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Take Back Higher Education. Race, Youth, and the Crisis of Democracy in the Post-Civil Rights Era. Drs. Henry and Susan Giroux.
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Take Back Higher Education Race, Youth, and the Crisis of Democracy in the Post-Civil Rights Era
Drs. Henry and Susan Giroux Henry A. Giroux holds the Global Television Network Chair in Communications in the Faculty of Humanities at McMaster University in Canada. Susan Searls Giroux is Assistant Professor in the English Department at McMaster University. They’ve both written a number of books on the theory of education.
How is our democracy in crisis? • Growing hostility towards education • Decline of the welfare state • Loss of the public sphere
Growing Hostility Towards Education Mid-1970s backlash against affirmative action and busing Schools attacked for inefficiency Education as “the weak link” in the War on Terror John Walker Lindh
Decline of the Welfare State • Welfare Cuts • Health Care Cuts • Financial Aid Cuts • Growth of the Prison-Industrial Complex • Tax Cuts Favoring the Wealthy
Loss of the Public Sphere • Cynicism • Collective needs give way to individual needs • Dissent as unpatriotic
Who causes these problems? Corporations The Bush Administration
Corporations Replace social values with consumer values Turn education in to job training
Corporations Globalization Influence governmental policy
Bush Administration Attacks on education Slashing social programs
Bush Administration Fear Mongering Quashing Discussion
How can we save democracy? • Develop a vocabulary of resistance • Faculty need to become more publicly engaged • Cultivate critical thinking in the younger generation