Education in the Age of Neoliberalism (2013)


The new KSU reading group about the ‘Education in the age of Neoliberalism’ – history, resistance and alternatives. Would you like to have more background knowledge about the changing world around you and try and understand it better? Are the mainstream media and your studies no great help? Then this reading group is for you!

For the past three decades our education system has been reformed along neoliberal lines. In this radical economic vision, education was no longer seen as a social good in it self, but as an individual investment. Education became something to buy and sell, a commodity to be traded. The current budget cuts are accelerating this development. Where did this development come from, how was it implemented, and how have students, teachers and staff resisted? What are possible alternatives to this model of education. The answers to these questions are not merely academic in nature, they are an important part of creating our own resistance and alternatives.

We collectively decide which subtopics to cover, by splitting up into groups which will each organise one of the sessions. The reading groups will be in English, and consist of six sessions, held once every two weeks on Wednesday evenings from 19.30 to 22.00 in the book store de Rooie Rat, Oudegracht 65, Utrecht from February 6th to April 24th 2013

This reading group is self-organised and absolutely free. Anybody is free to join.

Purpose / Goals

    • To study topics which don’t get the attention they deserve in regular education.
    • To create a space for critical reflection and discussion.
    • To organize our education in a participatory democratic fashion.

Schedule