EDU120SP4 Education: The Social and Historical Context - Four 1-Page Critical Reviews - Essay Example

Connell argues however that the market-agenda in education is ineffectual as there is a “certain absence from the market, or from market-type behavior.” At his concluding remark, Connell suggests that that the neo-liberalism approach, coming at the heel of democratic reforms in education in the 1970s and 1980s, is sowing confusion resulting “in the very mixed picture we see now.” (p 248) To prove his point, Connell primarily relied on a study conducted by the University of Sydney Faculty Education, the Department of Education and Training and the NSW Board of Studies and in addition, cited a considerable number of other impressive sources as references.

However, he draws his conclusion mostly from the specific interviews with parents of the secondary school students in the study. Although Connell’s argument is plausible, the methodology used is barely compelling to support his conclusion. In the first place, the data with which Connell relied on came only from four schools in the NSW, out of which only ten families were subjected to case studies. Secondly, nowhere in his article does Connell illuminate the reader as to why and how neo-liberalism in education “derailed” democratic reforms in education when it “substituted the market agenda” implying the conflicting nature of these two approaches.

Giroux’ Breaking in to the Movies essays the use of popular culture as an unlikely vehicle to draw not only critical thinking on students but to engage it “as part of a broader discourse of ethics and politics” to understand deeply history and culture. Giroux views Hollywood movies, a form of pop culture, as deliberately containing “commonsensical myths” or norms that the dominant society espoused to be truths although not necessarily so. The dilemma that Giroux wants to impress upon the reader is whether the educator can use his “pedagogical authority” to hold up a popularly accepted norm and challenge its assumptions