Age Of Neoliberal Savagery Analysis

In the article “Defending Higher Education in the Age of Neoliberal Savagery” by Henry Giroux he talks about how much everything has changed in the era of neoliberalism and how it has changed for the worse. What controls the world now is a market mentality, moralities are “tightening their grip on all aspects of society, democratic institutions and public spheres are being downsized… as these institutions vanish- from higher education to community health care centers- there is also a serious erosion of the discourses of community, justice, equality, public values, and the common good”. Power is becoming more and more global and being removed from local and nation-based politics; more individuals and groups are being defined by a class of ultra-rich who are above the law, while the US continues to “criminalize all sorts of behavior ranging from dress codes to peaceful demonstrations”.
Poor whites, minorities and immigrants are being jailed in record numbers for non violent offenses showing more proof that justice is on the side of the rich, wealthy and powerful.
A consequence of this hypocritical justice is the fact that there is a growing number of people who inhabit zones of hardship, suffering, exclusion, joblessness, and terminal exclusion. This emphasizes the need for educators and others to address important social issues and to defend higher education as a democratic public sphere. There is no such thing as a common good, everything is now backwards where consumerism has become the only obligation of citizenship: citizens are viewed as consumers, school as an act of consumption, faculty as entrepreneurs, and students as customers. Higher education is under massive assault in places like Greece, England and the US because “it is one of the few places left that is capable of educating students to be critical thoughtful, and engaged citizens willing to take risks, stretch their imaginations, and most importantly hold power
accountable”.

This article could not be more relevant to what is happening in the world today, especially in higher education. Everything is slowly turning over to consumerism power, where everything has a price and everyone can be bought especially when it comes to students. Now i do agree with the fact that college is a safe place where students can find themselves, have a voice and make the people in power responsible, but it is still hard for students to really be heard especially when it is hard for the youth to see college as an option because it is so expensive; on the other hand colleges are becoming more and more expensive because college is viewed as a good now, a good that needs to be bigger and better than the other option, so schools are being expanded, being updated and adding new and improved facilities so students buy into what they are selling, therefore continuing the cycle. I thought this article really made a lot of strong points, the author pointed out a lot of today’s flaws with the harness that they all needed. Things today are corrupt and they are backwards and students today need to realize this and work towards finding our voices again. Things can change is Higher Education has our back.