Commodification of Education
It is impossible to be a middle class Pakistani and not to have confronted the tough question of choosing the ‘Right Profession’. The truth of the matter is that most Pakistanis end up ’studying’, what they don’t desire to ‘understand’.
A telling conversation in starting pages of Solitaire Mystery reaches its pinnacle when the father replies to his philosophy loving son that it is not possible to formally teach him philosophy; however, being observant of his often-philosophizing father he may learn how to think philosophically.
The example crudely suggests the difference between learning and gathering information and how each of these specifies the context of an interlaced experience, we loosely call ‘Education’. Learning means much more than just garnering facts about a subject. It is basically an identification of the particular way how the thought behind that subject proceeded; sometimes through a deliberate effort to relive and evaluate that thought process and at times, through an awareness of being an active or dormant part of that process. The failure to realize the nuances of these fine experiences, all under the umbrella experience Education at some level, is the foremost reason why we incessantly harp on the philosophies that shaped up the modern world without ever criticizing the products of the same modernity.
This striking inability to ‘experience’ is closely related to commodification of knowledge in modern times. Many thinkers associate this commodification to Theodore Shultz’s arguably maiden views about economics of education. According to other opinions, this understanding is only a logical extension of laws of market economy to the production, processing, acquiring and sharing of knowledge.
Leaving aside the actual origins of this phenomenon, it is an irony of our times that it is comparatively easier to describe education as a means of investing in human capital rather than other epistemological reasons to ‘know’.
Therefore, the current education system fits perfectly in place if modern economic theories are kept at the backdrop of all related enquiries. For instance, semester system is nothing but breaking down a process into manageable sizes in order to achieve more efficiency. Students should be able to process more information as a result, much like any other productive industry which produces more if the process is efficient. It may not be unfair to contend that the underlying aim is not to ‘learn more’ about how a particular thought proceeds but to ‘acquire more’ in terms of information.
Mulling over the dynamics of this commodification may explain why we frequently face questions about the kind of knowledge one should acquire in modern times. A major reason is that knowledge is not understood as a personal configuration of meaning that facilitates one’s mental faculties to pass judgments anymore. Everything related to education is now an industry and the outcome of this demand-supply phenomena can easily be seen in Pakistani universities where faculty of engineering is paid handsomely as compared to that of philosophy or sociology.
We need to remind ourselves while doing wonders with knowledge [a taken for granted cliché of modern times], that education is an intimate relationship between ‘a being and a being’ or ‘a being and the Being’. To get educated about something effectively means to enable one’s self to possess a personalized configuration of meaning in order to evaluate its importance. This configuration is basically an understanding which one learns to acquire through developing a relationship with one’s object of learning.
Without being equipped with the zeal and intention to experience this relationship and yet opting to experience it, is like learning a football game through a coaching book with graphics. One may become completely informed about the complexities of the game but can’t claim that he has learnt to play football.
12 Comments
December 3, 2007 at 3:28 pm
Although there may be some good arguments for charging tuition fees, I believe the crux of the problem boils down to education not being a public good. As soon as you put a price tag on something, it inevitably becomes a “commodity.” Paying tuition fees, the onus shifts from ‘learning to understand’ to ’studying to bag a lucrative job,’ thereby vindicating the fortune spent on getting a degree.
There is an added time and social constraint in Pakistan where rich youngsters, for example, are pushed to complete their education in a limited time frame, choose subjects that are in vogue, get an MBA from abroad, work for an MNC, and generally live up to strict societal expectations. Where’s the room for ‘free thought’ under such a suffocating zeitgeist?
It could be argued that its not the education, but us as individuals who are the actual commodities. The insitutions practice strict entry criteria, where quality of education is judged by tuition fees, and some subjects are made more attractive over others, and so we’re bought and manufactured for a capitalist system.
December 3, 2007 at 4:02 pm
Aasem: thanks for the excellent post- you have raised some crucial issues with the current approach to education – this is why terms such as ‘returns’, ‘investment’ have crept into the education debate.. thanks to the free market neoliberal economics.
At least in Pakistan education is now a commodity – the higher the tag, the better the product.
Qandeel thanks for the comment – you have made an excellent point here – the market ethos turns individuals into commodities and this in part explains the syndrome that Aasem has hinted to.
I think it boils down to the fact that education IS and ought to be a public good – there is no question about that. But the privatization of this vital service in a poor country like Pakistan is painful and will lead to a serious crisis within the short term.
Long live ‘globalization’…:(
Ed.
December 3, 2007 at 4:39 pm
I went through a similar situation after my FSC. when I wanted to studying Arts but was pushed by my own innerself to seek admission in Medical School. My father was supporting what ever I choose. The faculties we study around in Pakistan at the moment, are all commercialized. The are launching the students in Market no more than commodities. It’s not only commodification of education but in fact it is commodification of human values. It is least likely that some one is stepping ahead and challenge these norms but it ought to be there to ensure a steady supply of thinkers and expert who choose the type of education for themselves without looking at the people around and their comments.
December 3, 2007 at 10:37 pm
Lovely article from Aasem as usual, reminded me of comments by Einstein who once wrote:
“Unlimited competition leads to a huge waste of labor, and to that crippling of the social consciousness of individuals which I mentioned before.
This crippling of individuals I consider the worst evil of capitalism. Our whole educational system suffers from this evil. An exaggerated competitive attitude is inculcated into the student, who is trained to worship acquisitive success as a preparation for his future career”
December 4, 2007 at 4:09 pm
Just today I had an after the class discussion with another young man facing the same irony. He is 27, an Engineering graduate pursuing his PhD course work and still oblivious of what he actually wants to do. I desperately wanted to ask him where he sees himself after 10 years from now but couldn’t do it. He was like a man who has lost his compass.
Later I was thinking that we have somehow over-formalized the whole concept of Education transforming it into a more or less disposable experience. You people are right, this is commodification of human beings.
Thanks a lot for your encouragement and good comments.
December 4, 2007 at 7:39 pm
Aasem Bakhshi, I think you’ve hit the nail on the head with this one. Im 20 years old and am currently studying. After moving from the USA a year ago I find it absurd how education is treated here.
One of my economics teacher bluntly said (after some of the immature guys were messing around) that how do you except to make money and earn a living if you go on like this; he even went as far as saying no one would want to give their daughters to you if you don’t make enough money. Im not delusional, I realise that things are important but over here education is nothing more than a means to an end that is as superficial as the people themselves. Most people study for no more than reciprocal lucrative gain.
I will be honest, Im am from the middle class family and the tough decision to follow my dream( film making) or to just go with the herd has made me aprehensive about my future, and even depressed thinking I’d be stuck doing a shit job for the rest of my life. It is a very hard thing to be in a position like this and it requires much strength to go against every norm.
Anyway, that was a good read.
what do you teach and where?
BTW You might like Niel Postman’s End of Education; and here is a transcript of his lecture on “Informing Ourselves to Death”. It’s relevant to your commodification of information.
http://www.mat.upm.es/~jcm/postman-informing.html
thanks
hasan
December 4, 2007 at 7:40 pm
The tie between information and action has been severed. Information is now a commodity that can be bought and sold, or used as a form of entertainment, or worn like a garment to enhance one’s status. It comes indiscriminately, directed at no one in particular, disconnected from usefulness; we are glutted with information, drowning in information, have no control over it, don’t know what to do with it.
And there are two reasons we do not know what to do with it. First, as I have said, we no longer have a coherent conception of ourselves, and our universe, and our relation to one another and our world. We no longer know, as the Middle Ages did, where we come from, and where we are going, or why. That is, we don’t know what information is relevant, and what information is irrelevant to our lives. Second, we have directed all of our energies and intelligence to inventing machinery that does nothing but increase the supply of information. As a consequence, our defenses against information glut have broken down; our information immune system is inoperable. We don’t know how to filter it out; we don’t know how to reduce it; we don’t know to use it. We suffer from a kind of cultural AIDS.
December 5, 2007 at 4:48 pm
Hasan
thanks for your insightful comments. Aasem surely has the pulse on what the young people are going through with respect to ‘choices’imposed on them.
I lked the cultural aids term – ha ha
We hope that you are able to follow your dreams…
cheers
Raza Rumi
December 5, 2007 at 8:13 pm
[...] Aasem Bakshi thinks that learning means much more than just garnering facts about a subject. It is basically an identification of the particular way how the thought behind that subject proceeded; sometimes through a deliberate effort to relive and evaluate that thought process and at times, through an awareness of being an active or dormant part of that process. I happened to read his point of view in his very fine post at Pak Tea House. I liked the ideas portrayed in this post, I hope you will at least have some flavor to what people around are thinking about this crucial issue. Have a look at this post click here [...]
December 6, 2007 at 12:18 pm
Thank you Hasan for your comments and compliments. I do hope and pray well for you in whatever you endeavor for.
June 16, 2009 at 12:11 pm
Nowadays I am undergoing my training at Civil Service Academy Lahore. At the same time, I am looking forward to marry a beautiful girl. Can anybody among you help me out?
I need a very charming beautiful spouse!
Please help me.
Dr Farrukh Malik
June 16, 2009 at 12:11 pm
Nowadays I am undergoing my training at Civil Service Academy Lahore. At the same time, I am looking forward to marry a beautiful girl. Can anybody among you help me out?
I need a very charming beautiful spouse!
Please help me.
Thanking you in advance.’
Farrukh Malik.