From neoliberal policy to neoliberal pedagogy: Racializing and historicizing classroom management

Abstract

In this article we first trace the history of “management,” particularly in the United States, from the plantation to the factory to the corporation, with the intention of understanding and contextualizing “classroom management” in today‘s educational lexicon. To do so, we look at the intertwining history of racial knowledge and the management of enslaved persons; the subsequent development of scientific management; social efficiency educators‘ application of scientific management to education; and conceptions of classroom management in today‘s neoliberal environment, in which education is increasingly positioned as a consumer good subject to individual choice and competitive markets. We further look to examples from post- -colonial Africa to demonstrate the ways in which neocolonial forms of scientific management comingle and entwine with neoliberal policies and procedures. The global phenomenon of scientific management, rife with neoliberalism and racism, is finally examined in the context of (so-called) Culturally Responsive Classroom Management, a neoliberal project that claims to advocate social justice through the process of managing bodies in classrooms.

Throwaway Youth: The Sociocultural Location of Resistance to Schooling

“…Teachers typically depend on compliance manifested through pedagogy. Classroom management has become synonymous with teaching (Casey, Lozenski, & McManimon, 2013). Thus, teachers need all youth to be compliant, follow the rules, and sit through seemingly innocent acts of accountability and responsibility.…”

Freedom and obedience in western education

“…However, from an economic dimension, it was initially believed that improvements in capital and labor would lead to better student training. In addition, governments invested in human capital, so neoliberalism ends with the value of social goods and presents education as just another product (Casey et al, 2013) which can be bought and sold like any other (Davies & Bansel, 2007). In this context, people's freedom within this economic-education system is very limited, if not non-existent.…”

Understanding Issues Associated with Tracking Students in Mathematics Education

“…In many schools, top-down practices have been implemented as onesize-fits-all solutions for controlling others. These practices aim to "produce desirable student behavior" and "maintain procedures, routines, rules, and standards" (Casey, Lozenski, & McManimon, 2013). A potential problem with this is that students' voices are homogenized.…”