ERIC Number: EJ1268761
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2020-Aug
Pages: 13
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0309-8249
EISSN: N/A
Are Students Becoming Consumerist Learners?
Norris, Trevor
Journal of Philosophy of Education, v54 n4 p874-886 Aug 2020
This article explores how consumerism is impacting education, with a special focus on the 'student as consumer' model. I begin by exploring the distinctive features of consumerism and school commercialism. The tension between consumer and citizen leads into a discussion of the distinction between education as/for a public good versus as/for private gain, leading to a discussion of the notion of 'Me, Inc.' as an instrumental and privatized conception of education as self-branding that redirects peoples' attention from environmental issues to personal gain and consumption. Explanation of this phenomenon is provided through a discussion of economistic approaches to education, such as the creation of human capital and the commodification of knowledge, which minimizes the importance of environmental sustainability education (ESE). The political challenges that consumerism presents in confronting ESE are such that attention is directed away from the urgency of political change and civic engagement and instead towards consumer satisfaction. I explore how the promotion of critical thinking is compromised as a result. I conclude by suggesting that consumerism undermines how education involves risk in the sense that we don't always know what we're getting into or how we will be impacted, as consumerism promotes the assumption that education should be easy and palatable and not involve suffering or adversity.
Descriptors: Consumer Economics, Commercialization, Role of Education, Human Capital, Environmental Education, Sustainability, Politics of Education, Citizen Participation, Critical Thinking
Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2191/en-us
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A