While there are many benefits of attending undergraduate and graduate school, I would like to focus on the negatives that have made themselves present during my three years in college, as well as through my individual research. All of these issues occur as a result of academic capitalism.
1. Knowledge has become merely transactional—and expensive.
As is the key point in academic capitalism, education has a large and very profitable market.
Education should be seen as it was originally intended—a public and social good—before it was turned into yet another market for the elite to exploit. Now, education has been transformed into an economic good and an ever-growing investment.
It was the urbanization of America and the transition to neoliberalism in the 20th century that led to an increase of students going to college. This led to an increase of money going to private and public institutions and, in turn, the state, creating what we now call the “knowledge economy.”
It is also important to note that colleges also have an endless supply and demand chain because high school students continue to graduate every year with the hope and expectation of attending an institution. It is not a traditional market in the way that consumers define the output produced.
To be treated with respect in this country and to be “successful,” one must buy into this economy and, in turn, support it. This includes choosing to go to college and pay tuition for an education. I, personally, often feel guilty for supporting this toxic economy and allowing it to reproduce and reinforce the oppressions it creates. For those of us who seek a formal education and to learn about these issues from within an institution, it feels like catch-22.
2. Higher education devalues knowledge as a whole
As society has become more industrial and technologically advanced, education has become more sought after. However, with the expectation that everyone must attend college and get some sort of degree, it is harder to stand out to potential employers. With everyone seeking a degree, those who chose not to do so, whether it be not seeking any education after high school or going into a trade, are deeply devalued. Hard skills are seen as more desirable than soft skills and anything other than a formal degree is frowned upon.
As we know, a prosperous society relies on much more than just corporations to produce luxuries. It is our plumbers, electricians, construction workers, welders, etc. that make our daily lives more comfortable. Yet, the knowledge and schooling required to become trained in these skills does not feed directly into the capitalist machine, and therefore cannot be monopolized by the elite.
So, not only does an education system rooted in profit completely diminishes the value of knowledge, it diminishes those who do not wish to buy into such a system.
3. Higher education sets a precendent for how much experience is necessary to be qualified for a job
With the expectation to pursue a formal degree also comes the expectation that learned skills sets are only valuable if they are complete to their fullest. For example, a student can complete all classes in their major except one, but without the final class, they will not be able to complete their major and, in turn, obtain their degree. Without a degree, the hours of time they put into developing these skills are practically useless- simply because they cannot be marketed toward a corporate mindset of climbing toward management. This person may have accomplished plenty outside of the classroom to be qualified for a job, but could easily get turned away because they do not have formal or “proper” training.
Additionally, leaving school before graduating is frowned upon and labels individuals as failures; even the word “dropout” has a negative connotation. Simply put, this is because giving up is not seen as productive in the eyes of a capitalist society.
It is also important to note that everybody learns at different paces, in different styles, and the method in which skills are taught today is one that only makes room for able-bodied and neurotypical folks.
4. Higher education denies the experiences and struggles of marginalized folks
Academia is the core institution in which the state controls how information is spread and taught. BY dictating what information is discussed inside the classroom and from what point of view it is taught, the state controls every narrative we learn from a young age. Many of these narrative support capitalist ideals regarding productivity. However, what is more important to note is how the state controls the voices and stories of marginalized folks.
For example, in history classes, Black, Indigenous, and people of color are usually only discussed in relationship to slavery, civil rights, or anything that connects to race. This fails to recognize intersectionality and tokenizes key historical figures. Barely any stories are told from the point of view of women, transgender folks, or non-binary folks, or any type of sexual deviant. Even in feminist spaces where we try to celebrate marginalized voices, key readings that are often cited as cornerstones for feminist activism are usually written by white women.
By constantly refusing to put marginalized folks anywhere near the center of academia, academic capitalism refuses to be intersectional. The state and the money the state makes, as well as the money the educational institution makes, dictates what exactly we focus on in class discussions. It consistently reinforces capitalist ideals in which white, cisgender, upper-class, men control the market and every operation inside it.
Without the inclusion of marginalized folks in classrooms, we miss out on the opportunity for necessary conversations about lived experiences, oppressions, and intersectionality. Only when marginalized folks are tokenized in higher education are they actually given a place to belong. Yet, once again, this reinforces deeply rooted problems regarding racism and classism.
5. Non-marketable majors and safe spaces on college campuses get defunded and disbanded
A large portion of the students at SUNY Oneonta are biology, economics, business, and education majors. While these majors with the highest populations do deserve a decent amount of the budget, it does not take away from the fact that smaller majors are often underfunded and on the brink of being disbanded.
For example, as a Women’s and Gender Studies (WGS), I know most students within the department because we are such a small community. The same can be said for the Africano and Latinx Studies (ALS) department, who we are often in close relations with. These two departments, specifically, are safe spaces on campus for multiply marginalized folks, including BIPOC and LQBTQIA+ folks. However, because the content taught in these departments are rooted in political and societal issues that many people are hesitant to face, they are often seen as taboo and undeserving of the same funds as other majors.
For these reasons, both the ALS and WGS departments at SUNY Oneonta have faced threats of being disbanded and placed as smaller units into bigger departments, such as anthropology or sociology. This reduces the impact both WGS and ALS hope to make on the campus community—to create a safe place for folks who already face oppressions as a result of identities they possess. By taking away money from these majors, college officials show they care more about profit and marketability than the safety and comfort of marginalized students.
College is a supposed to be a place where young adults can come to understand diversity and learn from new view points. However, with profit at the heart of education, it fails to do so.
6. Money is taken directly away from students and given to sports teams, college officials, etc.
This is an experience most everyone who has been to a college campus can relate to. When taking a tour of a university, school representatives will most likely try to sell you on the state-of-the-art sports facilities, arenas, and fields. They will not show you the cramped classroms and cracked brick buildings that you will spend most of your time if you are actually there to earn an education.
At the end of the day, you do get to choose whether or not to go school and, in turn, to give your money to an institution or not. However, once the money is out of your hands, you have no say in where it goes. Honestly, there are very little resources that can actually tell you where your money is going—and it is clear the schools want to keep it that way. This is most likely because it is going to sponsorships for sports teams and to pay the 6-figure salaries of school officials who, quite frankly, do nothing in comparison to the hundreds of adjunct professors who teach tirelessly to preserve their spot in an institution.
7. Students are held to extremely high standards, which leads to stress and, in severe cases, suicide
Generation Z is already plagued with countless mental health problems, and this is heightened in situations of extreme stress, such as attending college. We are told from a young age that college is meant to be rigorous to prepare us for the real world, yet we never question why working in the “real world” must be so taxing and exhausting. We get warned about a lifetime of stress and fatigue by being thrown dozens of readings, papers, and quizzes, as well as being expected to maintain a social life and work a job to pay for tuition.
I do not know a single student that is not completely exhausted by the third week of classes. Every semester, we repeat the same process of slowly running out of energy until we have to just commit to a coffee addiction to make it through finals. It is no surprise that suicide rates on college campuses are climbing. It is also no surprise that suicide seems like the easy option when we are granted no mercy from certain professors, school officials, and employers. Constantly, it feels like no one notices or cares about our distress, and many students resort to coping with alcohol and drugs. How can we ever expect to feel successful, whether that be society’s definition or our own, if we cannot even turn in an assignment without worrying about what is due next?
Additionally, mental health services are sparce and expensive. For example, many institutions have a system in place in which students get an allotted number of free counseling sessions, and once you use those up, you must either pay for additional sessions or you will just be sent to elsewhere. Additional sessions can range from anywhere between $80 to $300, whether at the school or at a private practice. And, unfortunately, many insurances do not cover therapy. Clearly, this system works against students with multiple mental health disorders and low-income students.
8. On-campus organizations act as capitalist and corporate microcosms
If you are familiar with how clubs operate at universities, this fact is not shocking. Usually, each club is led by an e-board, consisting of positions such as president, secretary, and treasurer. Already, we can see that these words are similar to ones we see used in corporate spaces and even in the United States government. Honestly, we might as well call these students CEOs of their own small corporations. Additionally, these clubs and the processes they go through to stay approved in the school is also set-up like a corporation. Each club must make a budget and request money from the Student Association if they wish to have any events or trips. Clubs are given money based on their popularity on campus (whether or not they are marketable to students) and how they cooperate with the Student Assoiciation.
The Student Association essentially acts as a microcosm for the U.S. Federal Reserve System; they decide where money flows to and keeps track of what all organizations on campus are doing. However, to join Student Association and possibly act as an advocate on campus, you must first learn to speak in a dialect similar to that used in legal courts in the United States. The entire way in which this association is set up is elitist and mimics that of corporations.
The same argument could be given for Residental Life, Greek Life, and many other organizations.
Conclusion
What is common in all the points is the way that education is tailored to the elite 1% in society. These expectations of higher education and success are not applicable to many low income families, especially including immigrants, people of color, and young adults raised in urban areas with barely-funded schools. Instead of helping these marginalized folks attend universities and recieve the same education as their richer counterparts, academic capitalism pushes them farther to the outskirts of society where climbing the corporate ladder and being “successful” is practically impossible. While this is not the ideal life for some, it is still unjust that it is not even an option for all. This state of affairs reinforces systemic racism and classism, which often go hand-in-hand, and also reinforces the way education dictates position in society. We are forced to ask: does education act as social mobility?
Higher education reinforces problematic ideologies of capitalism, neoliberalism, and corporatization. Academic capitalism simply acts as another operation for bourgeois politics. Instead of having education being an equalizing factor in society, we must acknowledge that education needs to be a right, not a privilege. The framing of trying to catch up with the elite is the issue. Academia needs to exist for the students benefit, not for a profit.
