Why Henry Giroux's Democratic Pedagogy is Crucial for Confronting Failed Corporate School Reform and How Liberals like Ravitch and Darling-Hammond are Making Things Worse

Progressive media and the academic community outside of education has largely embraced liberal criticisms of corporate school reform or neoliberal educational restructuring, typified by the highly publicized writing and speaking of Diane Ravitch and Linda Darling-Hammond. Despite offering valuable policy information, the liberal view is grounded in a number of indefensible positions with regard to the politics of knowledge and curriculum, neoliberal globalization, and the relationship between the political economy of schooling and broader economic and political questions. The article juxtaposes the ethical, political and cultural thought of Henry Giroux against the liberal position. It suggests that those committed to educational justice ought to re-evaluate political and cultural values in the struggles against corporate school reform so as not to follow the mistaken liberal thought and collude with the neoliberal ideology and economic doctrine that animates these destructive policies.