Article

Dialectical Constellations Of Progress: New Visions Of Public Higher Education For The Twenty-First Century

---

Abstract

Neoliberalism is in the process of transforming higher education from a social good into a market good. For neoliberals, all social institutions, including education, should be subject to the market. Yet this market vision can have detrimental effects on higher education because it negates all critical and humanistic aspects of it. The Virginia Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2011 is a state policy that aims to restructure higher education into a market good and is a direct reflection of neoliberalism. This paper will argue that scholars and educationalists must not only fight neoliberalism and return education to a social good, but also help higher education progress to something totally new. Dialectics entails the simultaneous preservation of what is beneficial and the destruction of what is oppressive in state affairs. It is the hope that a dialectical critique of the Virginia Higher Education Opportunity Act can transform higher education from its current state as a market good into a rich and complex entity that can contribute to true progress for the state of Virginia.

Keywords: higher ed, neoliberalism, dialectical critique, Virginia

How to Cite:

Letizia, A., (2013) “Dialectical Constellations Of Progress: New Visions Of Public Higher Education For The Twenty-First Century”, Journal of Critical Thought and Praxis 2(1).