Education Commons^™

Selling Students Short: How Market Driven School Reforms Undermine Student Learning And Our Shared Democratic Ideals., Andrew Malkasian

West Chester University Master’s Theses

Outside influence in education is nothing new, but over the last half-century, these influences have coalesced around a single point of interest: infusing American education with principles of free-market economics. As a result, teachers are now instructing students in a fast-paced, hyper-competitive, data-driven environment where performance and quantitative outcomes are paramount. Consequently, students are no longer taught, nor encouraged, to be active participants in a democratic society but rather workers in an ever- expanding capitalist market that mandates winners and losers - a notion wholly contradictory to the spirit of education.

The purpose of this research is to indicate how …