, it was assumed that linguistic and cultural diversity undermined the project of Spanish unity. In the name of unification, the diverse sub-national regions of Spain were largely treated as occupied territories, in which their languages and cultural traditions were silenced and condemned on the street, in print, schools, politics, and communication. In the 40-year period of Franco’s authoritarian leadership, there was a forceful agenda of stark centralization. Following Franco’s death, Spain faced the daunting challenge of democratizing the public institutions inherited from the Francoist era. These processes were widely influenced by Spain’s engagement with both European and global pressures. This is clearly the case in the opening up of
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the Spanish market in the early 1960s to international competition and ‘‘social modernization following the introduction of Fordism’’ (Holman, 1996, p. 29). The first half of the Francoist years can be characterized as highly centralized, and isolationist, focused solely on organic economic growth and strict restrictions on imports and exports. In the latter half, there was massive economic growth due to market liberalization, industrialization, and the development of its tourist industry (Guille´n & A´lvarez, 2001; MacLennan, 2000). The opening of the market in the second half of the Francoist years was paired with the embracing of ‘‘a new political discourse based on ‘democracy’ and modernization’’ on the part of Spanish citizens. Although this stems from both global and European influences, it is also a result of the democratic values instilled in the pre-Franco era of the Second Republic (Bonal, 2000, p. 203). In the final period of Franco’s leadership, the Education Reform Act (LGE) of 1970 was passed. The 1970 law emphasized equality of educational opportunity and the benefits of a meritocracy, which was seen as the first stage in achieving a modern capitalist state and society. Bonal (2000) pointed out that the ‘‘rhetoric [of meritocracy and equality] and the European expansion of education in the sixties stimulated a rise in educational expectations and, therefore, generated pressures to expand the education system’’ (p. 203). While the law was passed under the dictatorship of Franco, the LGE upheld the vision of a ‘‘centralized state structure’’ (Bonal, Rambla, Caldero´n, & Pros, 2005, p. 25; my translation). Nonetheless, of great importance is that out of the 1970 legislation, a system of modern mass education in Spain was born. One major mandate of the LGE was obligatory school attendance for all citizens under the age of 14. This brought about significant increases in educational enrollment patterns in Spain, as shown in Hanson’s (2000) work, in which he noted that the number of public schools increased from 1,100 in 1975 to approximately 3,000 in 1995 and compared with the 44% of school attendance of 15 year olds in 1975, approximately 100% of 15 year olds were enrolled in 1995. The increase in educational demand at both primary and secondary levels placed new demands on the educational management and governance structure. While the transition to democracy was eased given the societal embrace of discourses of democratization, the reform of Spanish public institutions, including education, posed a formidable challenge. For example, ‘‘[i]n the 1970s, in comparison with other OECD countries, Spain had a small and unbalanced public sector, with important deficiencies in infrastructures and limited activities in the fields of the redistribution of wealth, welfare, health, education, social and cultural services’’ (Torres & Pin˜a, 2004, p. 447).
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A clear illustration is the percentage of GNP expended on public education, which in 1975 was 1.78%, as compared to 5.1% European average (this included the USSR) and 4% African average in 1975 (Hanson, 1989, 2000). In the beginning of the transition, Spain’s difficulty in reforming the educational sector to meet goals of social good and social equity was similar to the challenge many Western welfare states encountered given the economic crises of the mid-1970s. Guille´n and A´lvarez (2001) argued that the 1970s oil crises halted Spanish economic growth and made implementation of social policies and an overhaul of public institutions inherited from the Francoist era difficult. It also resulted in a shift in policy from ‘‘attention to equity in social policy . . . in favour [sic] of a search for efficiency’’ (Guille´n & A´lvarez, 2001, p. 115). This shift is also in part a consequence of the Spanish state looking to the European Commission (EC) and OECD countries as models for economic growth, social stability, and public policy. In the 1970s and 1980s, ‘‘Becoming Europeans’’ was an expression used in Spanish political rhetoric as it ‘‘implied economic growth, and an improvement of social policy along the lines of the social democratic, Scandinavian systems’’ (Guille´n & A´lvarez, 2001, p. 113). In the latter half of the Francoist years and in particular, during Spain’s transition to democratization, Europe was a model for economic prosperity, advancement in social policy, and modernization. In other words, in the development of the Spanish state during the transition, there was a dominant ‘‘myth of Europe, which epitomized everything that was modern’’ (Farrell, 2005, p. 215). During the 1980s, the Socialist Party’s (PSOE) overarching goal was the ‘‘modernization’’ of Spain in order to gain accession to the EC, meet citizen demands for a welfare state structure, and reconstruct the public sector after years of state absence (Esturla, 2000). With the public demand for the construction of a welfare state, as well as the need to reform the public sector, the Socialist government simultaneously set in motion two sets of reforms, which created tension with one another: introducing New Public Management policies and following traditional Socialist values of social good, social equity, and social justice. Both of these reforms are clear in the Socialist Party’s reshaping of the educational system in Spain during the 1980s and first half of the 1990s. In the 1980s, the Socialist Party attempted to modernize the education system in accordance with the development of European standards of education. It largely included policies seeking to improve public education both in its ‘‘extension and organization’’ (Bonal, 1998, p. 154; my translation). The 1985 Law of Educational Rights (LODE) was passed, which decentralized educational responsibility, signifying a much different
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role to the state with respect to educational governance and important structural re-developments. The LODE emphasized the connection between the process of democratization and the importance of decentralization. It was this legislation (and that of the early 1990s) that established a multilevel system of educational governance ‘‘with the creation of school councils in which parents were represented, and trends towards stronger management and steering at school level’’ (Pereyra, 2002, p. 668). Multiple agencies and councils at various local and sub-national levels were established to create a decentralized system, in which parents, teachers, unions, students, and local level communities could be represented in the education system. The next major piece of educational legislation also developed by the Socialist Party was the 1990 Law on the General Organization of the Educational System (LOGSE). The main aspects of reform incorporated basic education as compulsory and free, extended to the age of 16, the expansion of vocational education to all students, and improvements in quality of teaching (Petrongolo & San Segundo, 2002). New mandates focused on excellence in all institutions of education, equality of educational opportunities, and ‘‘an explicit objective to not lose ground in the process of European convergence’’ (Bonal, 1998, p. 156; my translation). In addition, under OECD directives and other IGOs, Spanish educational policy began to reflect global and EU pressures on the importance of vocational education and advocating policies in the name of efficiency and excellence. The tension between policies advocating the expansion of educational opportunities in the name of social good and social equity and pressures to ensure greater efficiency is illustrated in these policy developments. During this period of immense change, efficiency was emphasized. This is evident in the implementation of a New Public Management doctrine, which was rigorously introduced in order to advance the Spanish system of public administration (Royo, 2000; Torres & Pin˜a, 2004). In the latter half of the 1990s, the conservative Popular Party (PP) took on the reformation of the public sector with neoliberal ideologies of privatization, market liberalization, and an increase in quality and efficiency, with a decrease in attention to equality and social inclusion. Furthermore, Torres and Pin˜a (2004) noted that the Maastricht Treaty provisions ‘‘provided new stimuli to introducing NPM [New Public Management] techniques and control systems, under the government of the neoliberal party’’ (p. 449). The authors went on to argue that ‘‘[d]emands for more efficient government and public administration began to be a dominant issue under this government’’ (p. 450). With decentralization as a key ingredient to implementing the New Public Management recipe, an administrative form of decentralization was strongly supported.
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In addition, global pressures on the state have resulted in a multi-level system of governance, in which local and sub-national institutions are increasingly engaged in educational policy. The 1980s neoliberal state ‘‘rollback’’ provided local and sub-national governments with increased responsibility, at the same time as global pressures ignited the need for national economies to draw upon local and sub-national strengths to meet the needs of a changing economy (Jeffery, 2002; Tickell & Peck, 2003). It is worth noting that the Spanish state remained central in this process, not taking on the ‘‘absentee’’ state form, as in the US and UK under the Reagan and Thatcher administrations. Nonetheless, in the EU specifically, as a result of multiple pressures both ‘‘above’’ and ‘‘below’’ the state, ‘‘patterns of governance within the member states were being recalibrated in ways that upgraded the significance of sub-national governments’’ (Jeffery, 2002, p. 329). This is evident in the EU emphasizing decentralization as a mechanism for furthering the European project. Adding to the complexity surrounding decentralization in Spain, there were also pressures for a stronger political form of decentralization. Unlike other states solely implementing decentralization for greater efficiency and effectiveness, political decentralization was also simultaneously advocated in Spain to meet the demands of regional sub-nations, such as Catalonia and the Basque Country. Political decentralization was pressured in the name of greater autonomy and decision-making, as well as democratization. As such, in the shift in Spain from a highly centralized to a decentralized state structure, both political and administrative decentralization have been evident (Hanson, 2000). In the development of the 1978 Spanish Constitution, the enhancement of widespread democratic participation was emphasized as essential. The Constitution restructured the pre-existing 50 provinces into an ‘‘Estado de Autonomı´ as’’ (State of Autonomies) and established the ‘‘comunidades auto´nomas’’ (Autonomous Communities; CCAA). In the process of decentralization, the CCAA were classified as either the nacionalidades (the Basques, th[e] Catalans and the Galicians), which can claim the status of ‘historical nations’, and regiones [the regions], which strive for autonomy on the basis of particular historical prerogatives (Navarre), their geography (the Balearics, the Canaries), or for socio-economic reasons. (Andalusia, Extremadura, Valencia) (Bo¨rzel, 2002, p. 95)
With respect to the transfer of educational competencies to CCAA, it is worth noting that the decentralization process in Spain was not a blanket process, applied at the same time to all 17 of the CCAA. Rather, it was
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designed to be a system of asymmetrical decentralization, with some CCAA granted more autonomy than others. It is also significant to note that not all CCAA have adopted a decentralized educational program. Miguel Pereyra (2002) noted that ‘‘some autonomous regions have adopted central programmes [sic], so that instead of having a single centralist state, there are now several centralist autonomous governments’’ (p. 668). This provides for a great deal of complexity in the form of educational decentralization currently undertaken in Spain. As indicated in the Spanish Constitution of 1978, the division of power between the central government and the CCAA can be divided into three levels. The Constitution is notably vague with respect to the division of power, which has led to a high number of cases brought to the Constitutional Tribunal over the years. Conflicts regarding the control over certain areas of educational governance between the central state and CCAA have frequently been brought to the Constitutional Tribunal. According to the Constitution, the first level of jurisdiction gives restricted power to the central government, while the second level relates directly to areas of CCAA control. The more complex issues of governance fall in the third level, in which the central state and CCAA share control. Education lies within this third level, in which the Ministry of Education and Science (Ministerio de Ciencia-MEC) shares educational responsibilities with CCAA. The MEC controls basic legislation, accreditation of certificates and degrees, general planning of the education system, and the determination and maintenance of minimum requirements for common curriculum areas, especially those of national concern, such as Spanish history, Spanish national language, mathematics, and science. The implementation of educational policy dictated by the central state and the remainder of educational responsibilities, such as the design of academic programs to support cultural, linguistic, and economic development of local and subnational communities, is reserved for the CCAA. Shared curricular control is regulated through a system of ‘‘minimum academic requirements’’ or ‘‘minimums.’’ The system of minimums mandates that 65% of the curriculum of secondary schools (55% in CCAA with another language) must reflect a national focus, and the remaining 35% is left up to the individual CCAA (Hanson, 2000). One way of maintaining accountability and standardization across all CCAA is through the MEC’s ‘‘Alta Inspeccio´n,’’ which is a central governmental inspection of all school systems to ensure that CCAA are accountable for central standards. While Spain is often regarded as the most politically and educationally decentralized system in Europe, there is extensive overlap and contention in
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the ways in which forms of decentralization are interpreted. For example, it is often the case that educational decentralization in Spain is examined as a political form of decentralization, with increased powers provided to the CCAA in the name of democratization. Undoubtedly, educational decentralization, for many of the CCAA, is a mechanism for reviving and regenerating cultural and linguistic heritage that was silenced during the Francoist era. In this way, there are strong social democratic roots to the current form of educational decentralization. Yet, the Spanish state controls basic educational legislation, leaving the CCAA to interpret and administer policies according to the legislation. As a result, it can be argued that the form of educational decentralization is also representative of an administrative model. While the MEC claims to have control only over certain educational areas, CCAA policy-makers and system actors have interpreted many central state policies as extensions of central state control into the terrain of CCAA competencies. For example, the legal advisor of the revised Statute of Autonomy in Catalonia explained that with the central state ‘‘regulat[ing] things like the size of letters in textbooks, the number of pages that the textbooks each have to have . . . it is clear that . . . they are regulating aspects of education that are competencies of the CCAA’’ (interview, Engel, June 2006). It may also be argued that the Spanish education system represents a fiscal model of decentralization. In the decentralized Spanish state, the CCAA pay capital tax and collect income tax, while the central state maintains control over educational legislation. As one educational policy-maker in Catalonia explained, ‘‘the State legislates, the Autonomous Communities pay’’ (interview, Engel, May 2006). Even with increased fiscal responsibilities at CCAA levels, the central Spanish state maintains an important role in policy production, which has particular implications for CCAA decision-making. Clearly, the form of decentralization undertaken is administrative, in which the CCAA are increasingly responsible for fiscal matters, although they remain ‘‘steered’’ by the state in matters of decision-making and standard-setting. This reality of decentralized governance leaves the CCAA to gain little autonomy over educational decision-making matters. It is clear from the illustrations above that the changing territorial shape, as well as the political and economic organization of the Spanish state, has resulted in a complex division of educational competencies between the central state and CCAA. The case is particularly interesting and instructive as Spain simultaneously faces pressures of globalization, Europeanization, democratization, and decentralization. As such, there are tensions emerging between forms of educational governance aimed to advance social good and
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social equity, and new forms of governance emerging in the name of social efficiency. Furthermore, in light of global pressures and the push to align state educational policies with performance standards and benchmarks of the EU and educational programs of IGOs, such as the OECD’s PISA, decentralization in Spain appears largely administrative. However, the case of Spain also illustrates that although the state negotiates global and European pressures, there are also extensive pressures for increased decentralization ‘‘from below’’ in the name of democratization. Consequently, Spanish educational decentralization is a complex overlap of administrative, political, and fiscal decentralization. It also raises the concern that with global pressures advocating decentralization in the name of good governance and efficiency, there is potential of overshadowing goals of social good and social equity, and restraining the autonomy of local and sub-national decision-making.
CONCLUSION New forms of educational governance are emerging as a result of global pressures to enhance educational efficiency and effectiveness. As states face pressures of increased enrollments and negotiate concerns of advancing social good and social equity, decentralization becomes a readily advocated and accepted form of educational governance. While decentralization is often backed as a ‘‘bottom-up’’ governance approach, increasing the effectiveness of education through greater local and sub-national participation, global ideological discourses are increasingly advocating educational decentralization in the name of efficiency. Consequently, the form of educational decentralization regularly supported by international policy organizations is administrative, in which social efficiency is a primary concern. This pressure is clearly demonstrated in the new forms of educational governance emerging in Spain. The example of decentralization in Spain shows that within discourses of good governance and public management, is an overarching focus on the effectiveness of educational systems in light of global economic pressures. This leaves states, such as Spain, concurrently negotiating pressures to enhance the efficiency of educational systems at the same time as expand access and equity of educational opportunities. Moreover, as shown throughout the chapter and the case of Spain, a form of decentralization that remains largely administrative does not necessarily signify an increase in autonomy over local and sub-national decision-making control. In many
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cases, this form of educational decentralization signifies that local and sub-national levels are simply implementing policies dictated by the state. Ultimately, with global pressures dominated by a social efficiency perspective, systems of education are now focused on constructing more productive and economically efficient systems of education. This has potential to undermine educational goals of enhancing social good and social equity.
NOTE 1. For extensive discussions of the multiple conceptions of educational decentralization, see Bray and Mukundan (2003), Fiske (1996), and Karlsen (1999).
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This research has been supported in part by fellowships from the European Union Center, and the Bureau of Educational Research of the College of Education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I also would like to acknowledge Matthew Youngblood for his helpful comments and suggested revisions to earlier drafts of this chapter.
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THAILAND AND GLOBALIZATION: THE STATE REFORM UTILITIES OF BUDDHISM, CULTURE, AND EDUCATION AND THE SOCIAL MOVEMENT OF SOCIALLY AND SPIRITUALLY ENGAGED ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION Michael E. Jones Social movements are not just shaped by cultures; they also shape and reshape it. – Hank Johnston and Bert Klandermans
INTRODUCTION Throughout the course of its history, Thailand has thrived on international commerce and interacting with global forces. During the past two centuries, Thailand has faced a progression of events threatening its self-definition requiring very conscious educational and cultural reform policies to offset the advances of globalized movements. The first series of reforms began to take place in the late 19th century and served as a defensive measure to fend off the onslaught of European colonial activity and to unify a disjointed Power, Voice and the Public Good: Schooling and Education in Global Societies Advances in Education in Diverse Communities: Research Policy and Praxis, Volume 6, 419–453 Copyright r 2008 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited All rights of reproduction in any form reserved ISSN: 1479-358X/doi:10.1016/S1479-358X(08)06016-6
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society. This reform was used to primarily centralize the cultural and religious authority and power of the kingdom, while assimilating the local/ regional/rural areas through education. The most recent reform in late 20th century was devised to fend off global market forces and to unify a disjointed society through a strategy of decentralization and educational reform. Both these reforms were countered with strong resistance movements that reflect a resistance heritage that aspires to civil society. This chapter examines some of the similarities of the past two eras of globalization in Thailand, their reforms, and how assimilation and extensive revisions to the cultural and spiritual elements of Thai society have provoked resistance movements. This chapter also suggests that the current alternative education movement in Thailand belongs to this heritage of resistance to national and international hegemony and envisions an inclusive and moral society that is attempting to prepare its citizens for a future in the globalized world. In that Thailand has invaluable experience dealing with the global and maintaining its independence, its story may be instructive for other developing countries as globalization will surely continue its unfoldment as will humanity’s movement toward a civic world.
SECTION I. GLOBALIZATION, DECENTRALIZATION, AND REFORM Civilizations in decline are consistently characterized by a tendency towards standardization and uniformity. – Arnold Toynbee, historian (1889–1975)
There is no end to the amount of research on globalization, nor will there be for quite some time to come. This is due to the very thematic foundations of globalization that continue to be prevalent concerns to every country – movement of ideas/people/interactions/industry, appropriation, and reform. These foundations represent the power that is projected and passes unimpeded across and within national borders to effectuate multi-leveled disturbances through the galvanization of global economic configurations that advocate ‘‘excessive consumption, individualism, and competition – the three dominant traits of our times’’ (Stromquist, 2002a, 2002b). These traits, however, are not merely the influences of a globalization process characterized as ‘‘a passive diffusion; it is also an active, even aggressive, process of social transformation’’ (Astiz, Wiseman, & Baker, 2002). These transformations are not only instigated at the insistence of transnational entities, but are also capitulations made by states to bring about a sense of
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development commensurate with those determining the requirements and price of admission to the developed world. Stromquist (2002a, 2002b) exhorts us to look closely at how globalization’s ‘‘economic dimension is deeply guided by a development model based on the hegemony of the market and the role of the state as a key supporter of market decisions.’’ Contemporary globalization represents nothing less than confrontation at multiple intersecting levels – culture, technology, religion, politics, and is driven not only by powerful economic dynamics, but by institutional reform that imposes social transformations. Transformations are commonly of the type whereby familiar cultural beliefs deeply rooted in traditions and/or sociopolitical conventions are vibrantly challenged at seemingly mystical levels through the intervention of media technologies. These are generally market strategies that present enticing promises of modernization, progress, and empowerment. In a 2003 Pew Research Center report on globalization, ‘‘In 41 of 44 nations surveyed by Pew, majorities think growing trade and business ties are both good for their country and good for their families’’ with ‘‘at least two-thirds of the public in every country-except Jordan and Tanzania – think it is a good thing that their countries are becoming more connected to the world through trade and communication;’’ however, ‘‘people are also unwilling to link problems like economic inequality, the lack of good-paying jobs and poor working conditions to globalization.’’ Ironically, the majority of people in all nations support modern communications and international commerce, but acknowledge that global problems are getting worse, people’s traditional ways of life are being disrupted and threatened, and ‘‘the erosion of traditional ways is often blamed on commercialism and consumerism . . . and are a threat to our culture’’ (Pew Research Center, 2003). Transformation comes also as a political and administrative implementation that presents the enticement of modernization and empowerment, generally through education decentralization and related reform measures. The accompanying rationale for decentralization and reform offers the explanation that centralized states are inefficient and do not deliver the resources to compete for a place in the global market. Paradoxically, decentralization and adjusting to the demands of the market do not necessarily bring about beneficial outcomes. Here Behrman, Deolaikar, and Soon (2002, p. 3) have pointed out that ‘‘decentralization of education management simply shifts the same old problems to levels that are less capable of resolving them’’ (3) and ‘‘is largely driven by the fact that it can relieve strained public sector finances’’ (4). Even though the intent of decentralization is to devolve some authority to the local level and improve administration, in practice its rationale has been
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reinvented by policy-makers in many developing countries to become a means for a state to be more internationally competitive. This reform language designates a political ideology of government-directed initiatives (Young & Levin, 1999) that often perpetuates inequalities and policy processes that generally exclude educators and people who have already been largely factored out of the national development equation. These ideologies are driven by concern for economic standing and achieving development based on production, not equity. According to Martin Carnoy (1999, p. 60), decentralization in developing countries is generally financedriven and ‘‘its primary effect on their education systems is to increase inequality of access and quality’’ as the nation-state fails to determine the means to develop an ‘‘educational process and practice within the context of globalization rather than on globalization’s financial imperatives themselves.’’ Similarly, Mary McNeil (2002) believes that there needs to be a concerted effort by communities to learn how to administer their educational needs through a democratic process to approximate political effect. It would seem reasonable then to expect equity to become a concern; however, decentralization normally reflects a managerial perspective on change rarely asking how local actions and social movements could beneficially influence its implementation. Prompilai Buasuwan (2003) explains from a world-institutional theory that ‘‘the quality of a national educational system is increasingly being held to international standards’’ (p. 249) and this in turn is to the benefit of the elite in maintaining their socio-economic status. Reform is generally a formulaic prescription for the benefit of the global economic standing of the nation-state. Reforms read like litanies emphasizing the means to attain global educational values; in addition to decentralization, you will frequently see a variety of practices that support economic interests of education – national standards, accountability, testing and quality assurances (Stromquist, 2002a, 2002b). The growing alliances between education and economic interests are obvious, but questionable in practice. Policy-makers have determined the necessity for educated, skilled labor and radical changes ‘‘in what is learned and how it is learned, even though there is little evidence that this change is or will be accompanied by positive social transformation’’ (Stromquist, 2002a, 2002b, p. 61); in effect, education still represents the political ideology of the market and not the public good. It is not a coincidence that much of the language around educational reform has been coined by the business world, particularly as applied to the technological world – a short list that includes: knowledge management, efficiency, accountability, quality assurance, equity, and competitiveness.
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The education systems of many countries, particularly developing ones, often experience firsthand the manifestations of globalization. Diana Rhoten (1999) asserts that education decentralization is one of the ‘‘most salient and tangible public policy manifestations of globalization’’ (p. 1), but suffers from an even greater lack of understanding, particularly ‘‘in terms of implementation and impact’’ (p. 3). This is an unsettling characteristic of decentralization and reform because decision-makers rely on the consequences of acts that have little precedence – conscious remedies based on very little empirical knowledge – and few decisions are made reflectively and with insight by decision-makers. What makes reform particularly problematic is that, like Diana Rhoten (1999) and Dani Rodrik (1997) both affirm, there is a lack of understanding of how globalization works in cultural contexts. Martin Carnoy (1999) has given several reasons why examining the effects of globalization in cultural perspectives is essential: ‘‘schools are transmitters of modern culture’’ (p. 76); globalization redefines culture and the nature of identity; globalization defines the sorts of knowledge and skills to be valued in a culture; and global markets create and rend communities. Martin Carnoy (1999) also reminds us that not only does globalization alter cultures, but the resistance arising from social movements allows the relative measurement of power a person has in life and ones environment. A society’s conscious change comes down to wielding consensual power and who directs the forces of culture.
SECTION II. HISTORICAL PATTERNS OF REFORM IN THAILAND IN RESPONSE TO GLOBALIZATION Cultures are made of continuities and changes . . . Societies without change aren’t authentic; they’re just dead. – Kwame Anthony Appiah
Thumbnail of Thai Historical Background – Ayutthaya Period Since globalization has been a steady factor over many centuries in Thailand and it has responded with cultural, spiritual, and educational reform, it is worthwhile to look at the distant past and assess the significance of actions taken in response to global threats and opportunities and consider whether there are vestiges of cultural patterns or linkages that are reflected
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in current responses to globalization. Of particular interest for this chapter are the reform utilities, tools used by the state or resistance movements to affect altering the course of societal dynamics. The most significant utilities are culture, religion/monarchy, spirituality, political discourse, and education. Thailand has long been involved in international commerce dating back to the 13th century (Pupphavesa, 2002) and its’ cosmopolitan image was second to none during the middle-end of the Ayutthaya period (1351–1767 A.D.). Traders and nobility traveled regularly from distant lands such as China, Japan, Persia, Holland, France, England, Arabia, and India and were awed by the opulence of Siam temples and palaces of the capitol cities, the resource-rich territory, the mystical spiritual practices, the progressive commercial climate, and the accommodating nature of the kingdom in the form of tax breaks, festivities, entertainment, commerce justice, and free trade. In addition, and unlike most nations during this period, the kingdom would periodically invite skilled craftsman and administrators from abroad offering incentives of property and position (Baker & Phongpaichit, 2005). The abilities to balance international and regional trade with the governance of a vast frontier land allowed for an expansive kingdom that stretched as far north as southern China and central Laos; as far west as eastern Burma, as far east as Vietnam, and as far south as northern Malaysia. The large area encompassing the kingdom necessitated unique political administrative structures such as the ‘‘emboxment’’ configuration in which villages were contained in muangs, or semi-autonomous constellations of ascending larger communities with local lords (Baker & Phongpaichit, 2005; Keyes, 1977). These emboxments were part of the sakdina economic and political system that prevailed during the period and featured no private ownership of land except by the local king (Ungpakorn, 2003), who provided villages with militia protection. Aside the corvee, forced labor, slavery, and invasions from marauders, villages found the means to establish community self-rule and a climate of peace until capitalism ravaged the community structure in the 20th century (Nartsupha, 1999). Although Buddhism was widespread throughout the region, local people were most attracted to belief in spirits and animism. Buddhism came to Siam in the fifth century from Sri Lanka, infused with strains of Hindu and Indian traditions that became cobbled together with the Thai belief in spirits. Theravada Buddhism arrived in the 13th century and was adapted to form local traditions and interpretations. The king of Siam was the lord of
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the land and since the Sukhothai period (1238–1350), the king has been expected to conduct himself as a Bodhisattva, a spiritually superior being that has accumulated a lot of merit and spiritual power. He was also expected to follow royal laws of conduct, the Dasarajadhamma, which were a series of complementary religious and moral principles from the preTheravada era integrated into Buddhist teachings. When the king ruled in compliance with the principles, his rule brought happiness to the people (raja, or one who brings happiness and dhamma, the righteous way or rule). The 10 major principles are: giving and forgiving; good moral conduct; selfless sacrifice for the greater good; loyalty, gentle open-mindedness; consistency in performing duties; acting free of hatred and vindictivenesscompassion; harming no living creature or being; patient and persevering over emotion; and steadfast in righteousness (Uwanno, 2006). The relationship between the king and Buddhism is therefore deep and the significance of the king as lord protector of the people is equally significant. The Thai people being ritualistic, superstitious, and believers of the spiritual and supernatural were undoubtedly attracted to the lineage of Thai monarchs that remained devoted to serving conventions rooted in mystical beliefs that protect those they serve. It is not hard to imagine the ease in which the nation of Thailand six centuries beyond the Ayutthaya period would move its large socio-political mass to a new phase in its history with god-kings initiating the crucial reforms to transform society and culture. After all, there was already a well-refined and significant pact between the monarchy, Buddhism, and Thai society. It is also not difficult to see how a tradition of social resistance has developed in Thai society. As Ungpakorn (2003, p. 33) has pointed out, ‘‘any real understanding of Thai history must place class struggle in center stage.’’ Siam/Thailand has always been a stratified society whereby citizens have been made to observe their social rank and respond accordingly. During the Ayutthaya period, a much feared corvee system (forced labor) permeated the society with people hunted down like animals (Nartsupha, 1999). Landless freemen were conscripted into the military and earned wealth, social position, and land in remote areas through military exploits. The less fortunate debtors were forced into labor and slavery, an inevitable and lamentable offshoot of governing a vast undeveloped and primitive land mass. Slaves were traded to settle the remote villages and to sell on the international market. Alternative options for many lower status people were to become monks, sell themselves into slavery, or run away to the forests where brigands, rebels, and monks engaged in class revolts (Baker & Phongpaichit, 2005).
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SECTION III. THAI RESPONSE TO GLOBALIZATION –1850–1932 – THAI MONARCHY REFORMS Whereas parents gave life, monks imparted a way of life and knowledge which made that life worth living. – Keith Watson
Reform as an Act of Hegemony Mid-19th century rural Siam was largely undeveloped and unpopulated. Forests covered more than three-quarters of the terrain and human settlements were far and few between. Villages were isolated niches in the forests with little infrastructure. Villagers generally traveled beyond their village by horse, elephant, and boat. There were extensive networks of foot paths and trails, but frequented all too often by dangerous elements and a person risked encounters with bandits, cattle rustlers, wild animals, and spirits of all description. The forests were also the habitat for forest monks, or Thudong (pilgrim, or wandering aesthetic) monks who lived austere lives in effort to shake off mental defilements. They were skilled at meditation and were revered for their abilities to help rural people transcend their rugged lives and teach them valuable spiritual lessons that ‘‘made their life worth living’’ (Watson, 1980, pp. 69–70 in Fry, 2002). They traversed the lengths and breadths of Thailand and surrounding nations and served many functions; most notably, as intercultural experts, linguists, explorerarcheologists, anthropologists, and all the other roles a rural monk served without being confined to one wat or region (Tiyavanich, 1997). Their spiritual strength and impact are legendary and their tradition continues to influence Thai Buddhism, accentuated by amulet cults fired by millennial beliefs (Tambiah, 1984). A Buddhist wat (local temple-monastery) was generally at the center of all activity and fulfilled multiple needs of the villages, much like a combination of a school, social center, hospital, town hall, playground, visitor inn, and community center. Monks were expected to serve regional Buddhist traditions (Khmer, Mon, Lao, etc.) and there were many different cultural customs and languages (80þ at the turn of the 20th century) associated with each region. Monks became living repositories of knowledge and wisdom, and many were also versatile masters of multiple skills: teachers, artists, healers and herbalists, bone-setters, psychologists, construction workers, agriculturalists, veterinarians, story-tellers, astrologers, community
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leaders, and protectors from spirits (Tiyavanich, 1997). They were the conduit from which the wisdom of indigenous knowledge was expected to flow. The village was a self-sufficient community bound by local cultural traditions and beliefs and protected by the spiritual nourishment provided by Buddhist monks. Before acceding to the throne, King Mongkut (1851–1868) was a Buddhist monk for 27 years and became largely disenchanted with what he deemed the undisciplined practices of Buddhism in Thailand. He was responsible for commencing the movement toward modernization in Thailand and began first with a major reformation of Thai Buddhism. He established a new sect of Buddhism, Thammayut, inspired by the Mon tradition and it mostly emphasized an intellectual approach with prescribed strict rules of monastic practices (Tiyavanich, 1997). Its effect, however, was to lay the groundwork for a major shift in how Buddhism and culture would be defined in Thailand (Keyes, 1989) and was ‘‘highly divisive in character’’ (Payulpitack, 1991, p. 24). Mongkut was influenced by westerners who had expressed the belief that Buddhism was too superstitious and failed to equal Christianity in intertwining material and moral progress; and Mongkut made sure this distinctive separation would remain emphasized (Payulpitack, 1991), in order to fulfill his romantic notions of returning to Buddhist origins and making it accessible and pure of superstition for the masses. Mongkut’s vision of Buddhist reform, however, also eliminated the sacred and the transcendent as he equated nibbana (nirvana) with a rational activity that also made material success a significant aspect of the spiritual path (Visalo, 1999). Although Mongkut set out to demonstrate that western science and modernization were compatible with Buddhism, it actually became the cultural catalyst for the nearing revolution, nationalist reforms, and the impact of consumerism. Through it all, it was driven by a desire to elevate Thai identity to prove that Thai people were civilized and capable of making an impact on the world (Baker & Phongpaichit, 2005). The influence of the global became very pronounced in the late 19th century with the steady movement of colonial powers in the region who unabashedly believed it their mission to bring progress and civilization to create an equitably satiated world. Chulalongkorn, Mongkut’s son, ascended to the throne in 1868 at the age of 15 and took on where his father left off in both parrying the Western forces and using Western concepts as models for the development of his nation-state. Chulalongkorn and the ruling elite were aware of the encroaching colonial savagery and were also aware that their notion of nationhood was weakened in this
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colonial climate due to loose borders, a plethora of languages, traditions, ethnic identities, and Buddhist practices. It was necessary to define a nation utilizing many of the same political devices of the colonial powers, which amounted to a sort of internal colonization with conceptualizations of nation, unity, and identity handed down from the ruling class. This unifying reform began with constitutional writing designed on a French model, the abolishment of slavery and the corvee system, the creation of modern Thai mass education, and a centralized administration that affected every Thai muang. Reform was also about the imposition and spread of capitalism and development throughout Thailand as conceived by the aristocracy (Payulpitack, 1991; Nartsupha, 1999; Ungpakorn, 2003; Baker & Phongpaichit, 2005). Chulalongkorn was tutored by European teachers and he facilitated growing numbers of nobility going abroad to study in western schools. Eventually, the urban elite began to travel and study abroad and brought back with them new ideas of political rule. Education was initially used to prepare the urban elite for the development of a large bureaucracy to administer a modern nation-state, including a police force to maintain order and a national army – not necessarily to defend from external forces, but to defend against internal unrest from the peasantry who balked at the interference and exploitation of the state. More importantly, the state utilized education and Buddhism as a means to redefine Thai identity, implanting culture and language in the villages in order to create good, obedient citizens that were educated and disciplined. The majority of this work was left for the Sangha to deliver through young monks (Payulpitack, 1991). One of the most critical acts that sent convulsive ripples throughout Thai society to this day was the 1902 Sangha Act. In effect, it stratified all monks under the king and supreme patriarch and, most importantly, it required the use of a uniform curriculum to educate all monks; mandated that all monks preached from texts sanctioned by the Sangha in Bangkok; and with the spread of development and capitalism, encouraged the creation of new wats that emphasized merit through opulence instead of acts of ritualistic spiritual significance (Tiyavanich, 1997). This began the cultural and educational transformation that allowed the development of a nation-state, but at great cost to the nation-state because it also depleted the capacity of traditional wisdom. However, when the resistance movements were suppressed through force, it strengthened the heritage of social movements and gave the resistance legends with which to identify (Phatharathananunth, 2006). The overbearing administration, exploitation of regional resources, and high tax burdens to regions, particularly those communities who offered
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resistance, produced a similar response as that within many colonized nations – rebellion. Regional nationalists from Laos, Burma, Cambodia, and Vietnam, such as Ho Chi Minh, were welcomed in North and Northeast Thailand and revolutionary thought fermented nicely in the villages (Payulpitack, 1991). In response to the repression and exploitation of the state, the millennial ‘‘Holy Men’’ revolts took place in all corners of Thailand that temporarily slowed centralization (Keyes, 1977) and then were subdued by brute force. The methodical breaking down of Siam cultures took place by the provision of texts authored in Bangkok by people who had no contact with the rural areas and written in central Thai language. The Sangha (central Buddhist ruling authority) forbid monks to teach the dhamma in the old manner – ironically banning the practical manner with concrete applications that rural people found useful – and instead insisted on an intellectual style in a language that the regional rural people did not understand nor appreciated. Traditional customs and celebrations were forbidden and standardized Buddhist festivities and traditions were imposed (Tiyavanich, 1997). Monks started to teach literacy and students were implored to memorize and assimilate information that pre-determined their behavior and identity. As Christopher Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit (2005, p. 107) have pointed out, ‘‘The duty of the ordinary people was only to be unified, obedient, and grateful, to the point of self-sacrifice.’’ Secular schools started to appear and the roles and status of monks began to diminish. Thudong monks were frequently and severely reprimanded and were ordered to stop their wandering ways. Regional cultures were systematically dismantled as was the indigenous knowledge that accompanied them. The first wave of globalization had nearly washed clean all remnants of old Siam and the prevailing move toward nationhood bolted onward – driven frenetically by urban fascination with modernization and the growing zeal for democracy. The 1932 revolution organized by an elite cadre in Bangkok forced the monarch to capitulate to a position of mere symbolic power that, in the future, would be frequently exploited. Concurrently, in a pivotal show of spiritual strength, a social-spiritual movement by Buddhadasa Bhikkhu, his brother, and mother rekindle the spiritual heritage regional rural people had had repressed in the severe rush to become a free modern nation-state. That which modern education had taken away – the practical and the simply profound – was now quite visible through the teachings of the charismatic Buddhadasa Bhikku and very importantly influenced the urban middle class. Mongkut’s insistence on separating moral from meaningful acts had begun to manifest and Thailand
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was now a society that pitted the spirit against the material; yet at the same time, one that entwined the state with religion and culture. And for the next global tidal wave to hit Thailand, it became obvious to some that this dualnatured development was pitting capitalist growth against ethical society.
SECTION IV. RESPONSE TO GLOBALIZATION – 1932-PRESENT-THE AGE OF MILITANT NATIONALISM Thailand is entering a new period of the ‘nation myth’. It is one in which people are ideally participant, in which plurality and difference is respected, in which the state is reformed in order to facilitate the workings of civil society and communities, and in which democracy is an order based on the virtuous citizens . . . – Michael Connors
The Ride to Nationhood The 1932 revolution that saw the end to absolute monarchy and the beginning of the constitutional monarchy, eventually revealed distinct visions from the two principle leaders of the People’s Party. Pridi Banomyong, educated in France as a political economist, sought a civilian, humanist state that empowered people, while Plaek Phibunsongkhram (Phibun), a military man, believed in nationalism and the shaping of minds via education and notions of culture (Baker & Phongpaichit, 2005). This uneasy alliance and conflict was a pattern that was to dog the nation well into the 1990s with the military representing a conservative, reactionary front and the civilian forces forming an evolving civic society. Phibun and the military gained ascendancy in the Party and began to shape the martial imagery of Thai nationalism, gaining inspiration from German and Italian political fascism and Japanese Meiji cultural reform. Communism took its persistent and now customary position as the great threat to Thai unity. The People’s Party invested heavily in education – both primary and higher education. But with the military wing gaining control of the Party, education was used to further the process of controlling the cultural identity of the nation and to spread the state’s vision of development through capitalism. Luang Wichit Wathakan, a member of the revolutionary movement, also believed in nationalism and the development of a Thai identity that would be accepted as civilized by Western nations (Sattayanurak, 2002). Wichit saw the social tension from the provinces as an obvious
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weakness that other nations could easily exploit, necessitating a reformed sense of being Thai and a new Thai culture, predictably leading to the development of the National Cultural Commission in 1942. Wichit thought it necessary for Thais to have a sense of national identity ‘‘moulded into their blood permanently’’ (Wathakan, 1932 in Sattayanurak, 2002, p. 16). Wichit had a love of the arts and used all forms of media – from cinema to literature, radio to theater-to spread his ideas, which easily found their way into the national curriculum. As Christopher Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit (2005, p. 29) point out, his ‘‘influence was broad, deep, and lasting.’’ This indoctrinating form of education created a variety of myths that emphasized sacrifice and submission to a dictatorial system that advocated specific social, economic, and political goals; namely, security through the containment of civil resistance, the propagation of capitalism, the use of the monarch and culture as educational devices to prove the superiority of Thai civility to ‘others’, and the idea that communism was anti-ethical to Thainess. The lasting grip of Wichit’s xenophobic nationalist view took root in the urban population and pushed its way into the provinces with economic development and religious conviction providing strong momentum and credibility. This process was reinforced by the proclamation that the interlocking foundation pieces of nation, religion, and monarchy were specified to be ‘‘the three pillars of Thai nationalism’’ (Payulpitack, 1991, p. 41) during the reign of Vajiravudh, 1910–1925.
Movement toward the Democratic Process After World War II, came civil war, police states, military coup after coup – all largely encouraged and largely financed through the patronage of the United States who supported brutal military regimes in exchange for anticommunist policies (Baker & Phongpaichit, 2005). The nationalist culture obliged and the Chinese, many of whom had already been chased out by the Phibun regime, took to the streets in open fighting. With the aid of the USA, the state responded by permanently setting in place anti-communist policies. Buddhism was once again called upon to play a role in shaping the villagermind and monks began to take on the role as ‘development monks’ in the Dhammatuta Program ‘‘which aimed at combating communism by revitalizing state-sanctioned Buddhism, winning people’s loyalty to the government, nation and king, and promoting national integration and development’’ (Connors, 2003a, 2003b, p. 60). The state also was funded to initiate developmental democracy, which involved the integration of Thai
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cultural characteristics into the conception of democracy. Michael Connors termed this project Democrasubjection and it was a social potion derived from concepts of community development and democratic administrative practices in order to develop outputs conducive to commerce and security. To this day, learning democratic principles have been made part of the national curriculum, but ‘‘Thai education reform emphasizes civic participation only as a servant to the marketplace’’ (Buasuwan, 2003, p. 247). The population soared during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, agricultural households dropped from 75% to 50% during that time with many of the household children opting to go to work in the urban areas (Wyatt, 2003). Villages and rural communities who had found reciprocal relationships essential as a survival strategy in response to threats that arose from the post-global invasion during the Vietnam War, now faced another social change (Nartsupha, 1999). The Thai economy turned toward an industrial model and resources for this transformation resulted in large-scale social and environmental changes that put Thai rural areas in crisis. They faced a deteriorating resource base on which to sustain livelihood as forests and waters were laid to waste by marauding entrepreneurials scavenging for wealth. Rural communities became increasingly dependent on off-farm employment, first from seasonal migration, then from the permanent migration of young people to urban areas with up to 70% of teenagers leaving their home villages (Jones & Demaine, 1998). Rural areas, then, became the resource bin for the urban drive to industrial modernity, creating a sort of agricultural ghetto in the hinterlands just outside the limits of urban reach. In response, there was a resurgence of forest monk activism to protect forests and resources. Universities expanded during the 1960s and 1970s and enrollment included more rural students, invigorating the cultural and social capital of the rural communities. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs), many composed of students and former Communist Party of Thailand members, began to have a greater presence in rural areas and were also established at national and regional levels (Missingham, 2003). The density of this rural network grew, and so too did the organizing functions of building trust and the transition toward large-scaled cooperative and normative pursuits, characteristics of Putnam’s social capital of a horizontal group capable of spreading resources and power across a wide-range of activities (Krishna, 2002). Political activism led to three confrontations on the political stage over the last three decades and has punctuated the turning points toward both
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democratization and educational reform. The first event occurred in October 1973, when a series of student-led marches and demonstrations up-ended the military dictatorship in power since 1957. This was followed by a brief burst of democratic activity and a liberal government. Educators sought reforms that would transform the nation to a just one and Western education influences were met with open arms. It was a short-lived liberation, however, as the second, and perhaps the most pivotal bench mark political event occurred on October 6, 1976. Mobs composed of uniformed and un-uniformed police, thugs, and right-wing scouts brutally massacred students at Thammasat University. This was followed by a return to power of military rule by an extreme right-wing government that went so far as to banning and burning books, raiding newspaper offices, and shutting down student and farmer organizations (Ungpakorn, 2001). The ruling elite were again concerned by the growing voice of dissent from throughout the countryside, the leftist tendencies of resistance from the educators and students, and the momentum for a popular movement. ‘‘What happened on 6th October was a result of a consensus among the entire ruling class that an open democratic system was allowing too much freedom for the left’’ (Ungpakorn, 2001, p. 4). This resulted in the students and activists dispersing throughout the land, forming bonds with farmers and peasants, and replenishing the ranks of the Communist Party of Thailand (CPT) for their armed struggle from the jungles. The third event occurred in May, 1992 when Thai military troops led by General, and appointed Prime Minister, Suchinda Kraprayoon confronted a mass demonstration of mostly middle-class citizens, many of whom were students and activists during the 1973 and 1976 massacres. The military, panicked by the growing restive crowd estimated to be at 100,000 or more, began shooting thousands in the streets of Bangkok and shutting the capital down with curfews and large military movements. The protestors asserted firm resolution and resistance to dictatorship leading to the military stepping aside and, eventually, assisted in the stunning creation of a new constitution in 1997. But the re-writing of the constitution was not an easy birth and not without a series of provocative social contestations, and regional intricacies with the economic crash of 1997 measuring in paradoxically as an ally of reform. Pasuk Phongpaichit and Christopher Baker (2001) maintain that incidents of protest rose sharply after the overthrow of the Suchinda military regime to a whopping 1,000 in 1994. Peasant marches from rural areas into Bangkok occurred annually after 1992 representing confederations of peasant, land, environmental, and human rights movements until
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the climactic march came on December 15, 1995 at the ASEAN summit meeting in Bangkok. It was here that the Assembly of the Poor (AOP), a consortium of social movements and NGOs representing marginalized and under-represented groups symbolically formed five days previously on the International Human Rights Day, announced its statement of unity and vision to the nation, the region, and the world. This was significant because it represented an orchestrated popular movement advocating social and political reform with a wide net of influence, locally and globally. This signified one of the new global entities that adapted and appropriated power from the global and applied to the local conditions (Missingham, 2003).
Constitutional Designs During the drafting of the constitution, the Royal Thai Government (RTG) made an advance in its course of decentralization by taking a deliberate and measured approach to reform. Pasuk Phongpaichit and Christopher Baker (2001) refers to the draft constitution as a ‘‘new social contract between the people and the state’’ (p. 2). She has noted how the re-writing of the constitution was driven by, among other things, efforts to eliminate money politics and corruption. Two factions collaborated in creating constitutional reform – one representing the radical, working class and peasant resistance; and the ‘‘enlightened conservatives’’ (Phongpaichit & Baker, 2001, p. 2), the new middle-class of modern intellectuals, business people, and bureaucrats operating within the economic, political, and academic systems. The radical activists that had once advocated the overthrow of the state had capitulated to aspects of capitalism and now envisioned a civil society with provisions for human rights and a peoples’ ‘‘political space’’ achieved through decentralization (Ungpakorn, 2001). This once radical faction found an unlikely partner in advocating for a new constitution – liberal bureaucrats seeking to create the complex parliamentary, societal, and judicial institutions that would allow Thailand to negotiate the modern globalized world with them commanding the ship. The demands for a liberating and civil decentralization made by the radical element were met and paved the way for consultative input into educational reform by alternative voices. The conservative constituents saw the necessity to gut and re-build the corrupted governing systems in order to form a stable government with structures that could formulate a response to the onslaught
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of globalized threats and opportunities in a modern, sophisticated manner. Both factions saw the necessity to decentralize and localize, and both got to suggest their design elements into the constitutional charter resulting in the inclusion of civil rights and liberties served by efficient governing structures. When the Royal Thai Government (RTG) embarked on its ambitious journey toward decentralization in 1997, the bureaucratic leaders determined that its education system was inadequate to meet the challenge presented by the tsunami-like waves of global influences affecting Thailand’s economic climate. The civil society advocates had been just as actively seeking social reform through education and cultural impetus long before the political and economic sectors began to sense the warning signs of immanent danger. A significant portion of the new constitution contains provisions that placed a heavy emphasis on education as reflected by the constitutional mandate for new educational policy and the call for the incremental decentralization of Thai education. This process began in 1997 when the Office of the National Education Commission (ONEC) undertook comparative research in eleven countries, examining the benefits of decentralization policies to learners in these nations. The result of these efforts led to the 1999 Thailand Education Act (NEA) and subsequent Second National Education Act B.E. 2545 of 2002. It has been acclaimed as a model policy providing clear objectives and directions to achieve its goal. The bureaucrats were alarmed at the dearth state of Thai education when they received news of how far behind Thai students performed in science and mathematics. In Southeast Asia, Korea is a model used by which to measure ones relative educational development. Gerald Fry (2002) reported that early research reports indicated that Thailand was 10–15 years behind Korea when it was at a similar stage of economic development as Thailand. But the voice of educational reform had been heard many years previous at the village level and a steady alternative education movement was already in motion. Learning communities had already been established for two decades to provide opportunities for poor rural kids, kids at risk, home schoolers, peasants, orphans, refugees, and ethnic minorities. It was no coincidence that these communities were networked with the various social movements throughout Thailand and their voices were now heard in the reform committees. Unfortunately the state has not listened in full and the alternative/home-school advocates continue their struggle to get the state to make legal concessions.
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SECTION V. EXAMINING THE THAI UTILITIES OF REFORM AND BEYOND Buddhist reform cannot be separated from social reform; they are ‘‘dual missions’’ that concerned people must carry out together . . . Reforming Buddhism is the only way to liberate its potential to support civil society. – Phra Paisal Visalo
19th Century State Reforms a Template for 20th Century Globalization? Although many scholars believe that the current globalization is a wicked transformer of unsurpassed power, Thailand may be a case study in modifying this idea. Perhaps Thailand’s response to today’s globalization has already been put in place by strategies formulated a century ago to offset colonial movements. If we look at the reform utilities, Thailand has employed three primary resources to counteract global influences – Buddhism, culture, and education – to establish an almost formulaic response. Whether these responses are sustainable and effective, particularly when the next wave of globalization arrives, or alternative voices transforms the utilities remains to be seen. In looking at some of the characteristics of the state reforms in 1900, we see a Thai cultural heritage borne through globalization that corresponds with most of the contemporary theories related to globalization as explained at the beginning of the chapter. A short list might include: -
an incentive-laden transnational trade climate; the market as the vehicle driving reform with capitalism as the engine; international commerce a threat to communities and cultures; a nation solidifying through state religion, culture, and education; economic interests driving institutional reforms; strong desire to be internationally competitive and adequate; the appropriation of economic and strategic skills from international clientele; cultural patterns of a stratified society; equity not a compelling force in reform; an elite segment of society determining notions of culture and propriety; education to promote development and unity; educational reforms without the local input or consideration of preserving local/regional ways of learning; and a history of social resistance and rebellion directed at inequality and exploitation.
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In further comparing these characteristics to theoretical frameworks discussed at the beginning of this chapter, we see that the reform utilities of Buddhism, regional/local cultures, and education were all deliberately and systematically centralized and used to impose an active diffusion of ideas that energetically transformed society. Contemporary reform, although planning for decentralization, actually was a move to centralize reform again without the need for developing any new reform utilities. The rationale of reform has been to develop the potential of a nation-state even though it ensured that social, economic, and educational inequalities would be perpetuated as ideologies benefiting, for the most part, the economic standing and status of the elite in the capital. Education’s initial, primary emphasis was to train people to create a giant bureaucracy to manage the public, develop a cadre of elite economic strategists and business people, and to impose a state culture and religion in rural areas through indoctrination by traditional teachers, the monks. In essence, the local/regional/rural was sacrificed for the sake of a centralized, unified nation-state and justified by the threat of outside, global threats. Even though there was a strong centralized component, these measures were not gravely different from the current decentralization trends, because most nations are reluctant to forego centralized controls of their reform utilities. In contrast, Thai educational reform in 2000 has not been successful because the prescribed decentralization of a large, central education complex was well-designed, but the means to accomplish that decentralization – the social capital found in local wisdom/traditions/customs – had already been absorbed and transformed through deliberate tactics to create a unified, dependent vision contrived by the state. So, the task of decentralization is all the more formidable because it asks the state to return vital life and power that has already been wrested away from the local. In other words, the local to which the system is to devolve, no longer has the capacity to utilize Buddhism or culture to aid in reform because these devices have already been reincarnated as state machinery that no longer captures the imagination or meet the learning needs of the local. Unfortunately or not, the lure of powerful tools developed at the global level in the form of telecommunications, captures more of the people’s imagination in pop caricatures of culture than the current transformative power of local knowledge. State Culture – An Ersatz Public Good? Thai culture has been consciously designed by the state – but only in this past century after the wave of colonial era globalization. The prototypical
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cultural notion emphasizing Thailand as eternally threatened by and in competition with outsiders was taken up during the Phibun era, most notably by Luang Wichit Wathakan. The threat of colonialism and then communism was sufficient motivation to create an edifice and fortress of culture where every Thai could mass behind and find psychological comfort. It was thought that the state could manage social conflicts through nationalism and the control of state reform utilities. These efforts to create a settled atmosphere were a combination of regal benevolence, patriotic patronization, and internal exploitation of the masses in order to explore expansionist ideas. So, while state culture created a national security, it also created a national vacuum in public and civil responsibilities so that the commons has become a repository of myths created, managed, and administered by the state. The Thai word for culture, wattana-tahm, is a word that does not have a deep history, and according to Raksasataya (1997), is a comparatively new word in the Thai lexicon and means ‘‘development, growth, or evolution from an original state of nature’’ (Raksasataya, 1994, pp. 3–4 in Raksasataya, 1997). The Office of the National Culture Commission has given wattana-tahm an operational definition: ‘culture means growth, which is the result of relationship [sic] system between human beings themselves, human beings and societies, and human beings and nature. It can be classified into three aspects, namely, spiritual, societal, and material. (Office of the National Culture Commission in Raksasataya, 1997)
The three aspects – spiritual, societal, and material – can be comparatively translated as the reform utilities of Buddhism, culture, and education. The growth Raksasataya mentions indicate materialistic features of control, manipulation, and development for human benefit. The system he mentions would have to be state mechanisms since they are the only public structures allowed. Raksasataya argued a decade ago that Thai culture needs another fine tuning to its definition so that it can be bounded by activities clearly discernable as distinctly Thai. His concern was that Thai-ness is threatened to become engulfed by global cultures and consumerism, non-Thai-ness triggering necessary vigilance and policies to regulate the public good. Raksasataya sought a new definition of Thai culture that must be ‘‘worthy of conservation’’ and ‘‘would give financial returns to those engaged in cultural activities’’ (Raksasataya, 1997). In essence, he would advocate reifying and marketing the state’s conception of Thai-ness, all the while
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ironically resisting both consumerism and being consumed by the surrounding world. The state consciously has used education to reinforce the parameters of Thai culture. Hallinger, Chantarapanya, Sriboonma, & Kantamara (2000) have noted how Thai cultural features have acted as deterrents to educational reform. It may be more accurate to say that Thai cultural features are embedded in education and reform is restrained by the limited vista of the state’s reform utilities. Bradley Levinson (2005), in relating culture to education said, ‘‘ . . . the educational process fundamentally oscillates between an emphasis on continuity and an emphasis on change’’ (p. 4) and Thailand has used culture to emphasize both over the last century. Education has aided in strengthening the conception of Thai-ness, but a worrisome trait of a lack of a multicultural view permeates Thai society. Local/regional/rural cultures were assimilated during the last century and a sense of homogeneity and wholeness pervades the nation. However, very little knowledge of hill-tribes, indigenous peoples, or southern Malays is known by students and there is very little understanding by the general population of the issues behind the current problems in the south of Thailand. It is assumed by many that the problems are due to outsiders causing trouble to the Thai people, but never is there a thought to perhaps the problems being associated with past assimilation policies, forced cultural patterns on the ethnic Malays, and the violent state response to peaceful resistance. It is not ironic in the least that much of the current violence in the south occurs at schools and against teachers as education has been a contentious issue for a century. This lack of awareness of a multi-ethnic nation certainly indicates a potentially myopic world view that is incapable of interacting in a multi-cultural world. In the future, this will not serve Thais very well and they might see threats and enemies that will lead them further from their preferred spiritual nature. The creation of a state monoculture to preserve unity in the past will necessitate a change for the future multi-cultural world. In looking at an alternative to a state cultural policy, Anderson-Levitt has defined culture in a manner that empowers people: ‘‘culture refers to what people know and know how to do, and not to a group of people’’ (Anderson-Levitt, 2002, p. 20). It is her definition that has appropriated culture to the field of education because, as she makes unambiguous, culture is social –it is learned from others, and it is shared – the directives all societies have given to schools and educational traditions. Culture can be said to be ‘‘networked knowledge situated within communities of practice’’ (Wenger as paraphrased in Anderson-Levitt, 2002, p. xii). This notion is not
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alien to Thai society – this was the survival strategy used by villages and bound by the Buddhist monks. It also happens to be what has survived in contemporary forms – the social movements engineered by NGOs and alternative education. Social Movements as Cultural Discourse Janet McIntyre-Mills (2000) defines social movements as a collective action by informal groups of people committed to broad changes to social institutions and structures. Since people acting together involves culture, social movements can also be thought of as cultural movements. Movements are framed depending on how actors respond to cultural themes and how their influence is projected through discourse (Fine, 1995). Gary Fine (1995) elaborates this significance with metaphor, ‘‘it is helpful to conceive of a social movement as a bundle of narratives’’ (p. 128). It is these narratives that create bonds, images, and traditions – the very foundation pieces of culture. In essence, culture is created through interaction and becomes the praxis of collective identity with social movements representing ‘‘staging areas for behavior’’ (Fine, 1995, p. 129). Movements then, are the creative dialogs between insiders and outsiders whereby emergent qualities of culture are contested and tend to create new meaning and significance for future cultural events. The relationship between movements and culture can be made more evident if a viewer will ‘‘focus on what takes place in the interactive struggle for power between elites and movement participants’’ (Fantasia & Hirsch, 1995, p. 145). They maintain that power relationships define cultural values, beliefs, and practices, and in reciprocation, subordinates adapt to their place by creating and expressing oppositional cultural values, beliefs, and practices. In the case of Thailand, we have seen the imbalance of power with the state defining values, beliefs, and practices during the last century. Opposition came in many forms from a variety of actors-from monks, peasants, students, middle class liberals, and from educators. In looking at Thai history, we have seen the various stages in which the narrative of the state displayed their debilitating power behavior – the police massacres at universities, armed sieges in villages, army slaughtering civilians on the streets. The behavior deteriorated state credibility and gave power and authenticity to the voice of organized action of social movements. Although these clashes were seen as the end of military rule in Thailand, they actually represented the relinquishing of Thai culture by the elite. It was a transformative set of events that has allowed movements to change the national narrative up until the latest coup in September 2006.
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One group of resistors that have persistently and collectively pursued a means to amplify their voice in Thai society has been the alternative educators and the home-schoolers. They have established a number of strategies to develop models of society outside of state control and then advocated for their legitimization through representative democracy. It is not historically unusual to find social movements associated with education either-social movements have been closely associated with education as an alternative form of mobilization for freedom and liberation (Cooke, 2000) and the establishment of a civil society in the European tradition for the last two centuries. Brown (2000) and other researchers of social movements have identified how cultural, political, and religious identities are linked with independence movements with various strains of cross-cultural and global influences that are deeply rooted in adult education, particularly the alternative Scandinavian folk high schools in the 19th century (Popovic, 2000; Hake, 2000). What may be unique about Thai education social movements, however, is that they are connected to contemporary alternative educational settings by which they interpret their fundamental notions of a society and its culture through an education process independently from, and yet networked with, other alternative educators. These contemporary movements do not seek liberation to operate according to any one cherished, past tradition or identity, but seek a progressive redefinition of their own lives and relating in more significant ways with others. This is not to bring selfish benefit to oneself or one’s own identity group, it is an attempt to bring benefit through community and dialog (Wangwinyoo & Wangwinyoo, 2006). A unique feature of Thai alternative education social movement is that they seek to transcend and transform, but not at the expense of anyone else. An imagined motto might be ‘Strength without force’ or ‘Unity through individual insight and common intention.’
Buddhism – Tool of Resistance and Reform There is no question that the historical importance of Buddhism to education and culture in Thailand has been profound. Thai monks established schools in temples wherever they went and taught according to the regional beliefs and needs of the local population. The level of literacy during the Ayutthaya era was unparalleled and surpassed even France (Keyes, 1986 as cited in Payulpitack, 1991). This was irretrievably changed when King Mongkut began the reform of Buddhism, a decision that led to the alteration of the cultural and political definitions in Thailand.
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His choices to centralize Thai Buddhism and to divorce moral from material might forever be questioned, but they stand as pivotal in capturing rural Thailand and bringing it into the control of the developing nation-state. We can only speculate about alternative outcomes, but there is little denial that without these choices, the kingdom of Siam would have been vulnerable to colonial forces, possibly even being carved up and minced into a regional me´lange of small colonial states. But his choice to centralize Buddhism amounted to what many have referred to as internal hegemony as it required the people of rural Siam to abandon everything they knew about Buddhism – its spiritual benefits and meaning to their life, how they were educated, their traditions, their celebrations – and adopt a prescribed, uniform religious path imparted from the state capitol and enforced at both secular and religious levels. This Buddhism was one that emanated from the intellect and not one realized from experience or practice as advocated by the Buddha. Buddhism has not only been used as a utility of reform to gain conformity, but has also been a tool of resistance against the hegemony of the state. The various positions of resistance demonstrated by the forest monks are renowned and Tiyavanich (1997) has detailed the degree to which they resisted state Buddhism and the exploitation of people and the environment. Phra Buddhadasa Bhikkhu has remained a revered figure as a monk who led the popular movement to create a modern Buddhism that emphasized social development and a civil society (Payulpitack, 1991). His radical movement during the 1930s coincided with the radical political movement that led the movement to unseat absolute monarchy in Thailand. Buddhadasa Bhikkhu’s popular movement resuscitated the diminished position of spirituality in Thailand, spreading it to the spiritually starved urban population, and by establishing rural libraries, re-established the link between Buddhist thought and learning (Payulpitack, 1991). Buddhadasa’s movement may also be credited with inspiring the spate of spiritual movements and the revival of the forest monk tradition that arose over the past five decades. All of these movements have resisted the state and global notions of the supreme importance of commercial and material interests over the interests in people’s relation with the moral. State religion/culture may have arrested spirituality, but it was the consumer society encouraged as a tool of economic development that many believe has crippled the moral fiber in Thailand. By the 1980s, Thai society had become overtaken by what Sulak Sivaraksa referred to as ‘‘the religion of consumerism’’ (Sivaraksa, 1980, p. 175). His activism has advocated an Engaged Buddhist approach to renew society, not to a romanticized past,
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but the renewal of Thai indigenous spirituality that is exemplified by respect, compassion, and non-violent transformation to create a ‘‘more humane and livable world’’ (Swearer, 1996, p. 211). In describing both socially engaged Buddhism and Phra Prayudh Payutto, winner of UNESCO’s 1994 Prize for Peace Education, David Chappell writes: Being socially engaged is not new for Buddhism: what is new is the social, political, legal, technological, and economic context that motivates, enables, and supports Buddhists to be socially engaged . . . to include among their deepest religious convictions the commitment to gender inclusiveness, ecological responsibility, participatory democracy, social justice, and peace. (Chappell, 1999, p. 83)
Sulak believes that Thai people have appropriated Western consumerism, greed, and elitist demonstrations of power, which he disputes are not inherently Buddhist or aspects of Thai culture (Titmuss, 2003). This has manifested in his advocacy for a change in Thai education, an education that inspires the wisdom of local knowledge and not the cleverness of aggression, power, and corruption – aspects of the military and elite rulers and Western imperialism that have suffused Thai culture and its education system. Sulak has created many NGOs and his recent Spiritual Education Movement has inspired and spawned a vast association of local spiritual education organizations and schools throughout Thailand; most notably, Rajani and Pibhop Dhongchai’s Moo Baan Dek in 1978 and a growing network of alternative schools and home schooling families. They all share the search for the refuge of education free of a perversion of state religion and culture, but thoroughly full of meaning and engaged with and integrated in life. Education – the Future of Thai Culture Different nations have a variety of means to distribute national educational resources, but very few nations promote any other educational goals than those on the global agenda (Cheng, 2001). Thailand is no different and adheres for the most part to the call from the global institutions to accelerate the educational process in order to compete in the global market. This view sees students as ‘‘resources,’’ ‘‘human capital,’’ and ‘‘investments’’ – terms that are more fit for consumer products than for students aspiring to find meaning, significance, and personalized livelihood in a broad, new world of potential and wonder. Educational reform was hastened in 1997 when economic crisis hit Thailand and the first constitutional educational reform was adopted in the form of the National Education Act of B.E. 2542 (1999). The expectation for this reform was to ‘‘redeem the country from the downward spiral, so that Thailand will arise
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in the immediate future as a nation of wealth, stability and dignity, capable of competing with others in this age of globalization’’ (ONEC, 2002, p. i). Rie Atagi (2002) in her examination of Thai educational reform applauds the generally broad vision and ambitious design of the reform plan, but at the same time believes it to be situated in a policy formation stage and not advanced at the operational level. Four years further, she might say the same thing as demonstrated by the great amount of resistance of rural educators who are reluctant to implement the reform. Issues – whether real or imagined-abound for the educators and they balk at the thought of surrendering their status within the government, managing their own schools with fewer resources, and still answering to the authority of a centralized state ministry. This is not the bottom-up approach as intended in the National Education Act of B.E. 2542 (1999). Rie Atagi (2002) reminds us that ‘‘reform in the classroom cannot happen unless the whole system, within which education takes place, changes’’ (p. 16), but in just looking at the behemoth budget allocation for education alone – nearly 25% of the Thai national budget (OEC, 2004) – one can see why reforming the education system in Thailand is a complex and daunting task. The core educational reform relates to transforming the learning and teaching required to fulfill the Education Act. The pedagogic recommendations in the Act favor a learner-centered constructivist approach that is thought to foster ‘‘higher-level thinking skills, and to enhance student motivation and self-esteem’’ with the expectation that students would begin ‘‘to think locally and globally simultaneously’’ (Atagi, 2002, pp. 52–53). The unfortunate fact here is that very few teachers have ever been exposed to these very complex teaching techniques nor are Thai students prepared to learn in such a manner. Thai students and teachers are already overwhelmed at the amount of material to be ‘‘consumed’’ to pass exams and they have entrenched meanings about what learning is – but these meanings are not explored much in the research field of Thai education. The potential of learning is expected to be elevated to global standards, yet teacher training and exposure to global and indigenous pedagogies are limited. Ketudat (1999) has proposed a hopeful remedy in establishing a ‘‘learning network’’ whereby communities of teachers, parents, leaders, and business people create a resource base to implement the dynamic provisions required of reform. But will this sufficiently unleash the minds of students, educators, bureaucrats, and communities from a century of indoctrination to embrace new ways of thinking to provide it with the ability to span the ‘‘global distance’’? Susan Jungck and Booreang Kajornsin (2003) believe that ‘‘revitalizing Thai wisdom has become a national strategy to encourage a more balanced
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mediation of global knowledge and indigenous knowledge’’ (p. 33). They rightfully acknowledge that impetus for this sort of revitalization will come by way of social movements, but perhaps not by local rural movements alone. In this case, movements that show potential for Thai wisdom are more aptly found in the alternative education movements. There is a growing network of alternative schools with curricula emphasizing the spiritual and social tools necessary for the future world. Home-schooling is growing rapidly in Thailand and has increased to 200 families as of 2004 (Chalermchai, 2004). Some of the major factors most parents give for homeschooling their children is the extreme degree by which Thai schools force an overly academic approach that bears no relation to their future or to their position is society. As Arthit Daengpuangpaiboon explains, The decision to opt for home-school was due to the disintegration of the conventional education system which was neither coherent nor practical in relation to real life. It also created pressure for children, whereby students were solely stuffed with academic subjects in order to be competitive in exams; and eventually, the students barely knew their own self. (The Nation Newspaper, 2000)
Home-school parents, like many parents in Thailand, do not believe that the knowledge forced in the Thai education system meets the needs of their children or their future. The western model adapted to the Thai context is considered by many Thais to be overly aggressive, competitive, instills a consumerist attitude, and does not assist the child in meeting their potential. Pioneering home-school parent Krusom Pueng-udom says that children know how to learn naturally without force and that ‘‘our goal, after all, is not to instill in them lots of academic knowledge, but to help them learn about life’’ (Bangkok Post, 1998). These voices of the Thai alternative education movement are deepening and renounce the ‘‘conform and perform’’ (Wangwinyoo, 2006) approach of the Thai public schools and they are finding their children better adjusted to a changing world than most of the kids in public schools. Nuttarote Wangwinyoo, co-creator with his uncle, Wisit, of several spiritual-oriented education organizations and communities, speaks convincingly of his experience that ‘‘learning takes place in bonding – in environments of safe space, trust, and community . . . learning is both individual and collective.’’ Wisit envisions societies transforming and moving away from mechanical, industrial models of management and toward more culturally flexible, knowledge-based management societies that create ‘‘collective wisdom’’ through communities of practice. Wisit perceives that the future of learning will be defined by dialog and interdependent creations.
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Soraj Hongladarom (2005) has also asked what the aims of education should be and what sort of educational skills students need to learn to face the future in a globalized world. In a world in which once relied on education to reproduce an assembly line formula of production and standardization to accommodate an industrial era, the aim of education was to cater to industries. It has been replaced by an age of entangled lines of information that now relies on mass customization of education in order to have students learn to critically assess and creatively apply selected information. Information technology has an implicit relationship with culture as it decodes and encodes symbols, metaphors, and language – collective knowledge in Wisit’s parlance. The role of education, then, is obligated to take this local factor into account; and the role of research is essential to bring to the surface the ‘‘cultural code’’ of a region in order to bring coherence to one’s own knowledge with that of the global. Alternative educators and home-schoolers would likely agree on the type of skills necessary to enter the world of the future – they would be considered humanistic with an emphasis on engagement, attunement to change, and a flexible identity structure bound by the community one resides. Soraj Hongladarom (1998) believes that the humanities need to be cross-taught with the sciences since they will better prepare a student for the future than will pure science or technology, which are focused on mere vocation skills over the interactive skills necessary to develop collective knowledge and global parity. He believes there are four essential skills students of the future will need: ‘‘communication, critical thinking, visualization, and adaptability skills’’ (p 51). Perhaps no one in the alternative education movement would disagree, but formal educators might point to the global agenda, the endless reams of UN statistics, and fret about their ranking in the contrived world of the market.
SECTION VI. REFLECTIONS ON REFORM The teacher can only inspire, and learning really occurs when students embark on their own journey towards understanding themselves and their surroundings. – Soraj Hongladarom
Limits and Frontiers Thailand’s encounters with globalization have been numerous over the centuries and it has done well to maintain its national independence.
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However, its independence came at a price and many past reforms surrendered valuable cultural aspects that have necessitated more reforms in the present. It is hoped that the nation does not surrender more social or cultural capital in the current reforms as it is a society prone to an overfascination with the material at the risk of dampening respect for spiritual and civic aspirations. As already noted, many of the necessary utilities for reform, culture, spirituality, education, are the same now as they were 100 years ago. The difference is in the capacity and will of Thai people to make the necessary changes to fulfill the reform vision of the state. At a glance, it would seem that the prescription of decentralization for moving through the straits of globalization is the correct maneuver. However, it is something few countries can accomplish since the global market asks for an attunement to economic-based benchmarks that require reforms to mold people to attend to the demands of the market. In the case of Thailand, the demands of the market do not necessarily match the needs of the people and may lead the country further away from its inherent strengths. Decentralization also depends on the strength of the state in empowering its local people and entrusting them with responsibility. Thailand’s past and current record on this accord is also very weak due, for the most part, to a heavily stratified society that does not guarantee equality, but also does not guarantee opportunity, innovation, or the possibility of unforeseen quality in people without status. Although policy-makers have designed and crafted a solid Education Act specifying a reform plan, its implementation is in serious jeopardy since it is a replication of the same top-down implementation that was used a century ago to create formal education. The decentralization of Thai education, like in so many countries, has blindly followed prescribed remedies that are met with resistance. Resistance coming in many forms and from different sectors-resistance in believing it is necessary, resistance in believing the system offers the potential of providing an equitable and good education for all, resistance in believing the capacity of a large bureaucracy stacked with mediocrity will be flexible enough to transform itself, and resistance in believing there will be personal security and benefit in it. The degree of inertia and drag weight of a behemoth institution that faces decentralization is daunting. Perhaps the next step is to equip local communities, educators, and a new breed of facilitator-teachers with the knowledge and incentives to perk their interest in owning this project and not being subjected to it – a long process, no doubt. The confidence or cultural capacity to manage schools is rare at the community level and there exists a dependency relationship between
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schools and the state system and between parents/communities and schools. The idea of public good is a foreign concept that has never developed historically, and the community does not have a notion of shared responsibility or common shared goods. This conceptual lack limits many communities’ vision and ability to develop a decentralized educational system and encourages passive approaches to public duty and disinterest of building upon indigenous or local knowledge. But decentralization is probably not the biggest problem facing educational reform in Thailand. Even though enrollment and literacy rates are extremely high, education, now as in the past, has vocational and economic benefits that are still privileged to the select few. A large obstacle to the success of educational reform can be found in the inherent inequality of educational benefits across the social strata and the rural–urban gap that severely disadvantages rural kids. In a society that is highly concerned with social stratification, prestige, position, and competition to score high on exams, a high degree of performing stress has been placed on students – or has left a larger majority disinterested in such a taxing process. Many parents in the urban areas believe in the Western model and push their children to achieve academically in order to gain status by attending a choice university and doing ‘‘important work’’ in the future. School becomes endless cram sessions and tutoring programs. Even with the emphasis on ‘‘mindless’’ academics, there are few students prepared to meet the future of the globalized world. Culturally, Thais are known for their shy and ambiguous approach to foreigners and their English language and general communication skills are weak. The global world will require keen intercultural skills and the ability to resolve complex cultural problems – other areas that have been weakened by the lack in developing a wider view of culture and the world, in general. Most students know how to memorize and cram, but few know how to learn. Many students have traveled outside of Thailand, but most remain culturally aloof with few knowing how to integrate into other societies and cultures. Government officials repeatedly state that the nation needs to be globally competitive and performance-oriented, and outfit the formality of schools with standards and measurements that are of great interest to ministry offices and international institutions. The questions must be asked: is the emphasis on formalities helpful in student learning? Does learning require such stress and competition? Do students need to know so much about everything or do they need to know how to discover things for themselves when they need? Is it necessary to create so many kids-at-risk, ‘‘throwaway’’ kids, and kids who do not have life-long learning skills? Will the
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future be as traumatic as the educational process seems to be? Will this incredibly overly academic emphasis lead to better lives, help students understand themselves, their world, and make them happy and a benefit to their community? Or is all this going to create stressful individuals who no longer have a grasp on the significance of their life except to fulfill the demands of the market? These are primary questions and should be examined before reform is hurled onto the unsuspecting and unprepared public. The foisting of extravagant plans on the people has been a past pattern of the large, powerful state and it did not engender a warm relationship but it did create lasting effects, some of which are problems still awaiting resolution. Although not often given a place of historical significance, it is the heritage of resistance movements and engaged spirituality that offers great hope to educational reform – and societal change in general. Education resistance movements and the alternative education network are strong and growing rapidly. They have learned much about what education means and how Thai students could learn more naturally and easily. It would do well if researchers began examining the issue of how Thai learners learn best – not just in pilot schools supporting the national curriculum, but students outside the system, along with failed and disengaged students, too. The natural learning style of rural Thais was ignored a century ago in favor of a forceful academic learning style and it would serve reform well to understand how cultural and spiritual factors can enhance or distance the ability to learn. These are some of the most salient lessons from Thailand’s encounters with globalization and its reform measures. There are surely more reforms and challenges on the horizon. The relevant strength of the response to these challenges will not be found impulsively in a prescribed formula nor by the inherent weakness found in force and subjugation, but will be made deeply relevant through dialog, discourse, and diversity. The depth and quality of the response to future challenges will be measured, not in neatly packaged data sets, but in engaged communities, engaged minds, and engaged spirits.
REFERENCES Anderson-Levitt, K. M. (2002). Teaching cultures: Knowledge for teaching first grade in France and the United States. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, Inc. Appiah, K. (2006). The case for contamination. New York Times (On-line edition), January 1. Astiz, M., Wiseman, A., & Baker, D. (2002). Slouching towards decentralization: Consequences of globalization for curricular control in national education systems. Comparative Education Review, 46(1), 66–88.
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Atagi, R. (2002). The Thailand educational reform project: School reform policy. (Retrieved from the World Education Reform Web Page at: http://www.worldedreform.com/pub/ fulltext2.pdf on July 18, 2004). Baker, C., & Phongpaichit, P. (2005). A history of Thailand. New York: Cambridge University Press. Bangkok Post. (1998). In a class of their own. (Retrieved from the Bangkok Post web site at: http://saimake.net/maesom/bangkok-post.html on July 24, 2004). Behrman, J., Deolaikar, A., & Soon, L. (2002). Conceptual issues in the role of education decentralization in promoting effective schooling in Asian developing countries. ERD Working Paper No. 22. Brown, L. (2000). Mobilisation, popular participation and sustainable development: Themes in the recent history of adult education in poor countries. In: A. Cooke & A. MacSween (Eds), The rise and fall of adult education institutions and social movements: The proceedings of the seventh international conference on the history of adult education (pp. 3–13). New York: P. Lang Publishing. Buasuwan, P. (2003). The influences of globalization and decentralization on preparing Thai secondary students for civic participation: A case study of two Thai communities. Dissertation Abstracts International, A64 (08), 2835. (UMI No. 3101635). Carnoy, M. (1999). Globalization and education reform: What planners need to know. Paris, France: UNESCO. Chalermchai, Y., & Chalermchai, U. (2004). Pedagogy used by Thai home-schooling families. (in Thai). Bangkok, Thailand: ONEC. Chappell, D. (1999). Engaged Buddhism in a globalized society. In: S. Sivaraksa, P. Udomittipong & C. Walker (Eds), Socially engaged Buddhism for the new millennium: Essays in honor of the venerable Phra Dhammapitaka (Bhikku P.A. Payutto) on his 60th birthday. Bangkok, Thailand: Sathirakoses-Nagapradipa Foundation. Cheng, K. M. (2001). Education and development: The neglected mission of cross-cultural studies. In: R. Alexander, M. Osborn & D. Phillips (Eds), Learning from comparing: New directions in comparative education research, vol. 2: Policy, professionals, and development (pp. 81–92). Oxford, UK: Symposium Books. Connors, M. (2003a). Developmental democracy: Villages, insurgency, and security. In: Democracy and national identity in Thailand (pp. 59–90). Oxon, UK: Routledge Curzon. Connors, M. (2003b). The reforming state: Security, development and culture in democratic times. In: J. Ungpakorn (Ed.), Radicalising Thailand: New political perspectives (pp. 319–343). Bangkok, Thailand: Institute of Asian Studies, Chulalongkorn University. Cooke, A. (2000). Introduction. In: A. Cooke & A. MacSween (Eds), The rise and fall of adult education institutions and social movements: The proceedings of the seventh international conference on the history of adult education (pp. 3–13). New York: P. Lang Publishing. Fantasia, R., & Hirsch, E. (1995). Culture in rebellion: The appropriation and transformation of the veil in the algerian revolution. In: H. Johnston & B. Klandermans (Eds), Social movements and culture (social movements, protest, and contention) (Vol. 4, pp. 144–159). Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press. Fine, G. (1995). Public narration and group culture: Discerning discourse in social movements. In: H. Johnston & B. Klandermans (Eds), Social movements and culture (social movements, protest, and contention) (Vol. 4, pp. 127–143). University of Minnesota Press: Minneapolis, MN.
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Fry, G. (2002). Synthesis report: From crisis to opportunity, the challenges of educational reform in Thailand. (Retrieved from the World Education Reform Web Pages at: http:// www.worldedreform.com/pub/fulltext1.pdf on April 11, 2004). Hake, B. (2000). Social movements and adult education in a cross-cultural perspective. In: A. Cooke & A. MacSween (Eds), The rise and fall of adult education institutions and social movements: The proceedings of the seventh international conference on the history of adult education (pp. 17–31). New York: P. Lang Publishing. Hallinger, P., Chantarapanya, P., Sriboonma, U., & Kantamara, P. (2000). The challenge of educational reform in Thailand: Jing Jai, Jing Jung, and Nae Norn. In: T. Townsend & Y. Cheng (Eds), Educational change and development in the Asiapacific region (pp. 207–226). Lisse, The Netherlands: Swets& Zeitlinger. Hongladarom, S. (1998). Humanistic education in today’s and tomorrow’s world. Manusya Journal of Humanities, 1(1), 47–58, March. Hongladarom, S. (2005). The Asian information society and the aims of education. Journal of Pan-Pacific Association of Applied Linguistics, 9(1), 151–162. Johnston, H., & Klandermans, B. (1995). Social movements and culture (social movements, protest, and contention, Vol. 4). Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press. Jones, M. E., & Demaine, H. (1998). Improved Livelihood through Sustainable Aquatic Resources Management. Grant and project proposal to ASEAN, January. Bangkok, Thailand. Jungck, S., & Kajornsin, B. (2003). ‘‘Thai wisdom’’ and glocalization: Negotiating the global and the local in Thailand’s national education reform. In: K. M. Anderson-Levitt (Ed.), Local meanings, global schooling: Anthropology and world culture theory. New York: Palgrave-MacMillan. Ketudat, S. (1999). Education for sustainable development. Lecture, Eighteenth Conference of the ASEAN Council of Teachers, December 19, Chiang Rai, Thailand. Keyes, C. (1977). Millennialism, Theravada Buddhism, and Thai society. The Journal of Asian Studies, 36(2), 283–302, February. Keyes, C. (1989). Buddhist politics and their revolutionary origins in Thailand. International Political Science Review, 10(2), 121–142, April. Krishna, A. (2002). Active social capital: Tracing the roots of development and democracy. New York: Columbia University Press. Levinson, B. (2005). Education for cultural continuity and change. Encyclopedia Britannica. Chicago, Illinois. McIntyre-Mills, J. (2000). Global citizenship and social movements: Creating transcultural webs of meaning for the new millennium. Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Harwood Academic Publishers. McNeil, M. (2002). Engaging the poor. Development Outreach, 4(1), 28–30. Missingham, B. (2003). The assembly of the poor in Thailand: From local struggles to national protest movement. Chiang Mai, Thailand: Silkworm Books. Nartsupha, C. (1999). The Thai village economy in the past. Chiang Mai, Thailand: Silkworms Books. OEC. (2004). Education in Thailand 2004. Bangkok, Thailand: Office of the Education Council. ONEC. (2002). National education reform act B.E. 2542 (1999 AD) and amendments: Second national education Act B.E. 2545 (2002 AD). Payulpitack, S. (1991). Buddhadasa’s movement: An analysis of its origins, development, and social impact. Dissertation, Universitat Bielfeld, Germany. Retrieved from the Universitat Bielfeld web site at: http://bieson.ub.uni-bielefeld.de/volltexte/2003/124/ on May 5, 2005.
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Pew Research Center. (2003). Globalization with few discontents? Global policy forum. (Retrieved from the Global Policy Forum web pages at http://www.globalpolicy.org/globaliz/ cultural/2003/0603globalopinion.htm on June 2004). Phatharathananunth, S. (2006). Civil society and democratization: Social movements in northeast Thailand. Copenhagen, Denmark: Nordic Institute of Asian Studies. Phongpaichit, P., & Baker, C. (2001). Theories of social movements and their relevance for Thailand. Position paper for Social Movements in Thailand. Project. August 1999. Bangkok, Thailand. Popovic, K. (2000). Adult education institutions within the context of political change. In: A. Cooke & A. MacSween (Eds), The rise and fall of adult education institutions and social movements: The proceedings of the seventh international conference on the history of adult education (pp. 49–57). New York: P. Lang Publishing. Pupphavesa, W. (2002). Globalization and social development in Thailand. CAS Discussion Paper No. 39, July. Raksasataya, A. (1997). A cultural policy for Thailand’s national development. In: S. Baidyanath (Ed.), Culture and development series No. 2: Integration of endogenous cultural dimension into development. New Delhi, India: D.K. Printworld. Rhoten, D. (1999). Global-local conditions of possibility: The case of education decentralization in Argentina. Dissertation Abstracts International, A61 (01), 132. (UMI No. 9958178). Rodrik, D. (1997). Has globalization gone too far? Washington, DC: Institute for International Economics. Sattayanurak, S. (2002). The establishment of mainstream thought on ‘Thai nation’ and ‘Thainess’ by Luang Wichit Wathakan. Tai Culture – International Review on Tai Studies. Nation and Culture, VII(2), December, pp. 7–34. Sivaraksa, S. (1980). Siam in crisis. Bangkok, Thailand: Thai Inter-Religious Commission for Development. Stromquist, N. (2002a). Education in a globalized world: The connectivity of economic power, technology, and knowledge. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. Stromquist, N. (2002b). Globalization, the I, and the other. Current Issues in Comparative Education, 4(2), 87–94. Swearer, D. (1996). Sulak Sivaraksa’s Buddhist vision for renewing society. In: C. Queen & S. King (Eds), Engaged Buddhism: Buddhist liberation movements in Asia (pp. 195–235). Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. Tambiah, S. (1984). The buddhist saints of the forest and the cult of amulets: A study in charisma, hagiography, sectarianism, and millenial Buddhism. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. The Nation Newspaper. (2000). Home School: Education at Home-Alternative education during reform period. The Nation Newspaper, April 25, P.A6. Titmuss, C. (2003). The religion of consumerism. In: D. W. Chappell (Ed.), Socially engaged spirituality: Essays in honor of Sulak Sivaraksa on his 70th birthday. Bangkok, Thailand: Sathirakoses-Nagapradipa Foundation. Tiyavanich, K. (1997). Forest recollections – wandering monks in twentieth century Thailand. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai’i Press. Ungpakorn, J. (2001). Cleansing democracy of socialism: Crushing the left on the 6th October 1976 and the consequences for present day politics. Paper presented at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, September. London, UK.
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Ungpakorn, J. (2003). A Marxist history of political change in Thailand. In: J. Ungpakorn (Ed.), Radicalising Thailand: New political perspectives (pp. 6–40). Bangkok, Thailand: Institute of Asian Studies, Chulalongkorn University. Uwanno, B. (2006). Ten Principles of a Righteous King. Bangkok Post. Analysis of Thai Monarchy Series, June 12–16. Visalo, P. (1999). Buddhism for the next century: Toward renewing a moral Thai society. In: Socially engaged Buddhism for the new millennium. Bangkok, Thailand: SathirakosesNagapradipa Foundation & Foundation for Children. Wangwinyoo, N., & Wangwinyoo, W. (2006). Personal interviews, May–July. Wyatt, D. (2003). Thailand: A short history (2nd Ed.). Chiang Mai, Thailand: Silkworm Books. Young, J., & Levin, B. (1999). The origins of educational reform: A comparative perspective. Canadian Journal of Educational Administration and Policy, 12. Retrieved on November 13, 2003. Available at http://www.umanitoba.ca/publications/cjeap/articles/younglevin.html
THE CENTRALITY OF CONTEXT IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH TEACHER RECRUITMENT PROTOCOL: RELEVANCE FOR INTERNATIONAL TEACHER MIGRATION Kimberly Ochs ABSTRACT Migration is one of the most significant domestic, development and foreign policy issues in the world today. According to the International Organization for Migration, 1 out of every 35 persons worldwide is an international migrant. This chapter discusses the complex issue of international teacher migration, and reports findings from empirical research conducted in the UK to illuminate the socio-cultural and economic contexts of teacher migration in both industrialized nations and in developing countries. This research, commissioned by the Commonwealth Secretariat, served to inform development of a Commonwealth Teacher Recruitment Protocol, which was adopted by 53 countries in Power, Voice and the Public Good: Schooling and Education in Global Societies Advances in Education in Diverse Communities: Research Policy and Praxis, Volume 6, 455–477 Copyright r 2008 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited All rights of reproduction in any form reserved ISSN: 1479-358X/doi:10.1016/S1479-358X(08)06017-8
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late 2004. This chapter serves to disseminate the results of this research to a larger international audience. It also provides an analysis of the process in which educational research informs international policy development.
BACKGROUND Teacher loss is a growing phenomenon in both developing and industrialized nations. Between 25 and 40 percent of teachers in industrialized countries are over the age of 50 and will be retiring within the next 10 years (Commonwealth Secretariat, 2005, p. 7).1 At the same time, there is an under-production and high attrition of young teachers. Conservative estimates in the UK state a national shortage of up to 40,000 teachers (Nichols, 2002). It is projected that there will be a need for 2,500,000 new teachers in the United States by 2008/2009 (Hussar, 1999). There is actually a surplus of trained teachers in the US, but many have left the profession. In the US, around 20 percent of teachers give up teaching after 3 years and 50 percent drop out after 5 years (Commonwealth Secretariat, 2005, p. 7).2 A particular concern has been the recruitment of teachers from small states, such as Jamaica, which are hardest hit when teaching resources dwindle. In a country with a population of less than three million people and scarce human resources, teachers cannot be easily replaced. In July 2002, following a major upsurge in the recruitment of Caribbean teachers by the US and UK, Ministers of Education and their representatives from eight Caribbean countries met in Barbados to address the problem of teacher loss and recruitment. In the Savannah Accord, they called upon Commonwealth Ministers of Education to develop a draft protocol/code of practice for the recruitment of teachers in the Commonwealth. In July 2003, the draft protocol was circulated widely and arrangements were made with this researcher to report on the context and circumstances of teacher loss and conduct a study on teacher loss in the Commonwealth, meeting the objectives outlined in the Savannah Accord. The results of this research were documented in a report and distributed to the Commonwealth Ministers of Education in October 2003. Following a year of further research and discussion, a Commonwealth Teacher Recruitment Protocol was passed in September 2004. Organizations such as the International Labor Organization (ILO), UNESCO, and Education International remain focused on researching and addressing teacher migration and the rights of migrant teachers.
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Mobility among teachers and skilled workers in general is not new. In developing countries, migration became more profound following independence in response to political turmoil, economic hardships, and repressive dictatorships. For others, mobility brought the opportunity of more qualifications, and in theory, more career stability. In the Caribbean region, ‘‘microstate educators are themselves invariably trained abroad in the metropolis and usually return home imbued with the theory and content of courses which they generally seek to duplicate or reproduce, laced with the glamour accorded to international credentials’’ (Scott, 2001). As the Director of the International Migration Institute at Oxford University, Stephen Castles, points out, migration has been associated historically with periods of high growth in destination countries: 1875–1914, the 1960s and 1990s. Today, in most countries, there is a shortage of teachers. Recruitment, however, is now being done in a more organized way by governments, targeting more experienced teachers with special skills in return for ‘‘better’’ compensation. Teachers from Guyana are going to Botswana and The Bahamas where remuneration is more lucrative.3 Teachers from India are moving to the United States, Canada, and the UK. Recruitment agencies have identified education as a high-growth area in the recruitment business. The issue of teacher loss, the ramifications in the source country, and the suitability of skill transfers across different countries must carefully be considered. The objectives of this chapter are to: (1) illuminate the important contextual issues of supply and demand in the teaching profession and major international trends; (2) report on the extent of teacher loss whether for reasons of recruitment by other countries, disaffection with the teaching environment leading to career change, or death due to the HIV/AIDS epidemic; (3) bring attention to the impact of teacher mobility and teacher loss on the education system and quality of education, which emerged out of empirical research conducted in the UK; and (4) identify areas for further research and the collection of systematic data to inform future international policy initiatives and monitoring needs. The chapter is divided into four sections. First, it provides an overview of the context of international teacher loss and teacher mobility, including globalization, the General Agreement on Trade and Services (GATS), Education for All, HIV/AIDS in developing countries, and demographic trends in industrialized countries. Teacher loss is conceptualized into five broad dimensions. Second, the chapter reports on data from research conducted in the UK that was used to inform the development of a Commonwealth Teacher Recruitment Protocol. Findings report on teacher
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loss and recruitment in Commonwealth countries based on survey data, and on the experiences of migrant teachers working outside of their home country. Issues such as the role of recruitment agencies, remittances, compensation, qualifications, and career opportunities are illuminated through focus group and interview data. Third, the chapter reviews and analyzes the Commonwealth Teacher Recruitment Protocol, which was adopted by Commonwealth member states in 2004. The fourth section of the chapter reports on the reaction of international policy making organizations (such as the ILO), teachers unions and governments to the Protocol, and its impact in Commonwealth member states. This final section also includes a review of the situation within the US, which is not a member of the Commonwealth but does recruit teachers from member states. Since the US is only meeting 75 percent of its need each year by professional training, teachers are being recruited from abroad in mathematics, science, foreign languages, and special education (Commonwealth Secretariat, 2005, p. 18).4
CONTEXT OF INTERNATIONAL TEACHER LOSS AND TEACHER MOBILITY According to UNESCO, teachers represent some 1.6 percent of the world population in the age group 15–64 years, and by some estimates the largest single group of professionals in the world. More than two-thirds of these teachers are employed in developing countries (Siniscalco, 2002, p. 7). In examining the context of teacher loss in all countries in the Commonwealth, it is important to address the contextual issues that drive labor mobility among teachers. Although the effects may vary from country to country, all education systems are impacted by globalization, GATS, and the universal initiative toward Education for All. HIV/AIDS must also be addressed, given its tremendous impact on labor in certain regions of the world, particularly Africa, and its impact on specific Commonwealth countries such as Uganda, Zambia, Botswana, The Gambia, South Africa, and Swaziland among others. This section examines the context of international teacher mobility. First, however, it is important to review the different types of teacher loss, which can be conceptualized into five broad dimensions: (a) teacher recruitment to industrialized nations; (b) teacher recruitment to developing (often neighboring) countries; (c) career change associated with teacher
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disaffection; (d) teacher ‘‘drifting’’ to other countries where they go to obtain qualifications and may decide to remain; and (e) teacher attrition, due to retirement or death (sometimes related to HIV/AIDS). Teacher Loss to the Developed Countries: Developed countries, primarily the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and the United States, are actively recruiting teachers from the developing world to meet their own needs for teachers. In the UK, conservative estimates indicate a shortage of 2,500 teachers for London schools, and possibly up to 40,000 nationally (Nichols, 2002). It is projected that there will be a need for 2,500,000 new teachers in the United States by 2008/2009 (Hussar, 1999). Teacher disaffection, low compensation and job status, and frustrating working environments such as large classroom size, limited resources, student behavioral problems and unpleasant working environments have pushed teachers out of the profession, or to other countries to seek greater job satisfaction. Among other reasons, teachers have sought better remuneration, new experiences living in another country, or opportunities to pursue further education. Usually, the more qualified and more experienced teachers are targeted by recruitment efforts in developed nations to work in their schools, leaving a ‘‘brain drain’’ in the developing country. In the context of AIDS, and/or the limited population of small states in particular, such recruitment causes great challenges in replacing these individuals, whose skills and knowledge are vital to the education system. Recruitment may be initiated by individual schools, local education authorities, or recruitment firms, which act as liaisons between source countries and the education system that needs the teachers. Teacher Loss to Neighboring and Other Developing Countries: Within the Commonwealth, and particularly in small states, there is a longstanding tradition of migration to neighboring nations. There are still countries in the Commonwealth that rely on expatriate teachers to teach in their schools. This is true, for example, in Vanuatu, although significant reforms have been made to encourage the localization of teachers. Guyana has been losing a number of its teachers to Botswana. ‘‘Brain drain’’ remains an issue in these situations, as well as the question of a teacher meeting the students’ needs having trained in a context different from the one in which that teacher was trained. Teacher ‘‘Drifting’’: ‘‘Drifting’’ is the process by which teachers leave their countries to go to other countries and stay, even if the original intent had been to return ‘‘home.’’ For example, an aspiring teacher may go to a neighboring country to receive training and decide not to return ‘‘home’’ for
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professional or personal reasons, or situations of unrest at ‘‘home.’’ It may indicate a weakness in teacher training in the home educational system. Migration to another country may bring the opportunity for better qualifications where there might not be access to well-developed tertiary education at home. In many countries today, teaching is a profession with limited long-term career possibilities, declining working conditions and low salaries. Teacher Attrition: This term is used in reference to inevitable teacher loss due to retirement or death, sometimes linked to HIV/AIDS, which is having a significant impact on human resources issues in some Commonwealth member states. As this chapter discusses, HIV/AIDS is having a very significant impact on the supply of teachers. In Swaziland alone, nearly four times as many teachers were lost due to death or retirement than due to career change, and this is thought to be explained by HIV/AIDS.
GATS AND TEACHER MOBILITY The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) is the first multilateral agreement to provide legally enforceable rights to trade in all services, including cultural ones. It recognizes four modes of service delivery (Farrell & Oliveira, 1993): Mode 1: cross border supply of services supplied from one country to another (e.g. banking or architectural services provided through telecommunications or mail); Mode 2: consumption abroad by consumers or firms using a service in another country (e.g. tourism or aircraft maintenance work); Mode 3: commercial presence of a foreign company setting up subsidiaries to provide services in another country (e.g. insurance companies or hotel chains); and Mode 4: presence of natural persons who travel from their own country to supply services in another (e.g. auditors, physicians, executive officers of multinational corporations, or teachers). There is, however, an important distinction to be made between liberalizing the permanent movement of labor and the temporary movement of labor. It is also a fine distinction to bring to the discussion of teacher loss and leads this author to ask – does the mobility of teachers and experience abroad help them to develop skills that can be brought home, or does
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mobility merely drain skills and create problems of inadequate human resources? The economic principle behind Mode 4 of GATS is that larger differences in the prices of factors of production in international trade bring larger potential gains from opening up international trade. More specifically, the principle is that if medium and less skilled workers, who are relatively abundant in developing countries, move and provide their services in developed countries, then potentially larger returns would be available. A team of economists led by L. Alan Winters of the University of Sussex, using an equilibrium model, suggests that if quotas were increased by an amount equal to 3 percent of developed countries’ labor forces, there would be an increase in world welfare of US$156 billion per year (Winters, Walmsley, Wang, & Grynberg, 2002). The team also argues that as the population’s age and the average levels of training and education rise in developed countries, they will face a growing scarcity of less skilled labor. They advocate a Temporary Movement of Natural Persons (TMNP) to provide a strong commonality of interest between developing and developed countries (Ibid).
EDUCATION FOR ALL A worldwide commitment to Education for All was first made in 1990 in Jomtien, Thailand and reconfirmed in Dakar, Senegal at the World Forum on Education of 2000. These commitments are outlined below. According to Education International, an estimated five million primary teachers will be needed to deliver the commitment on primary education in Africa alone. According to UNESCO/ILO, the population of official primary school age children has grown more than 16 percent in the African region south of the Sahara and 3.5 percent in the Caribbean and Latin American regions, with an average of 9 percent in developing countries (Siniscalco, 2002). Hence, issues of performance of teachers, retention, training, and recruitment are important matters of concern. The Dakar Framework for Action, issued in 2000, mentioned specifically the ‘‘pre-eminent role’’ of teachers in providing quality basic education, and that this ‘‘must entail measures to respect teachers’’ union rights and professional freedoms and improve their working conditions and status, notably in respect of their recruitment, initial and in-service training, remuneration and career development possibilities, as well as to allow teachers to fulfill their aspirations, social obligations, and ethical responsibilities. Fears are, however, emerging that the 2002/2003
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World Bank plan has the potential to undermine governments’ ability to formulate rational, appropriate national policy in this vital sphere. For example, the World Bank Action plan recommends capping teacher salaries as a percentage of per capital GDP.
Education for All commitments – Dakar 2000 - Expanding the improving comprehensive early childhood care and education, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children. - Ensuring that by 2015 all children, particularly girls, children in difficult circumstances and those belonging to ethnic minorities, have access to and complete free and compulsory primary education of good quality. - Ensuring that the learning needs of all young people and adults are met through equitable access to appropriate learning and life skills programs. - Achieving a 50 percent improvement in levels of adult literacy by 2015, especially for women, and equitable access to basic and continuing education for all adults. - Eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education in 2015, with a focus on ensuring girls’ full and equal access to and achievement in basic education of good quality. - Improving all aspects of the quality of education and ensuring excellence of all so that recognized and measurable learning outcomes are achieved by all, especially in literacy, numeracy and essential life skills.
Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO, 2002) discusses how donors are now moving away from the paradigm of the 1980s and 1990s, providing projectbased interventions and regarding education as an arena for cost-reduction. VSO also points out that the issue of access to education overshadows the issue of quality education. Recruiting new teachers will help to mitigate the issue of access, but the importance of initial training, on-going training, and experience must also be addressed as it relates to the quality of education received so that it is relevant to the local needs of students and the community.
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HIV/AIDS UNAIDS estimates that by the end of 2007 there were over 33.2 million people living with HIV/AIDS. About one-fifth of the people newly-infected with HIV in the world are under 15 years of age. It is estimated that about 36 percent of Botswana’s 15–49-year-olds live with the disease while Lesotho, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe (still a Commonwealth member in 2003), all members of the Commonwealth, have 25 percent similarly afflicted in this same age group (de Rebello, 2002). In a 2006 study, the Ministry of Education of Swaziland presented data for the period January 2004–December 2005 which reported that 60 percent of their nationals employed as primary teachers had died in service (Degazon-Johnson & Bourne, 2006). These are merely estimates, as the collection of statistics on HIV/AIDS is extremely problematic. In areas of the world where testing is limited, or there are cultural stigmas against AIDS which influence decisions to take the test, it is difficult to verify those infected with HIV. Still today in many countries HIV/ AIDS is not recognized as a cause of death. Rather, an affiliated illness might be reported as the cause of death, which obscures our understanding of the epidemic. HIV/AIDS has the potential to affect education, throughout the world, in several ways, as set out in the following framework by Michael Kelly (1999) of the University of Zambia, within the Commonwealth: (1) Demand for education. As an example, ‘‘by 2010 Zambia’s population of primary school age children is expected to be about three-quarters of a million less than it would have been without AIDS’’ (ibid., p. 3). As of 2002, ‘‘the mortality rate for the 15–49-year-old age group [was] 23 per thousand; for teachers in 1998 it was 70 percent higher, at 39 per thousand’’ (ibid.). (2) The supply of education. HIV/AIDS can lead to a loss of trained teachers through mortality, and reduced productivity among sick teachers. Owing to this loss, it can reduce the system’s ability to match supply with demand because of the loss of education staff, finance officers, inspectors, and management personnel. Schools in some areas, particularly rural areas, may need to make do with untrained teachers when a disproportionate number of qualified personnel need to move to urban schools, to be situated near medical facilities. (3) The availability of resources for education. For example, salaries might tie down funds for sick but inactive teachers. (4) The potential clientele for education. The rapid growth in the number of orphans is placing a massive strain on the extended family and need for
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public welfare, and limiting the ability of children to undertake incomegenerating activities. In Zambia, a standard strategy to cope with a parental death is to take offspring out of school, largely due to associated school costs. ‘‘More than 130,000 households (out of a total 1,905,000) are headed by a girl of boy aged 14 or under’’ (ibid., p. 4). The process of education. Teachers who are themselves persons living with HIV/AIDS may be unable to perform consistently in their teaching activities. In some communities, infected individuals (including teachers) have been blamed for introducing and spreading HIV/ AIDS among their members. The content of education. Students need to develop life-skills in preparation for leaving school if they are orphaned. Knowledge about HIV/AIDS needs to be incorporated into the curriculum. Inevitably, this translates to additional work for the teachers. The role of education. The school becomes envisaged as a multi-purpose institution – an educational hub, including disseminating messages about HIV/AIDS to pupils and staff. The organization of the school. Attending for normal school hours is problematic for orphans. A need has grown for schools to be closer to children’s homes, and to have a more flexible timetable. Of course, this also impacts the teaching day. Planning and management of the education system. Inevitably, there has been a loss of education officials responsible for planning, implementation, and management of programs and projects. Given the stress on the system, there is also a need for more accountable and cost-effective financial management at all levels. New approaches to the curriculum need to be developed to include vital skills, knowledge, and attitudes that need to be adopted in the face of HIV/AIDS. Donor support for education. Donors express uncertainty about supporting training for persons from heavily infected countries and are also concerned with promoting capacity building and developing a self-sustaining system.
THE CONTEXT OF SMALL STATES Thirty-two of the countries in the Commonwealth can be classified as Small States, or those with a population of less than 1.5 million. The depletion of the human resources in education has the greatest immediate and prolonged impact on Small States. This includes the territories in the Caribbean, which
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are frequently targeted today as sources for teacher recruitment. Colin Brock (1988) described small states in some instances as relatively remote, dependent, and constrained. Mark Bray (1992) identified six factors that pose problems and challenges for small states for planning, developing, and managing their systems. These are: resource capacity; natural disaster; foreign capital; transport and communications; domestic and external markets; and expenditure on administration. The achievement of an economy of scale is rarely possible. In discussing the development of educational personnel, Charles Farrugia acknowledges factors such as a fragile infrastructure, limited resources, and a volatile economic base (Baldacchino & Farrugia, 2002). An advantage of a small population, however, is a wide network of personal relationships. As Fentey Scott found in his study of head teachers, despite generous spending on educational services in the eastern Caribbean – Anguilla, Antigua, the British Virgin Islands, Dominica, Grenada and the Grenadines – it is difficult to provide for adequate training of head teachers. Most of the allocated funds go toward the expansion needs of primary and secondary level education, and to the training of primary teachers. Unlike Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, and Jamaica, these islands do not have sufficient resources to send their heads to be trained in Barbados, which is the campus more convenient to them geographically (Scott, 2001). With this contextual backdrop, the Commonwealth Secretariat, with three main objectives, commissioned research in 2003 (Ochs, 2003): - to determine the extent of teacher loss whether for reasons of recruitment by other countries, disaffection with the teaching environment leading to career change, or death due to the HIV/AIDS epidemic; - to understand the impact of teacher mobility and teacher loss; and - to investigate practices of teacher recruitment to inform the discussion of the Draft Protocol for the Recruitment of Commonwealth Teachers. This second section of this chapter highlights some of the major research findings, which were published in detail by the Commonwealth Secretariat.
SUMMARY OF EMPIRICAL RESEARCH Thirteen of the 545 Ministers of Education of the Commonwealth Nations (24 percent) responded to a survey to quantify the total numbers in the teaching force, percentage of turnover in teachers over a 3-year period,
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and the numbers of teachers lost from the profession due to overseas recruitment, career change, death, and retirement during the same period. The highest turnover rate of teachers in primary and secondary schools was 14.3 percent, reported in 2001 in Australia. For the same year, the total turnover rate in Australian secondary schools was over 16 percent. Among the findings, brain drain was found to be a major concern in Jamaica. According to a report compiled by the Policy Analysis and Research Unit (2002), in reference to one cohort of recruits, ‘‘Over 40 percent of the 337 recruits had between five and ten years’ teaching experience while 30 percent had between 10 and 20 years. Of the 116 primary school teachers, 57 percent had over 10 years experience.’’ Whereas in countries such as Swaziland and the Zambia, teacher loss due to HIV/AIDS was of great concern. Over half of the respondents did not directly answer the questions, but provided substitute data. Many of the respondents indicated that it was difficult to come across the data, which signalled a need for systematic data collection. Focus groups provided valuable information to provide more understanding of the situation. Owing to time constraints and the feasibility of the study, in-person focus groups were only conducted in London, but included a wide sampling of teachers recruited from different Commonwealth countries to offer insights and reflections about their career aspirations, potential disaffection with teaching in their home countries, and general commentary on the state of the education system and teaching profession in their home countries. Groups included teachers from Jamaica, South Africa, Ghana, India, Canada, and Australia. Teachers completed a brief survey of open-ended questions to solicit background information about their personal history and training. Topics discussed in the focus group included training, qualifications, the use of recruitment agencies, remittances, and unanticipated work experiences. Participants spoke of their reasons for leaving their home countries and ambitions for seeking employment in the UK, their experiences with recruitment firms, and general comments about their experiences teaching in London and in their home countries. In the first focus group, a number of the Jamaicans stated that they wanted to teach in the UK as a means to get higher education. This was not a theme that emerged in the second focus group, containing teachers from South Africa, India, Canada, Australia, and Jamaica. Almost everyone identified travel and economic opportunity as other primary reasons. Several people mentioned the relevance of the working visa. One dimension was that it served as a good means to find relatively well-paying part-time employment as a supply teacher, and an opportunity to travel. Immediately
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after university, it was appealing to people in the focus groups from Australia, Ghana, and South Africa. It seemed as if teaching was linked to personal development, to learn, and to experience a different culture. Some individuals did not see the opportunity to work as a teacher in England as an opportunity to further career back home. For others, such as one teacher from India, it was essential in helping to further his opportunities when he returned home. A teacher from South Africa added, ‘‘I think it is a springboard from here to Canada, or Australia or the United States.’’ All of the people in the focus groups resigned from their positions at home as teachers, and were willing to take the risk in moving to England without having an opportunity waiting for them back home. Although, for some, working in England was not thought to help further their individual career, everyone agreed that working in England would help their financial status. South African teacher added that there was a distinction between people from developing countries and developed countries as it related to financial risk and reward: I think the experience of people coming from developing countries is probably different in that sometimes we don’t want to go back because the financial constraints at home are . . . a lot worse and it is so nice being in a place where there is so much money, it’s easy to live, financially secure, and much more stable. Whereas South Africa, every time I go back home it’s more expensive. Inflation is skyrocketing. It is quite scary as a teacher when you don’t get paid very well teaching . . . I think with first world countries, you feel you can go back, it is a stable country, so it’s like coming to England for a holiday. [South Africa] is a country that is not as economically stable as maybe Australia or Canada . . . I think some South Africans come here, earn a lot of money and go back and that’s why they come here – to save a lot of money, and maybe go back and buy a house . . . but I think England, despite the behavior management and how horrible it is, is an attractive place.
Some teachers spoke of their frustrations with teaching conditions back home, while others spoke of their frustrations with teaching in London. All of the teachers included in the focus group were teaching in ‘‘tough innercity’’ London schools, where students have a general reputation for behavioral problems. Examples of teacher disaffection that motivated teachers to leave their home environments and seek employment in the UK included low pay and low status of the profession. Every individual spoke up, or nodded in agreement about the topic of the poorly behaved and unruly children in London schools. Teachers were shocked by the lack of discipline that they saw among the students in the inner-city London
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schools. One teacher spoke of being hit three times by students in his school. He continued to say that, When a discipline action occurs, I complete all this paperwork and nothing seems to happen. It is best not to call the child’s home in some cases because you might be adding insult to injury . . . My main issue back home was violence . . . students fighting each other, but not the teacher. Yes, you are being pressured to manage your classroom, but how can you manage your classroom if students observe you being disrespected?
Many of the teachers did not feel prepared or trained to handle the behavioral management issues simply because they did not exist at home. Both the Indian and Ghanaian participants commented that you would not have such behavior at home. Some attributed this to the lack of parental involvement. The majority of individuals interviewed had been recruited through an agency, although some were recruited directly by a school in the Chelsea area of London. Recruitment agencies used several methods to recruit teachers, including advertising on the internet, recruiting via telephone and advertising in a local Jamaican Sunday newspaper. Individuals also spoke about friends being asked to recruit individuals to take up teaching opportunities. The Times Educational Supplement (TES) and Eteach.com were also mentioned as websites that recruited teachers and were contracted directly by the boroughs. One woman mentioned that her school went to South Africa to recruit teachers, some of whom were unqualified teachers who had never spent any time in the classroom. Most recruits were given little information before coming to the United Kingdom. One Jamaican teacher was given some information on the cost of housing and other expenses, but it proved to be very misleading. As he stated, ‘‘After I was in the job, they sent me another package about what my salary would be and the cost of living . . . about d200–300 a month in London. What they did not state, though, they did not tell you about council tax, and other expenses that you would incur.’’ Teachers spoke about inconsistencies between the information they received in their home (source) countries and the information that they received upon arrival. Before arrival in the country, they were uncertain about their contractual terms. Also, qualification issues, and qualification requirements for teaching in the destination country were unclear before arrival. Evidence of cultural discrimination in the recruiting process was identified. As a Jamaican teacher described, ‘‘They wanted black teachers to work with the black children. But they were getting South African
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teachers to work with the Caribbean children who could not understand what they were saying.’’ The teachers also spoke of the perception of Jamaican teachers: ‘‘They said that the Jamaican teachers were the most ‘stick to it’ teachers as well . . . most of the teachers just give up, but the Jamaican teachers stay.’’ One black South African teacher was told by a recruitment agency that she should change her accent to make is sound more British. Her white and Indian South African colleagues had not received a similar request. In another situation, the school was not as selective as it should have been in its recruitment efforts: I know teachers at my school who have sent people down to South Africa to recruit and at the end only one person is left because the people that they recruited they just recruited at random . . . meaning I don’t know what they did but they went there and anybody that would apply they just took them. Like the first ten people who applied, they just took them so that there was one man who said that he had never taught in a school. He had only taught in prisons and had been recruited to teach in my school. He came and he was there for one month. The children said that they cannot understand his accent and the school asked him to go just like that. One other guy, he had actually taught in a school, he stayed for one week, one week!
All of the teachers arrived in the country as qualified, experienced teachers and were not made aware of the process required to become qualified in the UK to teach after the first four years, and the limitations of salary associated with levels of qualification. Currently, the system is focused on the qualifications of its teachers, rather than the equivalency of training and skills as a teacher. As one teacher described: I heard a story that a man . . . was trained like us in Jamaica, went through the rigorous training in a teacher’s college, had about 15 or 16 years teaching experience, to a point where he was made head of the department. I think he taught PE or industrial art, made head of the department. Upon arriving in the UK and contacting his school for a job, not through an agency he wanted to find a job on his own, who told him listen here now: According to our standards you are not a qualified teacher. I think it would best suit you if you seek a job as a classroom assistant. He was so angry. He said, ‘‘How dare you tell me that! I am a teacher.’’
Inevitably, teachers spoke about their experiences teaching at home and compared them to those they have had teaching in London. Some teachers felt that they had become better teachers since they arrived in the UK and felt that the national curriculum has restricted their teaching to a point of deterioration and has caused them more frustration with teaching. Others had positive experiences, using different resources in the classroom and learning different techniques. One of the general assumptions is that teacher mobility will lead to greater job satisfaction, not more disaffection and
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frustration with the profession. The Jamaican teachers, in particular, found the British system of examinations to be very restrictive, and also have not been able to use effectively their own skills from teachers’ college. The irony is that Jamaican teachers are especially sought because of the similarities between the Jamaican and English systems of education. Class size was discussed briefly, but was not raised as a point for teacher disaffection per se. One teacher linked class size to behavioral problems and the difficulty the teacher has in monitoring larger classes. For the teacher from Ghana, the class size in England of 20 was a drastic improvement to the class size at home of 50 or 60 pupils. Besides behavioral problems among the students, teachers also mentioned administrative requirements as a key reason for job frustration. One Australian teacher mentioned his previous working environment where certain staff were appointed specifically to handle the administrative tasks, which enabled the teachers to devote time to their lesson plans, working with students, and improving their methods as teachers. Others commented on the potential advantages of such a system.
SUMMARY The results of the qualitative study provide insights into reasons for teacher disaffection and teacher loss, but also reveals methodological issues in assessing the impact of teacher loss. The pan-Commonwealth survey and statistics available from other sources, particularly from the UK, illuminated the scope of the problem and determine some of the frequent paths of mobility across countries. The focus groups helped provide insight into teachers’ perceptions about the profession, factors contributing to frustration, and long-term ambitions. In determining the impact of teacher loss, one needs to more fully understand both the immediate, and the longterm impact of teacher loss. Are the ramifications different losing a newly qualified teacher who wishes to obtain a working holiday permit from losing an experienced one who is planning to retire? Two contextual factors are very important: What is the overall population of the source country? What are the age demographics of the source country? Clearly, small states will suffer most in trying to replace already scarce human capital. However, more needs to be understood about the needs and ambitions of those teachers who choose to leave small states, and about the means that will be required to retain them. The mass retirement of experienced teachers, primarily in Canada, Australia, and the US, is fuelling
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demand for teacher recruitment. But in an era of globalization and information technology, what types of teachers are needed to replace this lost capital? Do schools fully understand the skills, talent, and cultural backgrounds of the teachers needed? Do teachers fully understand the implications of their move, the cost of living in what seems to be a new place full of opportunity? These are all areas for further research.
REVIEW AND ANALYSIS OF THE PROTOCOL6 The Commonwealth Teacher Recruitment Protocol addresses the rights and responsibilities of source countries, recruiting countries, and recruited teachers. It was developed at the request of the 15th Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers in Edinburgh, UK, in October 2003. It was adopted at a ministerial meeting at Stoke Rochford, Lincolnshire, United Kingdom on September 1, 2004. The Protocol sets out to protect the rights of teachers, and in doing so addressed any of the research findings. Highlights from the Protocol are as follows (Commonwealth Secretariat, 2004, author’s emphasis): 2.3.1 This Protocol aims to balance the rights of teachers to migrate internationally, on a temporary or permanent basis, against the need to protect the integrity of national education systems, and to prevent the exploitation of the scarce human resources of poor countries. The Protocol also seeks to safeguard the rights of recruited teachers and the conditions relating to their service in the recruiting country. 2.3.4 Although this Protocol does not hold any legal authority, all the member countries are encouraged to develop such regulations and legislation that are necessary to meet the commitments of this Protocol. 3.2 It is recognised that the organised recruitment of teachers may be detrimental to the education systems of source countries, and to the costly human resource investments they have made in teacher education. Recruiting and source countries should agree on mutually acceptable measures to mitigate any harmful impact of such recruitment. Where requested by source countries, recruiting and source countries shall enter into bi-lateral discussions and make every effort to reach an agreement which will provide for such measures. Consideration will be given to forms of assistance such as technical support for institutional strengthening, specific programmes for recruited teachers, and capacity building to increase the output of trained teachers in source countries. 3.3 Recruiting countries shall make every effort to ensure that departure of recruited teachers is avoided during the course of the academic year of the source country, to prevent the disruption of teaching programmes.
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3.7 The government of any country which makes use of the services of a recruiting agency, directly or otherwise, shall develop and maintain a quality assurance system to ensure adherence to this Protocol and fair labour practices. The recruiting countries should ensure compliance. Where agencies do not adhere, they will be removed from the list of approved agencies. 3.8 The recruiting agency has an obligation to contact the intended source country in advance, and notify it of the agency’s intentions. Recruiting countries will inform recruiting agencies of this obligation. Recruiting countries should inform source countries of any organised recruitment of teachers. 3.9 Prior agreement should be reached between the recruitment agency and the government of the source country, regarding means of recruitment, numbers, and adherence to the labour laws of the source country. Recruitment should be free from unfair discrimination and from any dishonest or misleading information, especially in regard to gender exploitation. 3.10 Wherever appointed, recruited teachers shall enjoy employment conditions not less than those of nationals of similar status and occupying similar positions. The recruiting countries should also provide dedicated programmes to enable such teachers to achieve fully qualified status in accordance with any domestic requirements of the recruiting country. The recruited teacher is bound and subject to rules of national labour law and is also governed by any legislation or administrative rules relating to permission to work and suitability to work with children in the recruiting country. 3.14 A recruiting country shall ensure that the newly recruited teachers are provided with adequate orientation and induction programmes, including cultural adjustment programmes, with a focus on the school and its environment. 4.1 It is the responsibility of source countries to manage teacher supply and demand within the country, and in the context of organised recruitment. The country should have effective strategies to improve the attractiveness of teaching as a profession, and to ensure the recruitment and retention of qualified teachers in areas of strategic importance. Source countries should be advised of the necessity to establish policy frameworks which set out clear guidelines as to categories of teachers whose recruitment they will not support, in order to protect their most scarce resources. 4.4 The source country should include within its terms and conditions of service for teachers, if not already in place, provisions that relate to release of teachers under international exchange and organised teacher recruitment arrangements, and to their re-integration into the source-country education system on their return from abroad. 6.1 The Commonwealth Secretariat should monitor the status of organized recruitment of teachers, including numbers, recruitment practices and effects, and evaluate the application of this Protocol, including the impact on developing countries, and report to Conferences of Commonwealth of Education Ministers.
The Protocol reflects both the challenges and opportunity of international migration. What is termed ‘‘new’’ brain drain literature acknowledges the
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‘‘increasing recognition of the positive effects migration can have on development in the country of origin of the migrant’’ (IOM, 2005). As Roli Degazon-Johnson, Education Adviser of the Commonwealth Secretariat puts it, ‘‘Note must be made that the traditional and the new literature on Brain Drain are developing side-by-side, this is not sequential, about old and new, but traditional and new residing concurrently’’ (Degazon-Johnson, 2006). But planning mechanisms, which facilitate recruitment and mobility that meets demand without compromising the educational quality of children affected, both in source and destination countries. Without international, wide-reaching qualifications frameworks and provisions for exchange and re-integration, the positive effects and contributions of migrant teachers are potentially limited. Findings of this research, suggesting underutilization of teaching resources and limitations to personal career planning threaten educational quality and hinder the improvement of educational quality. In 2005, the Protocol was endorsed by the Organization of American States at the conclusion of its meeting, by Ministers of the 35 member countries of the organization, which span the Caribbean, Central and South American countries, as well as the United States of America. They resolved that:7 Education must play a fundamental role in developing a democratic and productive citizenry and in promoting social inclusion in order to find collective solutions to problems and to ensure that future generations enter a world filled with opportunity and hope. Quality education that is relevant to local contexts and global realities is first and foremost a human right and a public good that forms a central pillar of our societies. Ensuring that all our citizens receive the best education possible requires adequate funding, good management and the genuine participation of students, families, teachers, administrators and civil society.
Ministers committed themselves to ‘‘attaining the education goals of the Summit of the Americas, namely: promoting the principles of equity, quality, relevance, and efficiency at all levels of the education system; ensuring, by 2010, universal access to and completion of quality primary education for all children and to quality secondary education for at least 75 percent of youth, with increasing graduation rates and lifelong learning opportunities for the general population.’’8 The wide, international endorsement of this Protocol by international organizations is raising awareness of this issue and setting the groundwork for developing partnership and solutions. International migration and the
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impact on the local labor force is a key issue in most countries. The challenge, however, is that this is not solely a government issue. Private companies, including powerful recruitment agencies, would need to play a major role. The UK’s Quality Mark initiative is one such initiative to encourage best practices and raise awareness of the situation, but other such initiatives should be developed in other countries. The largest challenge, beyond the scope of the Protocol, is the introduction of international qualification equivalencies. As the Bologna Process is facilitating this within tertiary education, there is reason to explore a similar initiative at the primary and secondary levels to support necessary and pre-existing staff-mobility.
CONCLUSION The Commonwealth Teacher Recruitment Protocol reflects insights and provides guidelines as to how countries could potentially work together to minimize the gap between teacher demand and teacher supply and counter unethical practices in the recruitment of teachers. Important areas requiring further investigation: (1) Further investigate the consequences of teacher mobility at home. In the focus groups, teachers eluded to the conditions at home, reasons they left, and their ambitions to return home. Without further investigation we cannot understand the impact of their absence on the home condition. If teacher mobility is a fact and a growing trend, how can we better plan for the absence of teachers? And how do we prepare for their return into society at home? Do they return to a similar job or a different one? In India, a system has been adopted called the ‘‘third border strategy’’ whereby scientists are free to migrate for about three years and then return to their jobs without any loss of benefits or status. (2) Further explore the definition of the job as teacher. For some, teaching is a transitory profession. Many individuals embark on teaching as something they might want to try for a few years, or pursue as a secondary or later career. For others, it is an intended path for a full-time, long career. In the context of the changing nature of many professions, this must be taken into account in resource planning. L. Alan Winters and his colleagues distinguish between those seeking employment on a permanent basis and the temporary movement of skilled labor and the added issue of how to ensure that movement is temporary. An analysis
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and establishment of a code or practice should also analyze the nature of teaching profession. (3) Further explore the practices of recruitment firms, and compliance with initiatives such as the Quality Mark. The study featured in this chapter revealed several unethical or misleading practices by recruitment firms. Evidence was found in the focus group to support many of the initiatives drafted in the Protocol and verified the need for such a document. Yet, the question of compliance remains. The Quality Mark was an initiative by the UK government that could be explored in more depth.9 In conjunction with exploring ethics, it is also wise to explore which practices are least disruptive in to the education of the children. One suggestion by Senator Whiteman from Jamaica is to establish an agreement to prevent the recruitment of teachers mid-way through the school year, to prevent further disruption and challenges to find replacements for the vacant posts without disrupting the progress of students. (4) Investigate the true requirements for supply and permanent teachers. One American recruitment agency targeted hiring teachers from India and the Philippines to address the issue that they had 100 unlicensed longterm substitutes on staff and [were] losing licensed teachers to nearby districts that paid better. They argued that as the new recruits arrived from the developing countries, ‘‘the competition is forcing unlicensed substitutes back to school to keep their jobs.’’ One could argue that the market is working, but is it at the expense of developing countries that are losing their most qualified staff to work in the American schools? One could also ask, however, is there a way for the market to work more efficiently if the most qualified teachers in India are competing with the unqualified teachers in the United States? Without the frameworks to assess and compare qualifications, continued inefficiencies are likely. International labor mobility will continue to be a major policy and development issue for the next decade. Understanding the complexity of international teacher migration, and the context of migration in both the source countries and recipient countries, is paramount to ensure that educational quality is not compromised as countries continue to progress in achieving Millennium Development Goals. The research highlights the difficulty of educational planning, in both developed and developing countries, given the changing face of the profession and the new transnational teacher. Is there a new need for teacher training for a global market, and cross-national qualification frameworks? Findings from this research, particularly the stories of migrant teachers, would suggest it is. Although it does not hold any legal authority,
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The Commonwealth Teacher Recruitment Protocol is a significant international policy initiative that provides a much needed framework for safeguarding the rights of these transnational professionals and securing the educational quality of children in their classrooms.
NOTES 1. Education International, in Commonwealth Secretariat (2005). 2. Education International, in Commonwealth Secretariat (2005). 3. Editorial, Guyana Chronicle Online (2002). 4. Eide, Joanne in Commonwealth Secretariat (2005). 5. At the time of the original study, Zimbabwe was a Commonwealth member state. 6. See http://www.thecommonwealth.org. 7. http://www.thecommonwealth.org/Templates/Internal.asp?NodeID ¼ 146047 &int2ndParentNodeID ¼ 36895 8. Ibid. 9. See http://www.quality-mark.org.uk/site/page.php?cms ¼ 7
REFERENCES Baldacchino, G., & Farrugia, C. (Eds). (2002). Educational planning and management in small states: Concepts and experiences. London: Commonwealth Secretariat. Bray, M. (1992). Educational planning in small countries. Paris: International Institute for Educational Planning. Brock, C. (1988). Beyond the fringe? Small states and the provision of education. Comparative Education, 24(2), 167–179. Commonwealth Secretariat. (2004). Commonwealth teacher recruitment protocol. London: Commonwealth Secretariat. Commonwealth Secretariat. (2005). Report of a consultation on the recruitment and migration of the highly skilled (nurses and teachers). London: Commonwealth Secretariat. Degazon-Johnson, R. (2006). Brain drain, gain and circulation? – The recruitment, migration and retention of the highly skilled in the caribbean (Presentation at the University of the West Indies, 29–31 March). Degazon-Johnson, R., & Bourne, R. (2006). Report on the future actions of the commonwealth teacher recruitment protocol. London: Commonwealth Secretariat. de Rebello, D. (2002). Presentation to the Section for education for sustainable development, UNESCO, 19 February. Farrell, J. P., & Oliveira, J. B. (1993). Teachers in developing countries: Improving effectiveness and managing costs. Washington, DC: World Bank. Guyana Chronicle Online. (2002). Finding a solution to teacher migration. (Guyana Chronicle Online, 4 April).
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Hussar, W. J. (1999). Predicting the need for newly hired teachers in the US to 2008–09. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics. International Organization for Migration (IOM). (2005). The millennium development goals and migration. Geneva: IOM. Kelly, M.J. (1999). What HIV/AIDS Can do to education, and what education can do to HIV/AIDS. Paper for Presentation to the All sub-Saharan Africa Conference on Education for All – 2000, Johannesburg, 6–10 December. Nichols, J. (2002). From the perspective of a recruiter. (Brief prepared on 20 May). Ochs, K. (2003). ‘Teaching at risk’ – Teacher mobility and loss in commonwealth member states. London: Commonwealth Secretariat. Scott, F. (2001). Developing human resources for effective school management in small Caribbean states. International Journal of Educational Development, 21, 245–256. Siniscalco, M. T. (2002). A statistical profile of the teaching profession. Geneva: International Labour Office (ILO) and United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Voluntary Service Organisation (VSO). (2002). What makes teachers tick? London: VSO. Winters, L. A., Walmsley, T. L., Wang, Z. K., & Grynberg, R. (2002). Negotiating the liberalisation of the temporary movement of natural persons. Discussion Papers in Economics No. 87. University of Sussex, Brighton.
FROM PRODUCING CITIZENS TO PRODUCING MANAGERS: EDUCATION IN A GLOBALIZED WORLD Adeela Arshad-Ayaz ABSTRACT In this chapter I argue that education cannot escape being influenced by the economic, political and cultural effects of globalization. Through an examination of the policies of national governments, agenda of international organizations such as the World Bank and UNESCO, the global practices of privatization, accountability and managerialism, I demonstrate that education is being used as a tool of neo-liberal economic reform, a process that increases inequalities and marginalizes the already unheard voices. I argue that any analysis of globalization and its impact on higher education requires stepping back from all interactions and practices and asking basic questions about what these terms imply, why they function the way they do, and whose interests they serve. A critical analysis of the transformation of universities and thus the knowledge produced is essential as it affects and infiltrates our very consciousness. I argue that while higher education is being restructured under the neoliberal economic rationality it is important for educators to find out what will be gained and what will be lost before going ahead with such Power, Voice and the Public Good: Schooling and Education in Global Societies Advances in Education in Diverse Communities: Research Policy and Praxis, Volume 6, 479–506 Copyright r 2008 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited All rights of reproduction in any form reserved ISSN: 1479-358X/doi:10.1016/S1479-358X(08)06018-X
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restructuring. I also contend that the neo-liberal economic rationality of globalization has framed the restructuring of education in such a manner that its function has changed from production of knowledge to production and management of wealth. As a result of accepting the dominant discourse of the globalization agenda without much critical analysis or debate regarding its consequences, education has lost its basic function of producing democratic citizens.
INTRODUCTION Globalization is one of the most popular and contested concepts today. It is also a multidimensional concept. It subsumes into itself political, economic, social and cultural dynamics of contemporary world. These dynamics include the post-Cold War uni-polarity marked by the emergence of the United states as the sole political and military super power; the ascendancy of the neo-liberal economic agenda and forces; an increased cultural contact on a global scale facilitated by information and communication technologies (ICTs) as well as a cultural fragmentation that is manifested in the emergence of local identities as well as nationalisms. In sum globalization subsumes into itself both forces of cohesion as well as those of fragmentation on a global scale. These forces affect different societies differentially depending on the permanent and contingent weight they have and the space they occupy in the global, political, military and economic arena. Education like any other institution cannot escape being influenced by the economic, political and cultural effects of globalization. The impact of the processes of globalization on education is varied. It varies from one educational system to another depending on their contact and interaction with these processes. In this chapter I purport to examine the impact that the processes of globalization have had on education. My contention that underlines the arguments to follow in the chapter is that globalization in terms of economic, political, social and cultural transformations cannot be unproblematically beneficial to all citizens, societies or cultures. I also contend that the neo-liberal economic rationality of globalization has framed the restructuring of education in such a manner that its function has changed from production of knowledge to production and management of wealth (economic management). As a result of accepting the dominant discourse of the globalization agenda without much critical analysis or
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debate regarding its consequences, education has lost its basic function of producing democratic citizens. The chapter is divided into three main sections. In the first section I will locate the manifestations of globalization in political, economic and cultural domains of the contemporary world. In the subsequent section I will examine the impact of the processes of globalization on education. My main focus in this section will be on the way the economic, political and cultural dynamics of globalization have framed the restructuring of education in the developed world. Specifically I will examine the evidence from the US, and the UK in this respect. In the third section I will look at the implications of globalization on education in the developing countries. However before moving on the main discussion I think it is pertinent to briefly tackle the definitional issues.
CONCEPTUALIZING GLOBALIZATION The Debate As mentioned earlier globalization is not a monolithic phenomenon that encompasses all domains of contemporary life. Not only is it a multifaceted phenomenon, it is also a much contested concept. The debate with respect to globalization as a conceptual or analytical framework has been framed over the years in multiple ways. Let me start with the highly sophisticated and influential framing of the debate offered by Held & McGrew (2000). They essentially see the globalization debate as between what they term as ‘skeptics’ and ‘globalists’. This particular classification frames the debate to be between those who understand globalization as a mythical ideological construction (the skeptics) that in Held and McGrew’s (2000) words ‘‘in parts helps justify and legitimize the neo-liberal global project, that is, the creation of a global free market and the consolidation of Anglo-American capitalism within the world’s major economic regions’’ (p. 5). Held and McGrew (2000) terms this group of scholars which includes but is not limited to Callinicos et al. (1994), Gordon, (1988), Hirst, (1997), Hoogvelt (1997), Van der Pijl (1999), Hirst and Thompson (1996, 1999), and Jones (1998) as skeptics. It must, however be noted that while these scholars share common grounds in their opposition to the use of globalization as an conceptual framework each one of them focuses on different dimensions of globalization and are not in consensus on all aspects of the issue. These scholars contend for the continuing primacy of national borders, territories
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and national governments in terms of distribution and location of power, production of wealth in the contemporary world. They prefer the appellation ‘internationalization’ rather than ‘globalization which they deem to be too broad as a conceptual and analytical category to operationalize empirically and thus largely inadequate to explain and understand the contemporary world (Held & McGrew, 2000, pp. 4–5). Representing the other side of the debate are what Held and McGrew term as ‘globalists’ (Mann, 1986; Giddens, 1990; Castells, 1996; Dicken, 1988; Harvey, 1989; Robertson, 1992; Hurrell & Woods, 1995). As in the case of the first group, this group too while operating from a set of common assumptions focuses variedly on the phenomenon of globalization as an analytical framework. Briefly, the globalists argue that there are real and tangible changes in the scale of modern social organization and to tack them all to the narrow conceptual domains of ideological justification or Anglo-American imperialism is not entirely correct. They point out that the purely economic and/or technological conceptualizing of globalization is simplistic. They rather advocate a multidimensional and differentiated understanding of globalization with focus on and attention to ‘‘a number of distinct institutional orders or networks of power: the economic, technological, political, cultural, natural’’ (Giddens, 1990; Mann, 1986 as cited by Held & McGrew, 2000, p. 6). They also argue that the globalization has also brought about changes in ways in which society economy and polity interact with each other in the spatial domain of territory. The altered social and political organization of the contemporary world has also altered the configuration, distribution and instrumentalities of power and power relations (Held & McGrew, 2000). Held and McGrew (2000, p. 37) summarize the globalization debate as follows: Skeptics 1. Concepts
Internationalization not globalization Regionalization
2. Power
The nation state rules Intergovernmentalism Resurgence of nationalism and national identity
3. Culture
Globalists One world, shaped by highly extensive, intensive and rapid flows, movements and networks across regions and continents Erosion of state sovereignty, autonomy and legitimacy Emergence of global popular culture Erosion of fixed political identities
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(Continued ). Skeptics 4. Economy
5. Inequality
6. Order
Development of regional blocs Triadization New imperialism Growing north-south divide Irreconcilable conflict of interest International society of states Political conflict between states inevitably persists International governance and geo-politics Communitarianism
Globalists Global informational capitalism The transnational economy A new global division of labor Growing inequality within and across societies Multilayered global governance Global civil society Global polity Cosmopolitanism
According to Held and McGrew (2000) the primary point of difference between the two schools of thought is that of interpretation and the units of analysis. For example while the skeptics focus on the organization of production the globalists focus more on the financial deregulation and the expansion in the global financial markets. Held and McGrew (2000) also point out that the two groups share common grounds on issues such as growth in economic interconnectedness, new inequalities of wealth power and such, transnational and trans-border issues, expansion of international governance, etc. Each group has come up with sophisticated analysis of empirical data and has merit in their argument and according to Held and McGrew (2000) there is much to be learnt from both sides. While Held and McGrew (2000) have presented a sophisticated and comprehensive systemization of the globalization debate I feel looking at this debate in terms of clear cut dichotomies and binaries oversimplifies the issue. The main problem in my opinion with looking at the debate in binary terms is that it overlooks the framing of the issue in terms of its impact and consequences for the social organization. The binary framing of the debate also waters down the different, often contending perspectives within the camps. There are for instance those in the globalists camp who while agreeing that the process has set in look at the social, political, economic and cultural impact of this in diametrically different terms not only for the developing countries but also for the developed societies. Let me take the
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example of two of the most talked about and influential texts to have appeared on the issue to explain my point. These are namely, Thomas L. Friedman’s (2000) runaway bestseller The Lexus and the olive tree and Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri’s (2000) Empire. Both these text have made a huge impact on how we see and understand the process of globalization. These texts are often pitted against each other as nemeses of each other, yet if we try to categorize them by way of Held and McGrew’s (2000) classification then it is difficult to decide to which camp they belong respectively. Both, for instance, take the process of globalization as their point of departure yet in terms of the impact and consequences of the process their readings are different. Friedman (2000) for instance takes globalization to be inevitable. According to him we are deeply into the ‘‘era of globalization’’, an era where faster markets, money, information, and change are transforming politics, geopolitics, business, culture, and everything else. Some of the changes are great and some are awful, but, the process is inevitable. According to Friedman (2000) globalization is not a phenomenon. It is not just a passing trend. It is an overarching international system shaping the domestic politics and foreign relations of virtually every country, and we need to understand it as such (p. 7). Undertones of Friedman’s (2000) argument suggest that globalization is beneficial to all and that those who do not take advantage from it will be the ultimate losers. According to Friedman (2000), In the Cold War system, the big divide in the world was between the communist and capitalist economies, with a few hybrids in between. Now that virtually everyone has the same hardware, the big divide in the world is increasingly going to be between free-market democracies and the free-market kleptocracies. Those countries that are able to develop the operating systems and software to go with free markets will move in the direction of free-market democracies. Those countries that are unable, or unwilling, to develop the software and operating systems will move in the direction of free-market kleptocracies, where the state basically gets taken over by robber barons and criminal elements, none of whom have an interest in the real rule of law. (p. 131)
Hardt and Negri (2000) on the other hand are not too convinced about the uniform and universal impact of globalization. Nor are they convinced about the binary between the free-market democracies and the free-market kleptocracies. They point out to the emergence and/or presence of hybridities that are set out by the processes of globalization. They term it as the liberation of hybridities (p. 143). As they see it, ‘‘the globalization or deterritorializaion operated by the imperial machine is not in fact opposed
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to localization or reterritorialization, but rather sets in play mobile and modulating circuits of differentiation and identification’’ (p. 45). The fundamental principle of Empire . . . is that its power has no actual and localizable terrain or center. Imperial power is distributed in networks, through mobile and articulated mechanisms of control’’ (p. 384). Starting with the hypothesis that sovereignty has taken a new form, composed of a series of national and supranational organisms united under a single logic of rule they appellate the new global form of sovereignty as Empire that will surely dominate and/or supplant the current systems of rule around the world. For Hardt and Negri (2000), the construction of Empire is a step forward in order to do away with any nostalgia for the power structures that preceded it and refuse any political strategy that involves returning to that old arrangement . . . [We] claim that Empire is better in the same way that Marx insists that capitalism is better than the forms of society and modes of production that came before it. (p. 43)
This new configuration of power relations will harness the ‘bio-power’ to control the ‘multitudes’. However they, unlike Friedman (2000), do not see those who opt out of the process as either skeptics or as ultimate losers. For them it is possible for people and societies to opt-out of ‘Empire’ and for the ‘Multitudes’ (read people, subjectivities, agency) to rise in opposition to their repression. Indeed framing of the debate as between ‘skeptics’ (those who deny the presence of any such phenomenon) and ‘globalists’ (who vouch for the global transformations) to use Held and McGrew’s (2000) nomenclature has its merits. Yet as the above discussion of two influential texts reiterates the point made earlier that to look at the debate on globalization in terms of binaries overlooks a number of dimensions of the issue such as the role of resistance and agency, the option of opting out of the process, justness or unjustness of the arrangement that affects social organization, desirability and undesirability of participating in a system, etc. Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz (2002) makes similar argument in his acclaimed book Globalization and its discontents. According to him processes of globalization have unrealized potential to eradicate poverty and promote economic growth. He, however, blames the ‘market fundamentalism’ that endorses the view that a ‘free’ market alone solves all problems flawlessly and argues that one-size-fits-all economic policies can harm rather than help countries with unique financial, governmental and social institutions (Stiglitz, 2002).
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A more nuanced analytical framework taking into account the factors mentioned above is needed to truly understand the impact and consequences of the processes of globalization of various aspects of social organization (including education) in the contemporary world. It will be more useful to frame the globalization debate to be between the ‘skeptic’ globalists and critical globalists. Neither of them denies the existence of the process yet the latter look at the impact, desirability and justness of the process in critical terms raising questions about issues of social justice, inclusion, empowerment, etc. Let me briefly touch upon various dimensions or processes of globalization in order to contextualize the discussion.
PROCESSES OF GLOBALIZATION Economic One of the issues central to the debate on economic globalization is whether a single world economy is in making (or already in place)? Related to this are issues of state sovereignty, future of the welfare state and the issue of driving forces behind the process of economic globalization (Held & McGrew, 2000, pp. 249–250). Both detractors and proponents of globalization take different empirical and historical indicators to argue for their cases. My answer to the question is yes there is a global economy in making. However, I contend that the key to understanding the economic globalization lies in taking into account two seemingly contradictory yet interrelated trends in this process. On one hand there is a much increased and enhanced economic interdependence that has led to an expansion of capitalism into an integrated global economy marked by lower production costs for MNCs, an exponential spread in ideology of consumerism that is achieved through marketing strategies and facilitated by technological development in communications and information systems. On the other hand there is an apparently challenging emergence of regional economic configurations. These two trends are usually taken up by the protagonists and proponents of globalization to signify contradictory tendencies and thus argue for or against the case of economic globalization. My contention in this regard is that these seemingly contradictory tendencies should not be seen as essentially contradictory. In fact these are part and parcel of the process of globalization. In some cases such as EU, SAARC, ASEAN, etc. these are manifestations of the fragmented economic identities that the process of
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globalization is bound to spew. It must however be noted that internally they are organized on the same neo-liberal economic logic (though not as post-Keynesian as that of the US neo-liberalism) that is a hallmark of the process of economic globalization. It should also be noted that none of these configurations have so far opted out of the system. Emergence of economic blocs and configurations is thus not a sign of a fragmented economic world. It rather signifies the contradictions within the system. This, as I will show later has profound consequences for education in a globalizing world. World institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank (IBRD) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) also pursue policies that are in consonance with the post-Keynesian policies of the globalizing world economy. As Stiglitz (2002) has argued these institutions have over the years imposed austere policies that were flawed and which only exacerbated problems especially in the developing world. Yet these public institutions have not been held accountable. In sum economic globalization represents a shift in policy making globally; away from governments to control of the market. There is a receding influence of Keynesian economics; erosion of an interventionist democratic welfare state; increasing influence of neo-liberal policies. All of these factors have profound consequences for education some of which have already started to appear. Political The political face of globalization is marked by end of cold war and move toward uni-polar world in wake of the collapse of socialist states. It is also marked by the re-emergence of US political unilateralism. Some scholars have gone on to describe it as the final triumph of capitalist/free market/ liberal democratic ideas over the communist/socialist ones; the end of history (Fukuyama, 1992). There is an upsurge in identity politics (ethnic and religious) that according to some has replaced the clash of interests between rich and poor peoples and nations, within and between societies respectively. This argument has been made famous by Samuel P. Huntington’s (1997) Clash of civilizations thesis. Other scholars such as Tariq Ali (2002) see a rise of right wing tendencies across the globe and see the dichotomy not in terms of a clash of civilizations but rather a. The cover and the back cover of Ali’s latest book Clash of fundamentalisms (2002) respectively show George Bush with an Osama Bin Laden type beard and a clean shaven Bin Laden in a western suit and tie signifying two sides of the right wing coin.
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These tendencies have important consequences for education. On one hand they have reignited the debate between cosmopolitanism and patriotism (Nussbaum, 1997; Appiah, 1992) while on the other is a visible tendency for nationalistic education (Bloom, 1987; Hirsch, 1987). Within societies especially the liberal democratic societies in the developed world globalization with its post-Keynesian bent, according to some scholars (Dei & Karumanchery, 2001; Portelli & Solomon, 2001; Torres, 1998) has already led to policy making that views and treats educational institutions as free market institutions. These scholars argue that such policies are leading to an erosion of democratic and citizenship values from education.
Cultural Apart from its economic dimension, cultural globalization is perhaps the most talked about, written on and contested dimension of the process of globalization. National frontiers are argued to have become highly permeable to cultural influences. Content and volume of information, values, ideas, images through media (TV, film, video, CDs) and print from United States is phenomenal. Medium of communication influences distribution of knowledge over time and space. The exponential and phenomenal growth of and advancement in information and communication technologies are argued to be the driving force behind this process. What mark this process from the cultural contact of yesteryears is the scale, type, range, efficacy and multidimensionality and multidirectionality of the newer technologies that has resulted in an increase in the information density of today’s world. This phenomenon with its multiple en suite processes has disrupted older cultural certainties and continuities, and hierarchies of identities (Robins, 2000). For those who argue that a global culture is already in place either as a positive homogenizing phenomenon or as neo-imperialism, Mickey Mouse ears are as much the cultural aspect of globalization as MacDonald arches are the icon or mascot of economic globalization. Californiazation is the cultural counterpart of MacDonaldization (Herman & McChesney, 2000). Not all scholars of cultural however are convinced about the one way influence, that from America to the rest of the world. (Appadurai, 2000). There are, among many, two dimensions along which the impact of a global culture on education can be mapped. One, it is important to understand how education especially in terms of reading and writing is
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culturally framed? Two, whose horizon does it, broaden and whose culture gets promoted? These issues are of vital importance both in the case of education in the developed world that is increasingly multicultural and also for the developing countries that are now increasingly exposed to the cultural ideas and images from far away cultures. In sum, we are living in a world that is marked at the same time by tendencies of cohesion and fragmentation. Processes of economic, political and cultural change have in them the potential to make the world more just and peaceful. Safety nets however are needed in order to realize this potential. At present the direction and orientation of the processes of globalization, in my view are working without any safety nets and are creating systemic imbalances that benefit only few. Vast majorities are being left out of the system thus stoking flames of fragmentation some of which have taken ugly and utterly despicable forms of terrorism. Education has not escaped the exigencies of globalization in its present form. This is most worrisome because education is one realm from where defenses against the harmful effects of globalization can be countered.
GLOBALIZATION AND EDUCATION It is in this context that I will now turn to the impact and consequences of globalization on education. In this section I will focus on the how globalization has been used in educational realm to propel and push discourses such as knowledge economy, progressive vocationalism, standardized testing, multiple source funding, techno-science and academic capitalism. I will draw attention to the influence of such discourses on education. I will present some of the major concerns voiced by scholars about the direction of higher education under the rubric of globalization. I will make a case as to why it is absolutely necessary to go beyond the reductionist view of economic integration in the any educational analysis. Especially with reference to neo-liberal philosophy that promotes concepts like ‘user pays’, ‘market knows best’ and increasingly insists on assessing and measuring educational institutions, students and academia by performance indicators that are more quantitative than qualitative. I conclude by suggesting that issues of justice and equality that are deeply related to education should form the basis of any exploration of affects of globalization on education. The current non-critical, neo-liberal thrust of globalization tends to produce managers instead of citizens needed for an equitable and just world.
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Market Model and Commoditization of Education The market model in education is based on the neo-liberal belief that organizational, administrative and policy principles of education can be fashioned in accordance with the demands and dynamics of market forces. In other words educational institutions can be run as any other market institution. I use the notion of ‘commodification’ to refer to the transformation of education into a commodity that can be traded in consonance with the demands of market forces and principles such as consumer satisfaction, demand, supply, etc. The ascendancy of these two cardinal principles of the neo-liberal agenda has produced tensions in what should be the ultimate objectives or ends of education in an era of globalization. These are visible in the tension between the demands of global capital (and its local exigencies) on the one hand and the traditional role of education as a means of producing a democratic citizenry on the other hand. In other words the former requires production of a flexible work force whereas the latter aims at employing education as a means of equipping student-citizens with civic and democratic values. There is also a belief that schools (and other educational establishments) can be more effectively run as businesses or enterprises (Osborne, 2001). Corporate principles and practices of management are being introduced in the educational system by means of policy ‘reforms’. The underlying belief is that if corporations can be run successfully using these principles then so can be schools and universities. Privatization, reduced government spending, elevation of tuition fees and introduction of user charges and financing of only ‘profitable’ and ‘market-oriented’ sub sectors seems to be the name of the game not only in the developing countries facing fiscal difficulties but also in the highly developed countries (Dei & Karumanchery, 2001). Alison Taylor (2001), for instance argues that there has been a dramatic increase in the private sector involvement in education. This increased is manifested in and through partnerships and multistakeholder collaboration. This tendency according to Taylor (2001) is produced by and in turn reproduces the discourse of ‘education for economic prosperity’ (p. 176). This discourse has met very little resistance from educators. This passivity according to Taylor (2001) is because of four main reasons. They are: First, the futurist tone of knowledge economy discourse makes it difficult to challenge, and the promise of jobs in high performing, democratic workplaces is attractive to all stakeholders. Second, given youth unemployment rates and economic uncertainty, the discourse of progressive vocationalism . . . is seductive for parents, students, and teachers who are concerned about the life chances of non-college bound youth. Finally,
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the pragmatic realities of decreased educational funding make the idea of increased external support through partnerships attractive to educators. (p. 176)
This increased public–private collaboration in the educational sector comes at a cost. While it does make available larger chunks of funding available for education at the same time it moves the focus of education away from its traditional one of producing citizens for the society to producing consumers of marketable forms of knowledge. In practice this is translated in moving the focus away from liberal arts, humanities and social sciences to subjects that are more market oriented. On the administrative side such partnerships and collaborations result in smaller education work force, increased workload for the teachers, arbitrary hiring and firing, renting out educational space to corporate advertisements, etc. It also pushes national, state and provincial governments to push for ‘reforms’ in the name of making education more productive and geared towards market orientation. These reforms do not take into consideration the variable and unequal impact of the resultant policies in terms of race, class, and gender. Dei and Karumanchery (2001) build on Hatcher’s (1998) study of educational reforms in Britain to argue that, these types of reforms display four main characteristics: an abstract universalism that downplays the specificities of local school situations; a decontextualization that devalues the importance of students’ experiences, histories, cultures, and identities as they relate to the learning process; a consensualism that avoids dealing with conflict and controversy; and a managerialism that privileges a top-down approach to the administration of schooling. (Dei & Karumanchery, 2001, p. 191)
Critical pedagogists Peter McLaren (2003) terms this as ‘corporatization and businessification of education’ (p. 43). The hallmarks of this era are trends such as standardized testing. Such testing financially benefits the large publishing houses and is used by the capitalist class as a mode of social control (McLaren, 2003). Citing Gluckman (2002), McLaren (2003) states that: Today the creation and scoring of K-12 tests is a multimillion dollar industry. Businesses are predictably emphasizing ‘‘output’’ in their workers, and business based management techniques are increasingly being adopted in schools. The business model that drives the U.S. classroom requires frequent and efficient testing. The K-12 standardized testing industry generates sales of about 1.5 billion dollars a year. (p. 43)
The paradigm shift in education manifested in increasing marketization has resulted in commodification of education. A net result of this is the overshadowing of the original purpose and aim of education (in the Deweyian sense) of producing good citizens capable of making informed
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decisions. As Taylor (2001) notes the market model of education moves away from, Dewey’s notion that the purpose of work education is not to adapt workers to an existing industrial regime but rather to alter the existing industrial system and ultimately transform it by developing capacities that allow workers greater control over their fates. (p. 182)
More and more societies especially the liberal democracies in the developed world are showing a worrisome presence of a ‘democratic deficit’. The presence of this deficit shows that the dynamics of capitalism have an upper hand in this struggle and that more and more people seem to be giving up their demands for inclusive citizenship (Osborne, 2001). Though, according to Osborne (2001), education cannot fix this structural problem, it has an important role to play in informing the students about the existence of such a problem and about various alternative ways of ‘conceptualizing and organizing democracy to make it more socially just and inclusively participatory’ (p. 38). The corporate assault on education (McLaren, 2003) is not confined to the K-12 education (schools) alone. It is equally apparent at the level of higher education as well. In the following section I will highlight how globalization has affected institutions of and practices in higher education especially universities. Just as in the case of K-12 education entrepreneurial practices have already permeated and become normalized in institutions of higher education. Salient among these practices are: (a) Criteria employed in businesses for efficiency and production has been extended to educational institutions in an inappropriate fashion. (b) Focus has shifted from citizen-centered, academic research based curriculum to economy-centered vocational training. (c) Education has lost ground as a public good and is increasingly becoming a marketable commodity. (d) Teacher’s autonomy, independence and control over their work has been reduced and placed in the hands of administrators. (e) An increased trend towards privatization and decentralization. As a result of the above mentioned factors, higher education is being linked more to the market and less to the pursuit of truth (Cowen, 1996). As Stromquist and Monkman (2000) aptly note: Guided by a climate of knowledge as production, the university may become hostile or indifferent to the subjects dealing with ethics, social justice, critical studies, and gender
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studies. Life in the university will likely change under globalization. Intellectuals (read college professors) will become less the guardians of the search for truth, and administrators will assume a dominant role. In this regard, norms that have traditionally been part of university life may come under questioning. One such norm is tenure. (p. 14)
Globalization and the University As noted earlier the influence of the neo-liberal philosophy that ‘market knows best’ has also crept into universities. A number of practices borrowed from business seem to have become part and parcel of the daily agendas of universities in the name of globalization. Universities, departments and individuals are increasingly being assessed and measured by performance indicators that are more quantitative than qualitative; more market oriented than academy oriented. Furthermore closer links between the universities and industry have led to a cross-commercialization of research. Hecht (1994) in his study about contemporary college teachers, quoted a University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) administrator as stating, Can a university be run like a business? You bet it can . . . Most universities can do a significant job of cutting costs through the same re-engineering of processes and work that have characterized the best for-profit corporations. (Hecht, 1994, p. 6)
The concept of ‘‘user pays’’ has spread to almost all universities, even inside universities, each individual or department has to pay for services from other sections (e.g., library, postal, media, graphic services, heating, etc.) which used to be centrally budgeted services earlier. As a result of economies of scale some sections of university (like small philosophy departments) are affected more than other sections. Increasingly more parttime staff is being hired, with a small core of academics who receive higher pay and benefits. In 1994, the World Bank in its report on higher education urged countries to shift from dependence on just one source of funding – the state– toward multiple sources, with more money coming from student fee, consultancies and donations. This message was quickly taken up by many Anglo-American countries. In Australia for instance, a report released in November 1995 by the Economic Planning Advisory Commission stated that, ‘‘micro-economic reforms embracing ‘market incentives’ should be extended to the education and training sector’’ (Armitage, 1996, p. 8). This shift in higher education from ethical values, high ideals, pursuit of pure knowledge to address civic needs, toward the question of price is not only the result of influence from international financiers and supranational
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bodies like the World Bank and OCED it is also evident in regional trade organizations. For example Buchbinder & Rajagopal (1996) writing about the impact of free trade and globalization on Canadian universities identify the specific chapters of NAFTA – particularly Cross Border Trade and Services, Telecommunications, and Investment Services and Related Matters – that affect education. They also believe that the past 20 years of changes have ‘‘softened up’’ Canadian universities and left them ‘‘both vulnerable and to a great degree, acquiescent to the wide ranging influences of globalization’’ (Buchbinder & Rajagopal, 1996, pp. 289–290). In general the effects of such agreements and policies have led the Anglo-American universities especially in Australia, Canada, UK and the US, respond in a similar manner, i.e. to rely less and less on the state and concentrate on the market forces. Such trends have made many academics worried about the state of education. Aitkin (1996) records the concerns voiced by one of the vice chancellor as follows: It some times seems that we are speeding towards a national system of post secondary credentialing, rather than a national system of education which produces self-confident altruistic adult citizens, capable of accepting responsibility for their own learning through life, and of making the hard decisions that build good societies. (Aitkin, 1996, p. 82)
Jessop (1993) and Mowery (1998) point out toward a trend followed by Australian, British, Canadian and the US governments between 1980s and 1990s, that led to supply-side economic policies and shifting public interest resources from social welfare programs to economic development efforts, mainly through tax cuts for business sector and also through programs that stimulated technology innovation. These trends were also noticed by others, for example according to the Great Britain White Paper (1993). According to the White Paper post secondary education was directed towards national ‘‘wealth creation’’ and away from its traditional concern with the liberal education of undergraduates. Recently due to global competition there has been much emphasis on techno-science, but the problem with techno-science as Aronowitz and Di Fazio (1994) point out is, that techno-science makes the separation between science and technology, basic and applied research, discovery and innovation, impossible. It is at once science and product. It camouflages the distinction between knowledge and commodity 1(also see Lyotard, 1984). The state and business leaders have joined in programs to stimulate innovation, usually through building industry-government-academic partnerships, led by industry, held together by government and serviced by
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universities on the techno-science side (Buchbinder & Newson, 1990). With the progress of the process of globalization we witness more and more agreements like, European Community (EC), North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) that establish the protection of intellectual property embodied in techno-science. Although the TRIPS were initially aimed at reducing competition from states with low labor costs and rising educational attainment, but has led to considerable pressure on higher education. As a result the universities have increasingly become a source that corporations and governments look to for discovery that will yield intellectual property. I will now take vignettes from two countries namely the United Kingdom and the United States to illustrate the points made above.
Globalization and Education in the United Kingdom United Kingdom makes an interesting case to study the pattern of changes in higher education as the changes introduced were very rapid and systematic. The higher education policy did not change dramatically in the UK until the 1980s. Thatcherism2 was the driving force behind these changes (Gamble, 1989). Around mid-1980s, British business leaders worked with the Thatcher government to build an ‘‘enterprise’’ culture in tertiary education. In 1985, the Jarret Committee, chaired by a leading industrialist, called for higher education to adopt more efficient managerial styles and structures. An independent body called the Council for Industry and Higher Education was also formed. Its aim was to encourage industry and higher education to work together. In its policy paper, towards partnership (council, 1987), it argued for access to and more variety in higher education, as well as a shift toward science and technology provision (Pratt, 1992, p. 38). It is not surprising that the council was composed of 32 heads of large corporations and 12 heads of tertiary institutions. This interest of politicians and industrialists was clearly reflected in Education Act of 1988, which began to make the intentions of the businessmen into laws. It lessened differences between universities and polytechnics and abolished the University Grants Committee (UGC that use to act as a buffer between the state and the institutions of higher learning) along with polytechnic board, replacing them with smaller boards dominated by business leaders (Fulton, 1991). This can be seen as a curtailing of the autonomy of academics; end of an era of independent academic culture Shattock, (1994). By this time the British
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government also declared that ‘‘state expenditures on higher education should be regarded as payments for services provided rather than as block grants to institutions’’ (Johnes, 1992, p.173). In 1992, the binary system3 was abolished by the Department of Education and Science (DES). As a result of this, teaching and research, once considered a single function in university funding, were differentiated and each allocated to institutions on a separate bidding system. This was done under the rubric of liberalization of economy that in turn was a part and parcel of globalization. As a result there was a significant shift toward career training with emphasis on science and technology in both research and number of students. National research policies moved away from basic or ‘pure’ research to state initiatives aimed at increasing industrial competitiveness. Owing to major changes in governance structures mentioned above the education system lost its autonomy and professors lost many of their prerogatives with regard to control over their work.
Globalization and Education in the United States In contrast to the rather mutational changes in the British education policy and system, changes in the American higher education were rather metamorphic and evolved over a longer period of time. The marketization of higher education in the United States was spearheaded by the Nixon Administration in the 1970s and was supported and explicated by institutions such as the Committee of Economic Development and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. One of the most visible manifestations of the Nixon era initiatives was that the student emerged as the main ‘consumer’ of tertiary education. This was primarily a result of the shift in aid focus of the administration from institution of higher learning to individual student. Major players that helped shape this policy were organizations such as Business Higher education Forum and the Government-University-Industry research. These were enthusiastically supported by political leaders and top university administrations. The Bayh-Dole Act of 1980 was a watershed in that it framed ‘academic capitalism’ as a legitimate and viable educational administrative system. It allowed universities and small businesses to keep title to inventions developed with federal research and development monies. According to the Act, ‘‘it is the policy and objective of the congress . . . to promote collaboration between commercial concerns and non-profit organizations,
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including universities [emphasis added]’’ (Bayh-Dole Act, 1980). Although there was little formal national level policy, for curricula and training between 1980s and 1990s the federal grant and contract monies for techno science increased, and monies for the humanities and social sciences decreased dramatically. Etzkowitz (1994) who has done extensive research on the American education system notes that generally between 1980s and 1990s, US policy at federal level shifted and as a result colleges and universities in US started engaging in academic capitalism by discouraging professors from pursuing pure research and encouraging them to get involved in more practical matters. The trends in the direction of higher education seen in the UK and the US can also be traced in other Anglo-American English speaking countries. In Canada, for example, recent policy documents express a strong need to establish closer ties with the labor market and ‘‘[to adapt] education to the real requirements of the labor market . . . making it more relevant, and . . . easing the transition into the workplace’’(Government du Quebec, 1996, p. 54). A number of far reaching implications of globalization on higher education can be pin pointed. First, funds available for post secondaryeducation have significantly shrunk. Second, the growing importance of techno-science and fields closely involved with markets particularly international markets. Third, the tightening relationship between multinational corporations and state agencies concerned with product development. Fourth, there is an increased focus on global intellectual property strategies. All this has led to a substantial change in the culture of higher education over the past few decades. Universities have become more commercial and entrepreneurial and the ‘civilizing mission’ of higher education, the weight that used to be given to aesthetic and ethical ideals of liberal culture, seems to have been overshadowed by the highlighted importance given to techno-science. Accountability instead of quality seems to be the buzz word of higher education policy.
Globalization and Education in the Developing World Major players in defining educational policies in the developing world, are (a) the state, (b) TNCs, (c) market, (d) international agencies such as the World Bank and IMF, etc. Globalization has had a direct impact on education in the developing countries through what Martin Carnoy (2000) describes as ‘‘finance-driven’’ reforms. The main force behind these reforms
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has been the World Bank. Jones (1992) argues that it is not possible to understand World Bank’s educational policy independently of its position as a bank. Off lately World Bank has made its ideology of globalization central to its statements on educational policy. As such the Bank has established a set of preconditions for successful educational policy and practice. These preconditions are precisely the agenda of globalization, championed by a bank that seeks to consolidate its own role at the heart of an integrated world economy. For the first time there is unambiguous consonance between the bank’s economic, political and ideological goals and those of its education sector. Explicitly, the market is looked to for provision of accountability. Choice transcends democracy. Freedom is trivialized. (Jones, 2000, p. 39)
Martin Carnoy (2000, p.47) has summarized the list of recommendations of the Bank which according to the World Bank Educational Sector Paper (1995) are: (a) Shift of public funding for education from higher to lower levels of education. (b) Expansion of secondary and higher education through increased privatization. (c) Reduction of public spending per pupil in countries with ‘high’ teacher pupil ratio in primary and secondary education (less than 1:40) through increasing class size. (d) Increase of the quality of education through relatively costless ‘efficiency’ reforms, such as decentralization. As a result of the above policies many developing countries have not been able to finance the expansion of secondary and higher education with the public funds that were available earlier, and now have to depend on families and private sources to finance secondary and higher education privately. That has been done mainly in two ways: One, by allowing the creation of accredited private secondary schools and universities in large numbers and two, by limiting the public assistance given to all schools, including public institutions and by increasing the fees to cover the gap between cost per student and public assistance per student. I will briefly summarize some of the results of the above policy that are already visible in many developing countries. These trends show a mushrooming of institutes of higher learning, a new phenomenon is very visible in many developing countries. Private universities owned by businessmen and based on strikingly western entrepreneurial models both
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in ideology and agenda are a manifestation of this trend. The main aim of these universities is profit making with little concern about curriculum development or relevance. A few private universities that can muster up enough resources and finances are able to establish links with prestigious foreign institutions, can assure the public of higher quality. These universities however charge fees that are out of reach of most of the population. On the other hand publicly funded secondary schools and universities severely lack resources. There is little choice left for the general populations. Children of the elite get to attend private schools and universities, the gap between the rich and the poor widens as the conditions of public schooling deteriorates. As such the repercussions of globalization for the educational system of developing world are multi-layered. For instance, ‘for-profit’ philosophy affects academic missions, curriculum, professionalism of the teachers and teacher-student relationships. Furthermore philosophical dilemmas of tuition based instructions undermine open access and healthy competition and increase the gap between rich and poor. As a result schooling becomes more stratified even at lower levels and the national economic competition on a global scale gets translated into sub-national competition in class access to educational resources. Parents who can afford can actually buy better future for their children. Whereas the cost of education remains out of reach for the majority of poorest population. Thus what apparently seems like an increase in access to education is not real. In reality the system perpetuates an educational system that is not accessible to all. On the academic level, little seems to have gone into defining standards that are acceptable both locally and globally. As a result global is often given prominence over the local. These private institutions are mostly copies of the US college models, which in the US are governed by various boards, accreditation and labor unions. Such networks either do not exist in developing countries or are extremely corrupt. Thus various stabilizing factors that are required to govern such models and are necessary in influencing educational decisions are often not available in the developing world. As a result more than often there is no local voice to analyze if the ‘imported’ curriculum is relevant to the socio-cultural issues of the region. This leaves a great number of students confused and sometimes leads to many misconceptions about international development assistance programs and cultural practices of the West. It can be safely said that the educational institutions in the developing world, like those in the developed world, fail to impart any international perspective or build any sort of global identity or concerns. As a result many
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characteristics of the Western world seem at best ‘puzzling or unexplained’ or at worst efforts to westernize the world and reinforce economic and cultural dependency. Thus we see that globalization practices such as entrepreneurialism, managerialism and privatization are increasingly evident in higher education both in developing and the developed world. According to Martin Carnoy (2000): in a nutshell, globalization enters the education sector on an ideological horse, and its effects on education are largely a product of the financially driven, free-market ideology, not of a clear conception for improving education. (p. 50)
Perhaps this is the reason that so many of us especially related to academics and belonging to developing countries are not beside ourselves with joy to greet globalization with the enthusiasm that is usually displayed by politicians and financial groups of the developed world. Lessons from the past warn us to meet globalization processes, at best, halfway and using to use extreme caution. As Berger & Luckman (1967) articulate, the positive or potentially positive aspects of globalization are quickly complicated by the of education in ‘‘maintenance of the symbolic universe’’ ( p. 124) particularly in a context in which diversity and the right ‘‘to be’’ are rhetorically being affirmed but are continually under threat from the unresolved issues of Western hegemony. There are others like Giddens (1995), Galtung (1996) and Odora Hoppers (1998) who believe that the historical violence of colonial conquest, the structural violence of global economic relations and the cultural violence of discourses of concealment may be cemented by the subtle calculated technology of subjection, reflected in the process of globalization. Another anomaly in the current rhetoric is that although education is still spoken of in terms of national development, it has so far not been linked to the zones of intellectual struggles. As a matter of fact, the culture of the market dominant in educational institutions seeks to decenter and delegitimates the discourse of struggle. Bergesen (1994) points out two contradictory trends. On one hand, there is talk of the information superhighway, global competitiveness and untrammeled penetration of the structural adjustment programs in the poor countries. On the other, the ‘‘societal contract’’ on the global scale still continues to be defined in the terms of ‘‘regime formation’’, ‘‘treaties’’ and ‘‘international coalition formation’’(Bergesen, 1994).
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CONCLUSIONS To conclude, global trends in higher education (both in developed and developing world) have given rise to ‘‘entrepreneurial’’ or ‘‘market university’’ (Dill, 1997; Orr, 1997; Slaughter & Leslie, 1997; Tierney, 1997; Clark, 1998). Such institutions are characterized by closer universitybusiness partnerships; greater faculty responsibility for accessing external resources for funding and managerialism. In short, the role of university becomes more like a function of any market related organization. Slaughter and Leslie (1997) term this as ‘‘academic capitalism’’. Resultantly research is judged by its ability to produce new products. Teaching is assessed in terms of marketable skills it develops. Universities are downsized and their ‘peripheral’ activities eliminated in the name of cost efficiency. Under such conditions knowledge is being reconceptualized so as to value entrepreneurial research, emphasis being given to science, technology and innovation that are highly marketable than the non-marketable forms of knowledge. This puts ‘‘the conventional role of academic freedom, critical reflection, peer-review evaluation, rewards and curiosity driven research in tension with income generating market-like activities’’ (Jan Currie and George Subotzky 2000, p. 129). The above mentioned educational practices have been able to bring some positive results as far as financial rewards are concerned to the developed and some newly developing economies. On the other hand these policies, heavily armed with the technological factor, have been a source of appropriating the knowledge of the ‘other’ and deepening the already existing digital, economic, cultural and social divide between the rich and poor. Critics have repeatedly warned about the dangers of identifying commonalities in higher education policy directions across national boundaries. There are too many particular local contexts that come into interplay with any simplistic adoption of macro trends that serve selective interests. Since education sector is tied up with the wider society therefore similar results can not be expected to be delivered by a homogeneous educational model in all countries around the globe. While the thrust of globalized discourse is to operate in a homogenized and universalized world it has to be kept in mind that local conditions have their own dynamics and often there is a complex dialogue between the globalized and the local which may create new alliances or divides. It thus becomes very important for those who advocate the paradigm of globalization to understand that there is a multitude of tendencies and
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trends operating within this frame, and that there is a continued presence of a variety of discourses which limits the capacity of a homogenized globe. Perhaps this is the reason that the World Bank has recently been questioned from within. Its chief economist Joseph Stiglitz has called for an end to the misguided debt relief policies of the IMF and the World Bank stating that ‘‘the goal, is equitable development which ensures that all groups in society enjoy the fruits of development, not just the few at the top’’ (Stiglitz, 2002). Others like Martin and Schumann (2000) and Mander and Goldsmith (1996) have also shown concerns for the effects of globalization on equality, social and financial stability and the environment. Critics have argued that in favoring the minority rich, globalization has widened the wealth gap and created new inequalities that threaten peripheral consumer interest’s and rights as well as environmental conditions especially in developing countries. Some fear, that through educational policies West is transporting its own normative heritage on to all the other people. And education as presently constituted, becomes a key carrier of a most insidious cultural violence. Thus we see that education has a potential of becoming a key element in the preservation of the status quo, in perpetuation of an egalitarian mask and smokescreen for the massive violence being carried out by the developed world against many developing countries. As such it can become a new form of coercion for achieving consensus amenable to the Western control. Theorists like Samoff (1992), see the current educational system as a new game of mind and policy control and manipulation, in which wealthy lender agencies set the research agendas and then base their policy discourses on this self funded and objective research. In short the educational policies under the banner of globalization have deepened the divide not only in terms of wealth, technology, knowledge and power but also among the theorists and philosophers. With one group looking at the development and education experts as a part of an epistemic community convinced with the ideology of universalization acting as foot soldiers in facilitating the symbolic and actual establishment of the universalistic claims throughout the world. These people are seen as responsible for constructing the requisite policy domains under the pretense that they are ‘neutral’ and ‘skilled’ persons. The second group is more concerned with the limited and narrow curriculum and the lack of a comprehensive view of the world as an interconnected and interdependent system. Scholars in the second group argue that globally education should focus on producing better citizens capable of bringing the social and structural changes needed to make world a more peaceful, just and ecologically sustainable place. For example Fien
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and Williamson-Fien (1996) argue that such a change, ‘‘will not occur without a fundamental re-education of the Western public’’ (p. 129). Thus we see that the economic, political and cultural effects of globalization have influenced education in a manner where practices of privatization, accountability and managerialism have come to dominate the earlier educational discourse of citizenship, democracy and social responsibility. Unfortunately, education is being used as a tool of neo-liberal economic reform, a process that calculates every thing in cost-benefit terms. However reducing the role of education to a mere economics can only lead to increased inequalities and marginalize the already unheard voices.
NOTES 1. Telecommunications and biotechnology exemplify techno science (Kevles & Hod, 1992; Sassen, 1991). 2. Thatcherism signified an emphasis on deregulation, denationalization, privatization and welfare cut backs among other things. 3. In other words by abolishing binary system the state reduced the high costs of universities and allowed less prestigious polytechnics and colleges to compete openly with universities for funding.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to acknowledge the support provided by Le Fonds Que´be´cois de la recherche´ sur la socie´te´ et la culture (FQRSC) and International Development Research Center (Ottawa, Canada) for my research.
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SUBJECT INDEX Aboriginal, 42–44, 178 Achievement gap, 135, 180 Achievement scores, 110–112 Accountability, 20, 30, 250 Adams v. Richardson, 294 Adaptive intelligence, 367–389 Adidas, 218 Admission transmission, 68, 240, 248, 293–295, 331, 421 Advertising, 81, 120–126, 129, 133 Africa, 17, 91–112 African American education, 21–22, 135, 140, 214, 254, 289–298 Afrikaans, 182–183, 186–187 Alien Children Education, 61 American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP), 120 American Council on Education, 154 American Councils for International Education, 154 Amherst College, 293 Amhara, 109–112 A Nation at Risk, 131 Angola, 174–175, 186, 254 Anti-apartheid movement, 206, 214 Anti-neoliberal, 206, 213–214, 216 Anti-sweatshop movement, 215–219 Apartheid, 182–183, 185–187, 190, 206 Apocalypticism, 14–23 Armenia, 155 Argentina, 205, 209, 213 Asian American, 289–298 Asian Development Bank (ADB), 207, 403
Australian education, 178 Autonomous Communities (CCAA), 411 Bantu Education Act of 1953, 187 Battle in Seattle, 213 Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 248 Belarus, 157, 167 Body Mass Index (BMI), 133–134 Botswana, 174–175, 181, 190, 457, 459, 463 Bretton Woods, 272 Brown University, 219 Buddhism, 419–449 Bulgaria, 155 Bureau of Educational Research and Evaluation (BERE), 97 Bureau of Indian Affairs, 374, 377–379 Bureaucratic influence, 129 Business Development Office (BDO), 277 Cambodia, 93, 429 Canada, 35–49, 317–319, 324 Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, 42 Canadian Heritage, 35, 42–43 Capitalism academic, 263, 489, 496–497 American, 121 global, 12, 16, 24 knowledge, 235–236 laissez-faire, 16, 284 millenial, 15–16 Caribbean, 261–279, 457, 464–465 507
508 Caribbean Community (CARICOM), 264, 270 Carnegie Corporation of New York, 101 Center for Immigration Studies, 67–68, 72 Center for Individual Rights (CIR), 295 Center for Media and Public Affairs, 120 Centers for Disease Control (CDC), 132–133 Central Europe, 155, 167, 401 Channel One, 123, 133 Chevron, 24 Children’s Defense Fund, 119–120 China, 232, 248, 317–318, 324, 345, 405, 424 Citizenship, 57–58, 149–168, 479–500 democratic, 152–168 Citizenship and Immigration Services, 309, 330 Civic education, 149–168 dispositions, 160–164 knowledge, 159–162, 164 skills, 159–161, 163–164 Civil Rights Act, 214, 294 Civil Rights Movement, 130, 213–214 Coca Cola, 132, 218 College admissions, 293–295 Colonialism, 14, 171–193, 214, 274, 284, 370, 438 Commercial Activities, 122–125, 277 Commercialism, 118, 127–141 Commonwealth Teacher Recruitment Protocol, 455–476 Communist Part of Thailand (CPT), 433 Complementary Opportunity for Primary Education (COPE), 106 Conservative Party of Canada, 35 Convergence theory, 344–345 Cooperative learning, 161–162, 164
SUBJECT INDEX Coordinated Interagency Partnership Regulating International Students (CIPRIS), 310 Cost-benefit analysis, 83, 85 Cost-sharing, 92–95, 97–100 Council of Ministers of Education (CMEC), 35, 37–38 Creative Associates International, 107 Critical pedagogy, 491 Cultural assimilation, 369–378, 380, 382 Cultural bias, 255 Cultural borrowing, 149–150 Cultural hybridity, 369–371, 381 Cultural practices, 4, 9, 177, 369 Cultural prejudices, 58 Curriculum, 9, 36, 43, 153, 155–156, 163, 167, 190, 348, 359, 362–363, 376–379, 449, 464, 469, 499 Czech Republic, 155 Darfur, 219–222 Dartmouth University, 219 De facto segregation, 294 De jure segregation, 294 Decentralization, 391–414 administrative, 394–395, 402–405, 411 educational, 392–394, 396 fiscal, 394–396, 403–405 political, 393–394, 411 Deming Total Quality Management philosophy (TQM), 127 Democracy, 10, 36, 61, 78, 118, 151–155, 167–168, 184, 204, 208, 214, 224, 348, 352, 408, 429, 431 Democratization, 156, 164, 203–204, 208, 216, 225, 347, 393, 405–406 Department of Homeland Security (DHS), 68, 309, 336 Developed countries, 57, 269, 459, 461, 467, 490
Subject Index Developing societies/countries, 92, 99–100, 106, 206, 208, 210, 244–245, 326, 422, 459–460 Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (‘‘DREAM’’) Act, 60 Dine’ Cultural Standards for Students, 379–382 Discourse analysis, 34 Discrimination, 46, 61, 152, 293–294, 318, 334, 468 Diversity, 31–48 Dropout, 66, 71, 78–80, 141 Dual-school system, 93 Eastern and Southern Africa University Research Project (ESAURP), 99 Eastern Europe, 151, 155, 163 Economic impact, 315–319 Economy knowledge, 232–237 traditional 236–237 Education colonial, 346, 348–349, 355–356 domestic, 327 formal, 176–178, 192–193, 346, 376–379 higher, 99–102, 201–222, 231–256, 261–279 international, 307–337 Korean, 343–363 non-formal, 381–382 postsecondary, 59–60, 287, 290–292, 295–297, 299–301 primary, 36, 94, 101, 109, 192, 243, 399–401, 461–462 secondary, 56, 65, 83, 95–97 Thai, 432, 435, 441, 443–447 western, 177–180 Education administration, 21, 31, 118, 131, 140, 270–271, 278–279, 403, 410, 496–497
509 Education Amendment Act no. 10 of 1995, 97 Education and Training Policy of 1995, 97, 104 Education costs, 55–82, 92–95, 102–103 Education for democratic citizenship, 152–153 Education for All (EFA), 59–63, 92, 190, 461–462 Education Forum’s Education For All (EFA), 399 Education Policies for Sub-Saharan Africa (EPSSA), 92 Educational and Training Policy of Ethiopia, 109 Educational attainment, 81, 176–177, 188–189 Educational governance, 391–415 Educational policy, 23–25, 127–132 Educational politics, 3–194 Educational processes, 6, 9–11, 18–21 Educational reform, 130, 242, 419–449 Educational systems, 7, 169, 179, 264, 392, 395, 399, 403 Elite, 100, 241, 293, 351, 362, 427–428, 433, 436–437 English, 103–112 English as a Second Language, 70, 72 English medium primary (EMP), 104 English Only, 183–189 Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2001 (PL 107-173), 310 Enrollment, 312–325 Entrance examination, 351, 353–354 Entrepreneur, 274–275 Equal Protection Clause, 61–62 Ethiopia, 109, 205 Euro-American, 172, 369, 385 Europe, 17, 57, 151 European Commission, 57, 409
510 Fast Track Initiative (FTI), 92 Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), 309 Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), 62 Foreign student, 254–255, 292, 295–296, 309–310, 317, 324 Ford Foundation, 101 Forms DS-2019, 331 I-20, 309–310, 331–332 French, 42–43, 58, 406 Full-time equivalent students (FTE), 301–302 Funding, 20, 38, 63, 68, 71, 97, 130, 132, 139, 180, 209, 211–212, 243, 249, 256–257 G-7, 205, 210 Gambella, 109–112 Garveyite, 267, 284 General Agreement on Trade and Services (GATS), 457 Genocide, 219–222, 374 Ghana, 56, 100, 105–106, 185, 239, 468, 470 Globalization/ Globalisation economic, 233, 486–488 from above, 201–226 from below, 201–226 cultural, 233, 371–372, 384, 488 neoliberal, 204, 208, 211–212, 402 political, 232–233 Government Accounting Office (GAO), 122 Gratz v. Bollinger, 295 Gross Domestic Product (GDP), 354, 462 Group of seventy-seven (G-77), 207 Grutter v. Bollinger, 295 Harvard University, 57, 101, 293 Hegemony, 130, 426–430
SUBJECT INDEX Herero, 174 Heritage Foundation, 68 Higher education, 99–102, 201–222, 231–256, 261–279 Higher Education Accreditation Council (HEAC), 253 Hispanic, 58, 71, 77–80, 137, 289–292, 296–298 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), 293 HIV/AIDS, 463–464 Hopwood v. Texas, 294 Hungary, 155 Identity, 42–43 Identity-based discourse culture, 42–43 language, 42–43 Identity shifting, 4–5 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA), 65 Immigration illegal immigrants, 57, 66–68, 71, 73 legal immigrants, 58, 65 legislation, 57, 60, 62 policy, 57 undocumented immigrants, 57–58, 63–69 Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), 309 Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (PL 99-603), 58 Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture (ICTA), 266 Imperialism, 345, 443, 482–483 Income level high, 297–300 low, 297–300 middle, 297–300 Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA), 130
Subject Index Indian Self-Determination and Educational Assistance Act, 375 Indigenous, 177–181 Industrialized countries, 94, 205, 456–457 Inequality, 5, 11, 15, 18, 36, 41, 76, 421, 483 Inequity, 35, 209 Information and communication technologies (ICTs), 266, 480, 488 In-state tuition, 60, 65–66 Institute for Public Policy Research, 57 Institutions postsecondary, 65, 286, 291–300 private, 245–246, 248–252, 264–265, 293, 302, 499 public, 302, 318, 351, 407, 409, 487 tertiary, 256, 264 Interdependence, 11–15, 486 Intergovernmental organization (IGO), 398 International education, 307–337 International Labor Organization (ILO), 456 International Organization for Migration, 455 International Medical and Technological University (IMTU), 253 International Monetary Fund (IMF), 92, 202, 487 Internationalization, 237, 313, 325, 482 Interpenetration, 12, 14 Jansport, 218 Japan, 343–363 John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, 101 Kavango, 174–175 Khoe, 174, 183 Knowledge economy, 231–256 Korea, 343–363 Korean War, 346–347
511 Korean Minjok Leadership Academy (KMLA), 361 Kyrgyzstan, 156–158, 162–164, 166–168 Language African, 174, 182, 186–189 European, 174, 186, 188 Foreign, 110–112, 240, 308, 319, 336 Language of Instruction (LOI), 105, 107, 109–112 Language politics, 171–192 Law on the General Organization of the Educational System, 1990 (LOGSE), 410 Latino, 82, 136 Liberalism, 31–48 Liberia, 238–239 Lincoln University, 238 Magic, 14–23 Makerere University, 102–103, 255 Marginalization, 6, 19, 22, 25, 176, 190, 220, 223, 225–226 Media, 19, 33, 63, 119–120, 123, 130–131, 135, 142, 214–219, 224–225, 320, 337, 384 Mexicans, 58, 70 Mexico, 56, 66, 77, 82, 207, 218, 324 Migration, 56, 234, 432, 455–474 Millennium Development Goals, 399, 475 Ministry of Local Government (MLG), 97 Multiculturalism, 38, 42–43 Muslim, 21, 250, 308, 318, 335 Namibia, 171–192 National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), 65, 79, 292, 296–298 National Commission for Employment Policy, 78 National Research Council, 67, 68
512 National University Commission (NUC), 99 Nations in Transit, 167–168 Native American, 180, 369, 372–376, 381–383, 385–386 Navajo, 367–384 Neoliberalism, 31–48 New Zealand, 318, 334, 403 Nigeria the University of Lagos (UNILAG), 254 Nike, 217–218, 381 No Child Left Behind (NCLB), 20 Non-governmental organization (NGO), 190, 432 Non-western, 18, 82, 171, 211, 288, 371 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), 335, 495 Nyae Nyae Conservancy, 190–191 Nyae Nyae Development Foundation of Namibia, 189–192 Nyae Nyae Ju/’hoansi, 173 Nyae Nyae Village Schools Project, 174 Occultism, 14–23 Official knowledge, 8, 18–19 Ontario, 32–34 Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC), 35 Ontario Ministry of Education, 35 Ontario Safe Schools Act, 40, 44 Open Society, 167 Oromiya, 109–111 Organization of the Islamic Conference, 248–249 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), 35 Oxford University, 457 Pan Africanism, 284 Partners in Education Program, 157–158 Partnership, 123, 132, 139–140, 155, 158, 253–256 Peace, 3–25
SUBJECT INDEX Peace-globalization-education nexus, 6–11 Pell Grant, 301–302 Perestroika, 156 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA), 65 Pew Hispanic Center, 58 Plyler v. Doe, 59, 61–63, 65 Policy development, 150, 410 Policy webs, 34–36 Population, 33, 56–58, 65, 69, 72–73, 114, 175, 183, 239, 243, 288–290 Post-communist countries, 155, 162 states, 149–168 Postsecondary education, 59–60, 287, 290–292, 295–297, 299–301 Poverty, 134–138, 242 Poverty-Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP), 92 Power, 4–9 Privatization, 92–95 Privilege, 10, 14, 61, 63, 103–104, 173, 181 Progressive conservatives, 33, 35, 38 Protestantism, 15 Puritan, 15 Racism, 8, 20, 70, 136, 225 Rational basis test, 61 Reagonomics, 131 REAL ID Act, 311 Reciprocal appropriation, 367–388 Recognition, 43–44 Refugees, 21, 56–57, 220, 435 Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, 293 Rights-based discourse, 44, 46 Rockefeller Foundation, 101 Royal Thai Government (RTG), 434–435
Subject Index Russia, 150, 156, 158, 162, 167, 269, 393 Rwanda, 5, 256 Safe Schools Act, 40, 44, 47 San, 174–177, 183–189 San Antonio v. Rodriguez, 61 School boarding, 376–379 democratic, 162, 164 fees, 96 high, 59, 71, 79–80, 299, 379, 381 Korean, 354, 356, 359–360 middle, 96, 298 private, 105 public, 121, 129, 131, 137 summer, 262, 275, 278–279 Serbia, 5 Segregation, 64, 285, 294 September 11th, 59, 63, 318–319, 330, 336 Shifting learning context, 7, 9 Sierra Leone, 239 Situated appropriation, 371–372, 376–379, 382–384 Socialization context, 9 Social cohesion, 39–40 Social context, 343–505 Social Darwinism, 345 Social disparity, 36, 39, 201–226 Social equity, 391–414 Social impact, 320–321 Social justice, 40–45 Social movements, 440–441 Socialist Party, 409–410 Socio-economic, 7–8 Somalia, 21–22 South Africa, 151, 174–175, 184, 186–187, 206, 214, 219, 247, 256, 325, 458, 465–470 South America, 151, 215, 222, 322, 473 Southern Africa, 181–183
513 Southwest Africa Peoples Organization (SWAPO), 186 Soviet Union, 13, 91, 151, 153–154, 156, 309, 326 Spain, 405–414 Stanford University, 219 Stereotypes, 172, 337 Strategic plan, 276–277 Strict scrutiny principle, 61 Structural adjustment policies, 92, 237 Student international, 307–338 native-born, 312 Navajo, 369, 376–379 Student-centered, 159, 162, 169 Student Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), 310 Student movements anti-sweatshop movement, 215–219 Sub-Saharan Africa, 97, 135, 231–256 Sudan divestment movement, 219–222 Sudan Divestment Task Force, 219–222 Syndrome of uncertainty, 5–6, 11–15, 18, 22, 25 Tanzania, 95–100, 246, 253, 421 Teacher, 455–474 American, 158 Australian, 470 Eurasian, 158, 165 Jamaican, 468–470 Japanese, 355–360 Korean, 355–360 non-traditional, 131 Uzbek, 163, 166, 168 Teacher attrition, 459–460 Teacher drifting, 459–460 Teacher-directed, 159, 162, 169 Teacher loss, 458–460 Teacher mobility, 458–460 Teacher recruitment, 455–470 Techno-capitalism, 203
514 Technology, 7, 12, 18–19, 76, 109–110, 127, 203–204, 215–219, 221–222, 233, 268, 288, 330–331, 383, 421, 446, 488, 495 Tertiary education, 100–102, 263–266 Tertiary level institution (TLI), 264 Thai culture, 383, 437–440, 443–446 Thailand, 419–449 Tigray, 109–112 Timor, 5 Thammasat University, 433 Thatcherism, 495 Title VI, 294 Toronto District School Board (TDSB), 45–48 Transitional societies, 5, 150, 154 Turkmenistan, 156, 167 Uganda, 92, 101–102, 106–107, 246, 248, 250 Ukraine, 150, 156–158, 162–163, 165, 167–168 United Kingdom (UK), 205, 247, 319, 324, 459, 468, 471, 495–496 United Nations, 56, 174, 207–208 United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), 188 United Nations Declaration of the Rights on Indigenous Peoples, 174 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural (UNESCO), 392 United States, 13, 15, 20, 55–85, 285–302, 307–337, 360–387 USA Patriot Act (PL-107-56), 310 United States Agency for International Development (USAID), 105 United States Census Bureau, 65, 287, 289–291 United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), 330 United States Commission on Civil Rights, 180
SUBJECT INDEX United States General Accounting Office (GAO), 69 United States Supreme Court, 61, 293, 295 United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS), 215 University Anglo-American, 494 Canadian, 494 private, 243–253 public, 248–250, 318 University Eduardo Modale, 103 University of Dar es Salaam, 97 University of Lagos, 254 University of Mexico, 213 University of Michigan, 293, 295, 314, 384 University of Namibia, 188 University of Pennsylvania, 293, 314, 316 University of Port Harcourt, 246 University of South Africa, 256 University of Virginia, 293, 334–335 University of the West Indies (UWI), 261–280 Uzbekistan, 150, 156–157, 162, 164–168 Velvet revolution, 155 Violence apocalyptic, 22–23 hegemonic, 8, 14, 17, 19, 21, 24 structural, 5, 15, 500 West Indies, 261–279 Western traditions, 155, 241 Worker Rights Consortium (WRC), 216 Working Group of Indigenous Minorities in Southern Africa (WIMSA), 194
Subject Index World Bank, 36, 57, 91–95, 97–101, 107, 113–114, 202, 204–206, 208–209, 226, 235–237, 243–244, 248, 256, 272, 392, 401–403, 462, 479, 487, 493–494, 497–498, 502 World Declaration on EFA (WDEFA), 96 World Trade Organization (WTO), 36, 91–92, 202, 487
515 World War II, 14, 130, 286, 308, 346, 431 Xenophobia, 58, 84 Zambia, 97, 175, 185, 463–464, 466 Zimbabwe, 175, 209, 226