The Pedagogy of Oppression: A Brief Look at ‘No Child Left Behind’ (Chinese Translation)

Year 2009, Volume: 5 Issue: 1, 69 - 77, 01.04.2009

Ramin Farahmandpur Peter Mclaren

Abstract

The driving forces behind the recent educational policies of the No Child Left Behind Act passed in 2001 are neoliberal social and economic policies that favour outsourcing and downsizing methods of production in the name of flexibility and efficiency. Under the neoliberal economic model, schools must perform similarly to corporate entities. Just as the Dow Jones stock indices measure the performance of companies and represent the pulse of Wall Street, so too the Adequate Yearly Progress Report (AYP) measures and ranks the performance of public schools. One of the most pernicious results of the No Child Left Behind Act is that states can now indefinitely close or restructure “underperforming schools,” those that fail to meet the requirements established by the AYP