NEOLIBERAL MECHANISATION OF EDUCATION

When education is historically analyzed, it is mainly observed that educational change is generally driven by ideological or political forces. The main aim is imposition of state ideologies on millions, who are considered to be the future of a nation, for mental and social control. Another impact forcing educational change is the effect of technological change requiring capable and skilled labor force for the changing occupational structures (Hogan, 1979). It is a fact that the nature and functions of education cannot truly be understood apart from the matrix of economic life (Bowles & Gintis, 1976).

With the development of new technologies, mechanization and the need for skilled technical labor force began to gain significance in the early eighteenth and late nineteenth century.  According to Bowles and Gintis, the major function of schooling is to socialize students into habits and personality traits appropriate for their later work life. Education was, then, seen as “a system to produce amenable and fragmented labor force (p.125). For Callahan (1962), “…the history of twentieth century education is … the history of imposition upon the schools of ‘business values’ and social relationships reflecting the pyramid of authority and privilege in the burgeoning capitalist system” (in Bowles & Gintis, 1976, p. 44). Education was based on the notion “different but equal” for all which was also adopted by John Dewey (1859-1952) and formulated as ‘a common and equal opportunity for all’ but later altered into ‘a different but equal education for all’ by the liberals (Bowles & Gintis, 1976). This was justified by democratic concerns based on the fact that every child will be going into different directions when their future occupational needs are concerned so why not “equip students with appropriate habits and skills necessary for their integration into different occupational structures” based on their skills and abilities (p.227).  The schools, thus, were considered as institutions serving the market system which in turn served liberal capital economy.