January 26, 2015 - 16:45
"We are thus able to decry the circumstances of the poor while assuring ourselves that we had nothing to do with their plight. We can even take special delight in lambasting the source of their suffering - a source that is safely external to us....Thus we fail to confront our complicity in their long-term suffering. By being outraged, we appear compassionate. This permits us to continue to ignore the true roots of their condition, roots that branch into our worlds and are nourished on our political and religious beliefs" (Dyson, pg 243).
It seems that throughout the readings, one of the problems encountered with our educational system is the pathologizing of inequality combined with somewhat of a disregard of what causes them. The focus on individualism in American culture leaves little room for acknowledgement of institutions/dynamics of power and allows people to remove themselves from the collective that creates these dymanics and also place the "blame" for inequality on the individual that is experiencing it. (If you look at the DSM, poverty is quite literally pathologized in the creation of the "conduct disorder" diagnosis.) This, combined with the idea that ties education with economic success (wherein higher education is increasingly seen as a prerequisite for higher-earning jobs/careers), leads to a system where those who don't recieve a steady, livable income aren't left with much opportunity for social mobility. Even the quote we read in class about education as a right for "economic opportunity" strikes a weird chord with me...."student" as an occupation makes education feel like an industry, and that kind of conceptualization makes it easier to do things like cut schools that are "failing" because of the cost of running them, or making budget cuts that affect after-school programsn or resources, or even protecting and valuing the teachers union over the student population.