1. The Liberal Origins of the Punitive Education State.
- Author
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Moak, Daniel
- Subjects
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IDEOLOGY , *UNITED States education system , *ACADEMIC achievement , *POLITICAL scientists ,UNITED States. Elementary & Secondary Education Act of 1965 - Abstract
This paper argues that understanding the particular educational ideology underpinning the federal role in public education is key to understanding the rise of the modern punitive education state. The U.S. education system has become increasingly punitive in the last decade, most notably in the rise in the use of a variety of harsh sanctions for schools and teachers as a tool to hold these groups accountable for student performance. Seeking an explanation for this trend, several political scientists have become increasingly interested in the institutionalization and expansion of federal control of education in the post-War era, particularly beginning with the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). Recent scholarship has portrayed the ESEA as the pinnacle of the Great Society's attempt to attack inequality and poverty, with initial success rolled back by conservative mobilization around the school choice and standards movement, and a renewed focus on 'excellence' rather than 'equity' in education. However, little attention has been paid to the ideological terms which the first federal federal expansion into education policy occurred. This paper pushes against the current rollback framework, arguing that federal power in education was premised from the start on a conservative ideology that laid the groundwork for future punitive developments. This paper argues that moment when political liberals succeeded in institutionalizing the federal role in education policy coincided with the moment of consolidation of conservative economic policy that successfully redefined the purpose of education. This meant much of the programmatic structure that emerged from the ESEA incorporated a conservative understanding of public education's purpose, an understanding that is the basis for much of the punitive policies of the modern education state. By ignoring the ideological underpinnings of the ESEA and the fundamental ideological continuity of the education state after its passage, scholars have failed to grasp the role of the ESEA and Great Society liberals in setting the education state on a path towards punitiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2014