Education

Page 62 of 144
1 … 60 61 62 63 64 … 144

How matric results reflect the inequalities of public and private education

Noticias

Por: News24.com/09-01-2019

Quality education should not become a good that can only be enjoyed by those who have money, writes Mcebo Dlamini.

There is no doubt that a country that does not invest in its education has a bleak future. It is therefore important that we invest our resources into education if we are to have prosperity as a country. Matric results for the year 2018 have recently been published and although there has been great improvement there is still a lot that needs to be done, particularly in the National Senior Certificate (NSC).

The discrepancies between the Independent Examinations Board (IEB) results and the NSC results are reflective of the inequalities that still permeate our country. They are testament of the fact that education remains a commodity, not just in tertiary education but also in basic education. The discrepancies make it clear that the children of the rich are most likely to succeed compared to the children of those who are poor. This should not continue; quality education should not become a good that can only be enjoyed by those who have money.

The matric pass rate for the class of 2018 NSC was 78.2% which was a slight improvement from the 2017 75.1%. The IEB matric pass rate for 2018 sat at 98.92% with 90.65% of those students qualifying for entry to study for a degree. It is also worth mentioning that the IEB matric maths marks were adjusted. This was supposedly done to ‘standardise the results, with the aim to achieve equivalence in the standard of examinations across the years, subjects and assessment bodies’.

One does not need to think hard about why there is such a wide gap between the NSC results and the IEB results. It is precisely because government schools are overcrowded, understaffed and under resourced while private schools have better facilities, staff and learner support systems. What is shocking about these parallels between private and public schools is how they have remained intact 25 years after the end of apartheid.

However way one decides to look at it, the government has much to do with the somewhat mediocre performance of public schools. There has not been a concerted effort by various departments to ensure that public schools are equipped for success. Although there have been strides made by our government, such as the implementation of fee-free basic education, so much more needs to be done. The curriculum in the schools need to cater for the needs of our society.

The resources in the schools need to prepare learners for institutions of higher learning. These things will only be possible through commitment by the department of basic education and through channelling of resources by the treasury. This commitment must not only be towards those who are about to complete their basic education but also those who are in foundation phase. This is because statistics show that a large number of learners who begin grade one do not necessarily make it to matric. The government has a responsibility of looking at the causes of this and addressing them. It makes little sense to commend the government for an increase of pass rates, yet a large contingent of learners continue to drop out year after year.

Many have suggested that one of the solutions to some of the problems that are faced by public institutions would be to make it mandatory that public servants and senior government officials use public services. This is logical because it makes little sense why the ministers should use private schools for their children. If they used public schools it would confirm their commitment to improving the quality of public education and their confidence in the work that they do. Unfortunately, this is not the case as many of them still use private services and this speaks volumes.

This might be a temporary solution but in time the government has to do away with the public and private schools distinction. This is because it does nothing more than re-enact the Bantu education system that made quality education a sole preserve of white people and in the current situation the rich who by the majority are still white. I reiterate quality education should never become a commodity that is only enjoyed by the elite few.

Critique is a work of love and it signals a desire for improvement. When one highlights the inadequacies of basic education one does not seek to take away from the strides made by the officials, teachers and learners but it is to say there is a lot that needs to be done so that we get to where we want to be.

I would like to congratulate all those who made it to matric despite all the odds they were facing, your relentlessness reminds us of the heights that one could achieve if determined. I hope that you prosper in your endeavours and always remember Robert Sobukwe’s teachings that education is not just a personal achievement but it means service to Africa.

– Dlamini is a former Wits SRC leader and student activist. He writes in his personal capacity.

Disclaimer: News24 encourages freedom of speech and the expression of diverse views. The views of columnists published on News24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of News24.

*Fuente: https://www.news24.com/Columnists/GuestColumn/how-matric-results-reflect-the-inequalities-of-public-and-private-education-20190108
Comparte este contenido:
Leer más »

Nearly 5,000 schools in England not given promised cash – union

Sally Weale

By: Seally Weale. 

 

England’s biggest teaching union has accused the government of breaking its promise to provide a modest cash boost to every school in England, claiming figures reveal that nearly 5,000 schools have received no extra funds or have even had their funding cut.

In the wake of mounting concern among teachers and parents about a school budget crisis, the education secretary, Damian Hinds, told MPs last year that a new national funding formula would guarantee each school “at least a small cash increase”, a pledge repeated by the prime minister in the Commons last May.

The National Education Union argued the offer was inadequate given the scale of the school funding squeeze, but its analysis of recent government figures subsequently revealed that 4,819 schools had either received no extra funds or had had their budget cut.

“This is yet another failure and another broken promise by government on school funding,” said Kevin Courtney, NEU joint general secretary. “The fact remains that schools were never going to manage on the money promised by government.

“However, headteachers, teachers, school staff and parents will be dismayed that even the meagre amounts of funds supposedly allocated to schools will not be received by everyone. Parents and school staff simply cannot trust what the government says on education funding.”

The NEU compared the schools block funding allocations for 2017-18 and 2018-19 and found that a quarter of primary schools (25%) and one in six secondary schools (17%) either received no cash increase or suffered an actual cut to their funding.

Responding to the NEU analysis, a Department for Education (DfE) spokesperson said that since 2017 the government had given every local authority more money for every pupil in every school in order to ensure fairer funding across the country.

“Government provides this money to local authorities and they have the freedom to work with schools to allocate their budgets in a way that best suits local needs,” the spokesperson said.

“While there is more money going into our schools than ever before, we do recognise the budgeting challenges schools face and that we are asking them to do more. That’s why we’re supporting schools and headteachers, and their local authorities, to make the most of every pound.”

According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, total school spending per pupil in England has fallen by about 8% in real terms between 2009-10 and 2017-18.

While schools have been struggling to meet rising costs, many local authorities have been forced to divert money from the main schools funding block they receive from the government to their high needs budget in order to meet growing demand for special educational needs support – a move that has to be sanctioned by the DfE.

The shadow education secretary, Angela Rayner, said Labour would end funding cuts and increase per-pupil funding. “The Tories have cut billions of pounds from our schools, which have seen their budgets falling for the first time in a generation,” she said.

“With rising pressure on class sizes and teachers leaving in droves, a generation of children is paying the price for Tory failure.”

Source of the article: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2019/jan/07/nearly-5000-schools-in-england-not-given-promised-cash-union

Comparte este contenido:
Leer más »

Understanding the teaching crisis facing South Africa

Noticias

Africa/ South Africa/ 07.01.2018/By: Natasha Robinson/ Source: www.thesouthafrican.com.

What will it take to improve teacher quality and professionalism in the country?

Half of all South African pupils who attended school for five years can’t do basic calculations. This is according to a 2015 TIMMS report on mathematics achievements among Grade 5 learners in South Africa.

At the same time, it’s calculated that 10% of the country’s teachers are absent from school each day, while researchfound that 79% of South African Grade 6 mathematics teachers were classified as having content knowledge levels below the level at which they were teaching.

Given that teacher quality is one of the biggest factors determining the learning outcomes of students, what will it take to improve teacher quality and professionalism in the country?

Numerous suggestions have been floated. But one idea has recently generated particular interest among education departments, statutory bodies, and academia – the introduction of “teacher professional standards”. These can be broadly defined as a set of common standards that include the professional knowledge, skills and conduct that characterise good teaching.

Their development began in the US in the late 1980s. It was stimulated by the view that higher expectations for student learning could be accomplished only by higher expectations of teaching quality. In the South African context, teacher standards are a response to a lack of teacher accountability. This has been identified as a cause of the poor quality of South African education.

The basic premise of teacher standards is that if you expect more from teachers, don’t allow them into the classroom until they’ve met a basic set of criteria, and hold them to account if they fall short, then the quality of teachers will improve.

But introducing teacher standards in South Africa also comes with a caveat. Research into the value of teacher standards for South Africa warns that this approach could serve to de-professionalise the country’s teaching force if not approached carefully.

This is because there are effectively two types of teacher standards, and it’s important not to conflate the two. There are standards that professionalise teaching and standards that simply manage teachers. While standards which professionalise create cultures of collegiality, expertise and pride among teachers, standards that manage can leave them feeling brow-beaten, untrusted, and demotivated.

Yet management standards are often mistaken for professional standards. When this happens, teacher morale drops. This is a common trend in countries like South Africa which have a “vicious” rather than “virtuous” schooling cycle.

How the schooling cycle works

The quality of a nation’s teachers cannot be divorced from the quality of its learners exiting schools. This is because successive cohorts of learners progress through school, enter university as student teachers, and graduate as teachers where they nurture the next cohort through the cycle. The end of school is therefore the beginning of higher education.

In a virtuous schooling cycle, such as Finland, education is a desirable career choice for top graduates. This allows for competitive entry requirements for teacher education programmes, which in turn allows for rigorous and challenging courses. This, in turn, produces high quality teachers who improve learner outcomes. The quality and professionalism of the teachers nurtures the next generation of high-quality teacher trainees.

In a virtuous cycle the system can afford to set standards that reflect the best professional knowledge internationally. Initial teacher education is intensive and teachers exit the programmes with high levels of subject and pedagogical knowledge. As a result, their learners perform well and the school system enjoys a high level of public esteem.

Consequently teaching is a prestigious and attractive profession which recruits the brightest and most motivated school graduates, who don’t require continual monitoring and oversight. Teachers instead enjoy professional autonomy; they are trusted in key decisions about their teaching and professional development.

Compare this to South Africa, which has a vicious schooling cycle. Initial teacher education is highly variable but generally insufficient. For example, a study found that three out of five of the Higher Education Institutions that were sampled provided no English language, literature, or linguistic education for teacher trainees not specialising in this subject, despite poor English language proficiency among teacher trainees being a ubiquitous concern.

Unsurprisingly then, research on newly qualified teachers indicates that students enter their studies with very poor skills, and leave with little more. Consequently, their learners do very poorly and teaching is perceived as a low status career. Teacher education programmes are therefore in general unable to reliably attract high quality graduates, and so tend to be less demanding. The vicious cycle repeats itself.

In vicious schooling cycles governments take it upon themselves to hold teachers accountable. Standards are used to manage teachers, and to protect students from the worst educators through supervisory surveillance and control. Invariably, the relationship between teacher unions and governments becomes antagonistic and generates feelings of fear and mistrust. This, in turn, alienates the best school graduates who frankly have better career options.

While in-service training programmes attempt to make up the backlog, and some are succeeding in achieving small learning gains, they cannot fully compensate for the lack of teacher skills resulting from poor initial teacher education and generally unskilled matriculants.

Not all standards professionalise teaching

Given its vicious cycle, management standards may be more likely than professional standards in South Africa. Does this mean that South African teachers are damned to the stick, rather than the carrot? Not necessarily. There are many excellent teachers who are hungry for opportunities to develop in ways that nurture autonomy and collegiality.

South Africa should not shy away from developing and promoting professional best practice, and providing the opportunities for teachers to reach them.

At the same time, management standards must be considered carefully. While they may prevent the worst teaching, they’re unlikely to create the professional culture that promotes the best teaching and attracts the best candidates.

Source of the notice: https://www.thesouthafrican.com/south-africa-school-teacher-crisis/

 

Comparte este contenido:
Leer más »

Why we need to take food education in Australian schools more seriously

Noticias

Oceania/ Australia/ 07.01.2018/ Source: theconversation.com.

Schools are expected to do a lot of important things. We frequently hear calls for schools to make children job-ready, help drive economic innovation, provide them with greater literacy and numeracy skills, maintain social cohesion and fairness through anti-bullying and gender equity programs, prevent obesity and promote students’ mental health. And much more. So what is happening about food in secondary schools?

The renewal of interest in food issues

In recent years, there has been a renewal of interest in food education, particularly in secondary schools. This is partly encouraged by celebrity chef television shows, the surge in obesity, growing unease about our environmental impacts, and the diverse, multicultural nature of contemporary Australian food. This range of interests is reflected in what is being taught in Australian schools.

The renewed interest is seen among various international innovations. One example is compulsory cooking programs in English and Welsh schools. These programs require students to develop an enjoyable meal repertoire consistent with the UK dietary recommendations, and sustainably source school food.

An associated venture is the Food Teachers’ Centre in London. This provides in-school professional development for food teachers.

How is food education taught in Australian secondary schools?

The current Australian curriculum splits food education into two streams: the health and physical education (HPE) stream and the design and technologies stream. Nutrition principles are taught in the HPE stream and food skills (such as cooking) are taught in the technologies stream. If a school is fortunate enough to have a year 7 or year 8 home economics course, the two streams may be combined in the one course.

The duration of food education courses in secondary schools varies a lot, from none to one or two hours a week, often for a year or less. At senior levels (years 11 and 12) elective subjects are offered in the various states and territories such as Food Technology or the new food studies curriculum in Victoria.

Research with home economics teachers in Queensland and elsewhere in Australia suggests time and resources are often inadequate for teaching the diverse knowledge and skills associated with food.

 

Aspects of food may be taught in science (such as food chemistry) or in humanities (such as cultural foods and environmental issues) or in PE. But most food education happens in home economics, and contrary to many people’s opinions, it is alive and well in many parts of Australia.

Food education takes place in preschools, primary schools and secondary schools, though in different ways and to different degrees. Programs like the kitchen garden scheme have been well received.

Many teachers deal with food, in all its aspects, across the school years. These include activities like growing food in school gardens, cooking it, analysing its nutritional properties and environmental impacts, exploring local farms, shops and food markets, taking part in BBQ or Masterchef style competitions and catering for schools and Fair Food Universities.

Research in secondary food education

A growing evidence base, mainly in the US, Canada, western Europe and Australia suggests food literacy and skills education programs lead to greater confidence in performing practical food skills, such as planning and preparing meals, interpreting food labels, basic food safety, food regulations. This, in turn, is associated with healthier dietary choices.

Australian research in this area has grown strongly over the past ten years. It has provided evidence for the establishment of several food literacy frameworks with focuses on food gatekeepers and families as well as broader environmental aspects of food systems.

Understanding how to read food labels can help people make healthier choices. from www.shutterstock.com

Recent research has shown many secondary school food teachers tend to favour practical domestic skills and associated knowledge. They express less interest in broader historic, social, environmental and ethical issues. Food and health professionals remain strongly supportive of food education – especially for acquiring practical skills – as does the general public.

Our recent work has also examined the views of parents and recent school leavers who live independently. Although they hold a broad spectrum of opinions, around two thirds see food education as an important life skills subject. Most think it should be compulsory for between one and three hours per week in each of years 7 to 10. These views contrast sharply with the priorities of most secondary schools.

Current and future challenges

Food education in Australian secondary schools is now facing several challenges. These challenges are related to changes in population health status, changing food patterns, food technologies, food and beverage marketing and environmental impacts.

The fundamental question is: Does it meet the present and future life needs of students and their families? At present, food education tends to be patchy, with some emphasis on students’ acquisition of food preparation skills but lesser coverage of environmental and social issues, marketing practices or family dynamics.

Possible solutions include providing more intensive education about food in university teacher education programs and continuing professional education for food teachers. These teachers also need more adequate timetable allocations and resources.

A comprehensive food education framework from pre-school to senior secondary school is required to prevent repetition and reinforce skills learned in the early years. This has begun in the UK and in the RefreshED program in Western Australia. A more focused curriculum across all years of education is required. This should be accompanied by continuing evaluation of the impact of food education on students, their families and the wider population.

Source of the notice: https://theconversation.com/why-we-need-to-take-food-education-in-australian-schools-more-seriously-106849

 

Comparte este contenido:
Leer más »

Top Latest Japan World Business Sports Entertainment Opinion Lifestyle Features Photos Videos School attendance of 16,000 foreign children across Japan unknown: Mainichi survey

Noticias

Asia/ Japan/ 07.01.2018/ Source: mainichi.jp.

It is unknown if as many as 16,000 children of foreign nationality across Japan are attending elementary or junior high schools, which are compulsory for Japanese children, a Mainichi Shimbun survey has found.

This number makes up for at least some 20 percent of all children of foreign nationalities who have their residency registered with local governments and are aged 6 to 14. Some may have already returned to their home countries, but as no compulsory education requirements exist for foreign children in Japan, many could simply not be receiving education.

The survey covered 100 municipalities with higher numbers of foreign children of school age from September through November 2018, and asked how many such juvenile residents are attending public schools as of May 2018, the month after the beginning of the academic year in April. For municipalities that lacked data for that time, enrollment data around that month was requested. Using this method, answers were gathered from all 100 municipalities that were the target of the survey.

According to the survey results, those municipalities had some 77,500 non-Japanese children registered as residents. Of them, 57,013, or more than 73 percent, were attending public elementary and junior high schools. Another 3,977 were attending international or ethnic schools or private «free schools.»

Of the roughly 20 percent or so remaining, whose attendance status is unknown, appears to include those living in the municipality but not enrolled in a school, those whose whereabouts are unknown, children who moved to other parts of Japan or went home without their guardians going through the procedures to cancel their residency, or children who are attending private schools or international or ethic schools outside the local governments’ knowledge.

By municipality, the Kanagawa prefectural capital of Yokohama, south of Tokyo, with the highest number of registered foreign children, did not know if some 30 percent of the total, or roughly 1,400 kids, were going to school. The number was 1,307 or 30 percent in the western city of Osaka, which has the second largest population of registered children with foreign backgrounds. In Tokyo’s Edogawa Ward, the status of 1,030 children — or half of the total — was unknown.

Meanwhile, the central Japanese city of Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, which was ranked fifth with 2,034 registered foreign children, had only two children whose educational status was not known to the municipal government. The city of Kawaguchi, Saitama Prefecture, north of Tokyo, which was ranked sixth, also had only six such children out of 1,680 registered. The two cities check in on all children registered as residents who are not attending public elementary or junior high schools.

Many municipalities that did not keep track of the status of foreign children of school age answered that they do not perform the checks because the children are not required to receive compulsory education under Japanese law, unlike their Japanese counterparts.

Associate professor Yoshimi Kojima of Aichi Shukutoku University, an expert on the schooling of foreign children in Japan, warned that some of the kids whose educational status is unknown are left out without a chance to go to school at all.

«The central government should no longer leave the matter up to local municipalities, and introduce national standards on the issue,» he said.

Source of the notice: https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20190107/p2a/00m/0na/002000c

Comparte este contenido:
Leer más »

Universities raise alarm over no-deal Brexit and EU student enrolment

Sally Weale

By: Sally Weale. 

University leaders have said that a no-deal Brexit would constitute “one of the biggest threats” ever faced by the sector, as figures revealed a further decline in EU student enrolment, particularly in postgraduate research.

According to the Russell Group of universities, there was a 9% decrease in the number of EU postgraduate research students enrolling at its institutions this academic year. The fall follows a 9% decline the previous year, and has potential consequences for Britain’s research capacity.

Dr Hollie Chandler, a senior policy analyst at the 24-strong group of leading universities, described the decline as “troubling” and said that were the UK to leave the EU without a deal, it would only increase uncertainty among prospective students from the rest of Europe.

Overall, the number of EU students who enrolled for the 2018-19 academic year at Russell Group universities fell by 3%. Last year, there was a 1% increase in overall EU student numbers, after years of healthy growth in recruitment.

Although enrolment of EU27 citizens at undergraduate level grew by 1% this year, at taught postgraduate level it fell by 5%.

The figures come as an open letter from leaders of 150 universities to MPs said the impact of a no-deal Brexit could lead to “an academic, cultural and scientific setback from which it would take decades to recover”.

“University leaders are united in the view that the UK leaving the EU without a deal is one of the biggest threats our universities have ever faced,” the letter says. “As a sector which contributes over £21bn to UK GDP every year and supports 944,000 jobs, it is critical to the national interest, to the economy, communities and wider society, that the UK’s universities thrive post-Brexit.

“To do so, our government must demonstrate the required ambition, put the right measures and guarantees in place, and, crucially, avoid the UK crashing out of the EU without a deal on 29 March.”

University leaders are particularly anxious to secure a guarantee from ministers that research funding for which the UK may become ineligible after Brexit will be replaced. Funding from the European Research Council (ERC) and Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme (MSCA) will be worth an estimated €1.3bn (£1.2bn) to the UK over the next two years, investing in projects to fight cancer and combat climate change.

Dame Janet Beer, the president of Universities UK, which represents vice-chancellors, said time was running out.

“While we welcome the assurances that the government has already provided about the continuation of Horizon 2020 funding in a no deal scenario, it is critical that similar guarantees are extended, without delay, to cover ERC and MSCA funding,” said Beer, who is vice-chancellor of the University of Liverpool.

“Without cast-iron assurances, world-leading academics and researchers may leave for countries where access to ERC funding is not at risk, and those currently considering relocating to the UK may think again.”

Dame Nancy Rothwell, the vice-chancellor of the University of Manchester, said vital research projects at her university risked being disrupted, including work on proton-beam therapy for cancer patients and Nobel-prize winning work on graphene.

“Researchers who have already spent months or even years preparing funding bids would be left high and dry, including those whose application would be stuck in the middle of the evaluation process,” she said.

Commenting on the EU student enrolment figures, Chandler said that although the Russell Group universities remained popular study destinations with strong global appeal, the figures cannot be ignored.

“It’s fair to assume that uncertainty over Brexit and the UK’s future relationship with Europe could be a significant factor. The drop in postgraduate research courses is especially troubling – these students contribute directly to the UK’s research capacity,” she said.

“If we leave the EU without a deal, the uncertainty felt by prospective European students will only get worse.”

A UK Government spokesperson said: “Science recognises no borders and the UK has a proud record of welcoming the world’s leading scientists and researchers to work and study here. This will not change when we leave the EU.

“Through our modern Industrial Strategy we are investing the highest ever level in research and development in UK history and we are committed to seeking an ambitious future relationship on science and innovation with our EU partners. We are also guaranteeing, in the event of a no deal, money for EU programme-funded research and innovation projects agreed before the end of 2020.”

Shadow Higher and Further Education Minister Gordon Marsden added: “Despite consistent warnings from Labour and the University sector, the Government has continued to ignore the impending damage, especially the drift to no deal, Brexit could cause to our world class Universities and FE Colleges.

“Today’s letter from the sector reiterated everything we have been saying over the past two years about the threats facing students, staff and research but DfE and the Education Secretary has been abysmally negligent in ensuring those concerns and a deal on them should be put at the top of the negotiations table.”

Source of the article: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2019/jan/04/universities-raise-alarm-over-no-deal-brexit-and-eu-student-enrolment

Comparte este contenido:
Leer más »

Neoliberalism in the age of pedagogical terrorism

Henry Giroux

U. S / January 4, 2019 / Author: Henry A. Giroux / Source: Arts & Opinion

Marx was certainly right in arguing that the point is not to understand the world but to change it, but what he underemphasized was that the world cannot be transformed if one does not understand what is to be changed. As Terry Eagleton rightly notes “Nobody can change a world they didn’t understand.” Moreover, the lack of mass resistance to oppression signals more than apathy or indifference, it also suggests that we don’t have an informed and energizing vision of the world for which we want to struggle. Political struggle is dependent on the political will to change, which is central to any notion of informed agency willing to address the radical and pragmatic issues of our time. In addition to understanding the world, an informed public must connect what they know and learn to the central task of bringing their ideas to bear on society as a whole. This means that a critical consciousness must be matched by a fervent willingness to take risks, and challenge the destructive narratives that are seeping into the public realm and becoming normalized.

Any dissatisfaction with injustice necessitates combining the demands of moral witnessing with the pedagogical power of persuasion and the call to address the tasks of emancipation. We need individuals and social movements willing to disturb the normalization of a fascist politics, oppose racist, sexist, and neoliberal orthodoxy.

As Robin D. G. Kelley observes we cannot confuse catharsis and momentary outrage for revolution. In a time of increasing tyranny, resistance in many quarters appears to have lost its usefulness as a call to action. At the same time, the pedagogical force of civic ignorance and illiteracy has morphed into a national ideal. Tyranny and ignorance feed each other in a theater of corporate controlled media ecosystems and function more as a tool of domination than as a pedagogical outlet in pursuit of justice and the practice of freedom. Under such circumstances, when education is not viewed as central to politics itself, resistance withers in the faux language of privatized struggles and fashionable slogans.

For instance the novelist Teju Cole has argued that “‘resistance’ is back in vogue, and it describes something rather different now. The holy word has become unexceptional. Faced with a vulgar, manic and cruel regime, birds of many different feathers are eager to proclaim themselves members of the Resistance. It is the most popular game in town.” Cole’s critique appears to be born out by the fact that the most unscrupulous of liberal and conservative politicians such as Madeline Albright, Hilary Clinton, and even James Clapper, the former director of national intelligence, are now claiming that they have joined the resistance against Trump’s fascist politics. Even Michael Hayden, the former NSA chief and CIA director under George W. Bush, has joined the ranks of Albright and Clinton in condemning Trump as a proto-fascist. Writing in the New York Times, Hayden, ironically, chastised Trump as a serial liar and in doing so quoted the renowned historian Timothy Snyder, who stated in reference to the Trump regime that “Post-Truth is pre-fascism.” The irony here is hard to miss. Not only did Hayden head Bush’s illegal National Security Agency warrantless wiretapping program while the head of the NSA, he also lied repeatedly about his role in Bush’s sanction and implementation of state torture in Afghanistan and Iraq.

This tsunami of banal resistance and its pedagogical architecture was on full display when an anonymous member of the Trump’s inner circle published an op-ed in the New York Times claiming that he/she and other senior officials were part of “the resistance within the Trump administration.” The author was quick to qualify the statement by insisting such resistance had nothing to do with “the popular ‘resistance’ of the left.” To prove the point, it was noted by the author that the members of this insider resistance liked some of Trump’s policies such as “effective deregulation, historic tax reform, a more robust military and more.” Combining resistance with the endorsements of such reactionary policies reads like fodder for late-night comics.

The Democratic Party now defines itself as the most powerful political force opposing Trump’s fascist politics. What it has forgotten is the role it has played under the Clinton and Obama presidencies in creating the economic, political, and social conditions for Trump’s election in 2016. Such historical and political amnesia allows them to make the specious claim that they are now the party of resistance. Resistance in these instances has little to do with civic courage, a defense of human dignity, and the willingness to not just bear witness to the current injustices but to struggle to overcome them. Of course, the issue is not to disavow resistance as much as to redefine it as inseparable from fundamental change that calls for the overthrow of capitalism itself. Neoliberalism has now adopted unapologetically the language of racial cleansing, white supremacy, white nationalism, and fascist politics. Unapologetic for the widespread horrors, gaping inequality, destruction of public goods, and re-energizing of the discourse of hate and culture of cruelty, neoliberalism has joined hands with a toxic fascist politics painted in the hyper-patriotic colors of red, white, and blue. As I have noted elsewhere:

Neoliberalism’s hatred of democracy, the common good, and the social contract has unleashed generic elements of a fascist past in which white supremacy, ultra-nationalism, rabid misogyny and immigrant fervor come together in a toxic mix of militarism, state violence, and a politics of disposability. Modes of fascist expression adapt variously to different political historical contexts assuring racial apartheid-like forms in the post-bellum U.S. and overt encampments and extermination in Nazi Germany. Fascism with its unquestioning belief in obedience to a powerful strongman, violence as a form of political purification, hatred as an act of patriotism, racial and ethnic cleansing, and the superiority of a select ethnic or national group has resurfaced in the United States. In this mix of economic barbarism, political nihilism, racial purity, economic orthodoxy, and ethical somnambulance a distinctive economic-political formation has been produced that I term neoliberal fascism.

While the call to resist neoliberal fascism is to be welcomed, it has to be interrogated rather than aligned with individuals and ideological forces that helped put in place the racist, economic, religious, and educational forces that helped produce it. What many liberals and conservative calls to resistance have in common is an opposition to Trump rather than to the conditions that created him. In some cases, liberal critics such as Christopher R. Browning, Yascha Mounk, and Cass R. Sunstein document insightfully America’s descent into fascism but are too cautious in refusing to conclude that we are living under a fascist political regime. This is more than a retreat from political courage, it is a refusal to name how liberalism itself with its addiction to the financial elite has helped create the conditions that make a fascist politics possible.

Trump’s election and the Kavanaugh affair make clear that what is needed is not only a resistance to the established order of neoliberal capitalism but a radical restructuring of society itself. That is not about resisting oppression in its diverse forms but overcoming it — in short, changing it. The Kavanaugh hearings and the liberal response was a telling example of what might be called a politics of disconnection.

While it is crucial to condemn the Kavanaugh hearings for its blatant disregard for the Constitution, expressed hatred of women, and its symbolic expression and embrace of white privilege and power, it is necessary to enlarge our criticism to include the system that made the Kavanaugh appointment possible. Kavanaugh represents not only the deep seated rot of misogyny but also as Grace Lee Boggs, has stated “a government of, by, and for corporate power.” We need to see beyond the white nationalists and neo-Nazis demonstrating in the streets in order to recognize the terror of the unforeseen, the terror that is state sanctioned, and hides in the shadows of power. Such a struggle means more than engaging material relations of power or the economic architecture of neoliberal fascism, it also means taking on the challenge producing the tools and tactics necessary to rethink and create the conditions for a new kind of subjectivity as the basis for a new kind of democratic socialist politics. We need a comprehensive politics that brings together various single interest movements so that the threads that connect them become equally as important as the particular forms of oppression that define their singularity. In addition, we need intellectuals willing to combine intellectual complexity with clarity and accessibility, embrace the high stakes investment in persuasion, and cross disciplinary borders in order to theorize and speak with what Rob Nixon calls the “cunning of lightness” and a “methodological promiscuity” that keeps language attuned to the pressing the claims for justice.

Outside of those intellectuals who write for CounterPunch, Truthout, Truthdig, Rise Up Times, Salon, and a number of other critical media outlets, there are too few intellectuals, artists, journalists willing to challenge the rise of an American version of neoliberal fascism. It is not enough to report in an alleged “balanced fashion” on Trump’s endorsement of violence against journalists, the massive levels of inequality produced under neoliberalism, the enactment by the Trump administration of savage policies of racial cleansing aimed at undocumented immigrants, and the emergence of a police state armed terrifying new technologies aimed at predictive policing. The real challenge is to tie these elements of oppression together and to recognize the threads of state violence, white supremacy, and fascist politics that suggest the emergence of a distinctive new political order.

Shock and outrage in the midst of a fascist politics is now undermined by the mainstream press which is always on the hunt for higher ratings and increasing their bottom line. Rather than talk about fascism, they focus on the threat to liberal institutions. Rather than talk about the mounting state violence and the increased violence of neo-fascist thugs such as the Proud Boys, they talk about violence coming from the left and right. Rather than raise questions about the conditions and a society in which more and more people seem to prefer authoritarian rule over democracy, they talk about Trump’s eccentric behavior or keep tabs on his endless lying. This is not unhelpful, but it misses the nature of the true threat, its genesis, and the power of a corporate elite who are now comfortable with the fascist politics that Trump embodies.

An iPsos poll found that “a surprising 26 percent of all Americans, and 43 percent of Republicans, agree with the statement that the president “should have the authority to close news outlets engaged in bad behavior.” In addition, a majority of Americans across the ideological spectrum — 72 percent — think “it should be easier to sue reporters who knowingly publish false information.” Couple this with the fact that Trump has recently stated privately to his aids that he regrets reversing his policy of separating children from their parents at the border and you have a mix of fascist principles coupled with a dangerous demagogue who cannot bring the country fast enough to the fascist abyss. While it is true that the United States under Trump is not Hitler’s Germany, Trump has tapped into America’s worst impulses and as Jason Stanley and others remind us his ultra-nationalism, white supremacist views, and racist diatribes coupled with his attack on immigrants, the media, African-Americans, and Muslims are indicative of a politics right out the fascist playbook. If the public and media keep denying this reality, the endpoint is too horrible to imagine. If we are to understand the current resurgence of right-wing populist movements across the globe, economic factors alone do not account for the current mobilizations of fascist passions.

As Pierre Bourdieu once put it, it is crucial to recognize that “the most important forms of domination are not only economic but also intellectual and pedagogical, and lie on the side of belief and persuasion.” He goes on to state that left intellectuals have underestimated the symbolic and pedagogical dimensions of struggle and have not always forged appropriate weapons to fight on this front.” In part, this means that the left and others must make matters of culture and pedagogy central to politics in order to address people’s needs and struggles. And they should do so in a language that is both rigorous and accessible. Matters of culture and consciousness in the Gramscian sense are central to politics and only when the left can address that issue will there be any hope for massive collective resistance in the form of a broad-based movement.

Trump has emboldened and legitimated the dire anti-democratic threats that have been expanding under an economic system stripped of any political, social, and ethical responsibility. This is a form of neoliberal fascism that has redrawn and expanded the parameters of the genocidal practices and hate filled politics of the 1930s and 40s in Europe in which it was once thought impossible to happen again. The threat has returned and is now on our doorsteps, and it needs to be named, exposed, and overcome by those who believe that the stakes are much too high to look away and not engage in organized political and pedagogical struggles against a fascist state and an omniscient fascist politics. We live in an age when the horrors of the past are providing the language and politics of illiberal democracies all over the globe. This is a world where dystopian versions of a catastrophic, misery producing neoliberalism merge with unapologetic death dealing visions of a fascist politics. We live in an era that testifies to the horrors of a past struggling to reinvent itself in the present, and which should place more than a sense of ethical and political responsibility on those of us bearing witness to it. As my friend, Brad Evans, notes under such circumstances, we live in a time “that asks us all to continually question our own shameful compromises with power,” and to act with others to overcome our differences in order to dismantle this assault on human rights, human dignity, economic justice, equality, and democracy itself.

Article Source:

http://www.artsandopinion.com/2018_v17_n6/giroux-26pedagogicalterrorism.htm

Source of the image:

When Schools Become Dead Zones of the Imagination

ove/mahv

Comparte este contenido:
Leer más »
Page 62 of 144
1 … 60 61 62 63 64 … 144