Meritocratic Education and Social Worthlessness

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-vi

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Khen Lampert

   Pages 1-8

3. Belling the Ring

   • Khen Lampert

   Pages 9-29

4. Worthlessness as Social Ideology

   • Khen Lampert

   Pages 30-49

5. The Answer of Meritocracy

   • Khen Lampert

   Pages 50-65

6. The Folly of Excellence

   • Khen Lampert

   Pages 66-84

7. The Loss of Responsibility

   • Khen Lampert

   Pages 85-106

8. The Problem of Worthlessness

   • Khen Lampert

   Pages 107-121

9. The Difficulty of an Alternative

   • Khen Lampert

   Pages 122-133

10. Back Matter

    Pages 134-142

    PDF

This book critically examines the socio-cultural role of achievement within education, arguing that the increasingly global demand for measurable standards of academic achievement is an expression of political ideology and the aggressive competitive reality of a neo-capitalist schooling system, resulting in many students feeling socially worthless.

• education
• schooling
• Standards

"Meritocratic Education and Social Worthlessness ... launches an unflinching attack on schooling, which it judges to be deeply flawed. The argument is straightforward: in capitalist societies, educational institutions and educationalists alike have become wrapped up in a system of coercion. The objective they serve is to generate a sense of social worthlessness in the subjugated majority. This systematic erosion of personal esteem is designed to acclimatise the children of the masses to the objective conditions of their oppression." - British Journal of Educational Studies

Khen Lampert is a Lecturer in the Department of East Asian Studies, Tel Aviv University, Israel. He has previously published Traditions of Compassion; Compassionate Education: Prolegomena for Radical Schooling; and co-authored A Voice Unheard: Insight to Children's Distress.

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