Private Learning, Public Needs: The Neoliberal Assault on Democratic Education (Teaching Contemporary Scholars)

Private Learning, Public Needs looks at the devastating effects neoliberal globalization continues to have on education, schooling, and literacy development in the United States. As a global phenomenon, neoliberalism’s power lies in its ability to transcend national, regional, and local borders, and to «manufacture» a discourse of needs, thus affecting how education, schooling, and literacy are theorized and practiced. From the effects of whole school reform and the ideological investment of positivism, to the economic reduction of schooling and literacy development, this book expresses how neoliberal globalization reinforces state power while undermining the power of the individual.

The Author: Eric J. Weiner received his Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction from Pennsylvania State University. Currently he is Assistant Professor at Montclair State University in Montclair, New Jersey, where he teaches courses in critical thinking and literacy, adult education, critical social theory, and media literacy. He has published several articles on literacy, critical pedagogy, and social theory.