Who Needs the Government to Police us When We Can Do it Ourselves? The New Panopticon in Teaching

Abstract

The purpose of this essay is to discuss the creation of a new panopticon created by the media, the state, and the discourses of No Child Left Behind. In this new panopticon, teachers and scholars police themselves into silence for fear of serious personal and professional consequences should they critique public education policy (e.g., No Child Left Behind), which is currently eroding freedom, democracy, and social justice. This essay will describe the new panopticon, the media’s role in constructing No Child Left Behind as a benign, even beneficial regulation, and how the media has supported the state in its efforts to silence opposition to the new federal legislation. The essay will conclude with a reflection on the relationship on how teachers and scholars might once again “police the crisis” instead of the crisis policing them.

Exploring the impact of panoptic heteronormativity on UK primary teachers advocating for LGBTQ+ inclusive education

“…For example, Alexander refusing to discuss a hypothetical husband with his pupils to Charlie not wanting to 'rub' his sexuality in the faces of his colleagues. This becomes a form of 'panoptic performativity' (Perryman, 2006) where LGBTQ+ teachers potentially experience pressure to play the role of the de-sexed, nonthreatening, 'good' gay teacher, an identity which potentially comes with a constant self-policing of language and behaviour in fear of imagined consequences (Goldstein, 2004).…”

Creative Subversion: Staking a Claim for Critical Qualitative Inquiry

“…Although a light of hope arises when we can assume that subversion is present everywhere to transform the world and that actors who are very aware of their actions emerge from kindergarten, such as Goldstein (2004) who says,. .…”

Standardized Entrance/Aptitude Testing in the Era of Foucault’s Panopticon: The Bilingual Student and the Minority Student

“…Are standardized aptitude tests a way to keep an eye on the population, similar to a watchdog, as people are being “sent to their place, where they belong”? A significant body of research has been conducted on how standardized testing can be a means of social control or/and an aspect of Foucault’s panopticon (Ambrosio, 2013; Ashton, 2014; Au, 2016; Bushnell, 2003; Coloma, 2015; Gallagher, 2010; Goldstein, 2004; Kearns, 2016; Kuehn, 2008; Lugg, 2006; McDermott, 2013; Wachs & Chase, 2013). However, when it comes specifically to the aptitude test itself, and its total role as the aptitude type standardized examination in this panoptic structure of education, the research is limited.…”