This image is the cover for the book Education and Capitalism

Education and Capitalism

Educators examine the state of public schooling, confront the anti-union stance of policymakers, and offer a bold new direction in this essay anthology.

A conservative, bipartisan consensus dominates the discussion about what’s wrong with our schools and how to fix them. It offers “solutions” that scapegoat teachers, vilify unions, and impose a market mentality on education. In Education and Capitalism, teacher-activists expose the damaging limitations of this elite consensus and offer an alternative vision of learning for liberation.

Co-editors Sarah Knopp and Jeff Bale presents a powerful defense of public education. Other contributors offer historical analysis of school reform with a focus on civil rights and union-led movements. Arguing that today’s schools are designed to serve the needs of capitalism rather than students, this volume offers an action plan for positive change.

Jeff Bale, Sarah Knopp

Sarah Knopp is a public high school teacher in Los Angeles. She has been teaching economics and government for eleven years. A frequent contributor to the International Socialist Review, Knopp also has written for Rethinking Schools, CounterPunch, and United Teacher. She is an activist with United Teachers Los Angeles, a union co-chair at her school, and a dedicated participant in the movements for public education, immigrants rights, and social equality.Jeff Bale is assistant professor of second language education at Michigan State University. He teaches and writes about the history and politics of language education in US schools, and about language policies targeting immigrant youth in Germany. His work has appeared in International Socialist Review, Annual Review of Applied Linguistics and Tertium Comparationis. In addition, Bale taught English learners and German in urban public schools for a decade. In District of Columbia Public Schools, he was a building representative for the Washington Teachers' Union. While teaching in Tempe, Arizona, Bale was active in school-based and community organizations challenging anti-bilingual education policies in that state.

Haymarket Books