Elisa Xu
Supporters of neoliberal economics believe that property rights and “the natural order of things” are important (Orlowski, 2011), so they just let the “invisible hand” of the market to influence economic arrangement. In this case, native-speakerism will win the game, and language education will become more and more market-oriented too.
Language education, especially English education in non-English-speaking countries will become a commodity which only the elites can buy and consume well. Take private schools in mainland China as examples. There are three types of private schools in mainland China: international school (IS), non-governmental private school (NGPS), and public high school international division (PHSID). Among these, the first two types are more expensive as they are totally private and have much affiliation and cooperation with western universities and institutions. For example, the total tuition fee for first year kindergarten children at Dulwich College Beijing (IS) is 241500 CNY, and the tuition fee at YK Pao School (NGPS) is 156000 CNY. The tuition fee will be even higher at junior and senior high school level.
Comparing to public language education system in China, which may cost only thousands per year, the language education in private schools can be considered as a “luxury product”. As we are in a neoliberal economics, access, networking, and experiences are paramount. (Rifkin, 2000) The new generations of social elites may build their networking in these schools and keep their identity through this system. In this sense, English, native-speakerism, and language education may be related to wealth and power, and finally link to social reproduction.
REFERENCES
Orlowski, P. (2011). Neoliberalism Laissez-Faire Revisited. Explorations of Educational Purpose.
Davies, B. & Bansel, P. (2007). Neoliberalism and education. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 20(7), 247-259.
Olssen, M. & Peters, M. A. (2007). Neoliberalism, higher education and the knowledge economy: from the free market to knowledge capitalism. Journal of Education Policy, 20(3), 313-345.
Hi Elisa,
I really agree with what you said. English or education is increasingly becoming a way of social reproduction. Children who come from wealthy families are more likely to have access to learning English and many other things they like, but others do not have the chance and freedom to choose what they want to learn. But from teachers’ perspectives, I do not know how to solve this problem. Probably, more funding can be given to public schools to help this.
Yurun