Education Rights in Global Capitalism Today

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Education Rights in Global Capitalism Today

• Glenn Rikowski
• Turning the Tables on the State
• A World To Win Conference
• Diorama Arts Centre, D2
• 11th March 2006

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Education in Global Capitalism Today

• The Ideology of the free market deregulation,
  privatisation, the dismantling of the welfare
  state and the withdrawal of the state from any
  significant public provision has captivated and
  captured governments around the world
• Paul Feldman and Corinna Lotz (2004) A World To
  Win, p.25

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Education in Global Capitalism Today

• The Truly fundamental change that capitalist
  globalisation has introduced is that, for the
  first time in human history, there is indeed a
  material and ideological shift towards selling
  business as the only real business of the planet
  and its inhabitants. So, in the global capitalist
  system, agents and agencies of the state (among
  other institutions) fulfil the role of
  facilitators of the global capitalist project
• Leslie Sklair (2001) The Transnational
  Capitalist Class, in Feldman and Lotz (2004) A
  World To Win, p.26

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Education in Global Capitalism Today

• We are living through an ever-closer merging of
  the state, politics and economics into a sinister
  type of corporate rule, especially in Britain and
  the United States. This is one of the most
  significant qualitative outcomes of capitalist
  globalisation
• Feldman and Lotz (2004) A World To Win, p.57.
• From the Welfare State to the Market State
• Human, Democratic and Education Rights are Under
  Threat Today

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The Rights of Capital and Workers Rights

• PROPERTY RIGHTS - Ownership
• MARKET RIGHTS - Exchange
• THE RIGHTS OF CAPITAL Impose a Particular Form
  of Labour
• WORKERS RIGHTS
• Workers Rights in Capitalist Society and In
  Socialism
• Rights as Producers of the Wealth of Society
• Labour power the capacity to labour

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Education Rights

• Education Rights As Workers Rights
• The rights of every worker to free education at
  all levels made equal by the abolition of private
  education, in opposition to the exam system, and
  the separation of education from production

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Education Rights

• United Nations Declaration of Human Rights
  (1948)
• Article 26
• (1) Everyone has the right to education
• Education should be free, at least in the
  elementary and fundamental stages
• Elementary education should be compulsory
• Technical and professional education shall be
  made generally available
• Higher education shall be equally accessible to
  all on the basis of merit

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Education Rights

• United Nations Declaration of Human Rights
  (1948)
• Article 26
• (2) Education shall be directed to the full
  development of the human personality and the
  strengthening of respect for human rights and
  fundamental freedoms
• It shall promote understanding, tolerance, and
  friendship among all nations, racial or religious
  groups
• It shall further the activities of the United
  Nations for the maintenance of peace

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Education Rights

• United Nations Declaration of Human Rights
  (1948)
• Article 26
• (3) Parents have a prior right to choose the
  kind of education that shall be given to their
  children
• Joel Spring (2000) The Universal Right to
  Education Justification, Definition, and
  Guidelines

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Education Rights

• United Nations Convention on the Rights of the
  Child (1989) ratified by the UK government in
  1991
• Article 28 Education
• 1. States Parties recognise the right of the
  child to education, and with a view to achieving
  the right progressively and on the basis of equal
  opportunity they shall in, particular
• (a) Make primary education compulsory and
  available free to all

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Education Rights

• (b) Encourage the development of different forms
  of secondary education, including general and
  vocational education, make them available and
  accessible to every child, and take appropriate
  means such as the introduction of free education
  and offering financial assistance in case of
  need
• (c) Make higher education accessible to all on
  the basis of capacity by every appropriate means
• (d) Make educational and vocational information
  and guidance available and accessible to all
  children
• (e) Take measures to encourage regular
  attendance at schools and the reduction of
  dropout rates.

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Education Rights

• Article 29 - Aims of Education
• 1. States Parties agree that the education of
  the child shall be directed to
• (a) The development of the childs personality,
  talents and mental and physical abilities to
  their fullest potential
• (b) The development of respect for human rights
  and fundamental freedoms, and for the principles
  enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations.
• (c) The development of respect for the childs
  parents, his or her own cultural identity,
  language and values, for the national values of
  the country in which the child is living, the
  country from which he or she may originate, and
  for civilisations different from his or her own.

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Education Rights

• (d) The preparation of the child for responsible
  life in a free society, in the spirit of
  understanding, peace, tolerance, equality of
  sexes, and friendship among all peoples, ethnic,
  national and religious groups and persons of
  indigenous origin.
• (e) The development of respect for the natural
  environment.
• Abstract, Idealist and Outdated?
• Protection from the Development of Global
  Capitalism?
• Do they Point Beyond Capitalist Society?

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Threats to Education Rights International

• The World Trade Organisation
• The General Agreement on Trade in Services
  (GATS) progressive liberalisation of 1994 EU
  give away
• Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights
  (TRIPS) knowledge as capital

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Threats to Education Rights in England The UK
Market State

• Fusion of State and Business
• The Business Takeover of Schools
• Running schools and LEAS and educational services
  (e.g. school improvement, EO) on a contract for
  profit
• The Private Finance Initiative
• Education Act 2002
• Downsizing/Abolition of LEAs
• Arki, Varkey and Sparky
• Co-payment HE fees
• Independent/State School Partnerships
• Trusts and Federations in the Education Bill

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Education Rights in Capitalism and Beyond

• The Need to Rethink and Reconfigure Education
  Rights
• (1) In Todays Global Capitalism (on the
  analysis of A World To Win)
• Education Rights as Protection Against the
  Market State
• Review, critique and revise the international
  and national framework of education rights
• Extend education rights as workers rights in
  capitalism
• (2) Education Rights For a Socialist Future

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Glenn Rikowski

• Dr. Glenn Rikowski
• Visit the Rikowski web site, The Flow of Ideas
  at http//www.flowideas.co.uk
• Glenn's web log, The Volumizer is at
  http//journals.aol.co.uk/rikowskigr/Volumizer
• His Personal Page, Rikowski Unplugged, is at
  http//hometown.aol.co.uk/rikowskigr/myhomepage/ab
  outme.html
• Rikowski's Education Studies web page in the
  School of Education at the University of
  Northampton is at http//almond.admin.nene.ac.uk
  7777/portal/page?_pageid213,1515694_dadportal_
  schemaPORTAL