American Plutocracy

In this book, I open with a statement of the problem; that being that the educational plutocracy that exists is transforming American higher education into a training ground for workers and other hi-tech professionals at the expense of other areas of human development, among those areas the area of race relations and human interaction. This book posits that multi-culturalism and other attempts at an "inclusive curriculum" will fall short because there are not enough supportive institutional arrangements in place to support these educational approaches. This book further contends that multiculturalism and other attempts to diversify the curriculum, provide for more "inclusion," humanize the ivory tower of academia, and generally restructure education so that it will be more inclusive, will all fall short because of the failure to recognize the nature and extent of the problem: that indeed, an "educational plutocracy" exists, and is inextricably bound to the very (elitist) nature of American society itself. At the root the success of the educational plutocracy and the elitist system, in general, is the proliferation of what Marx would refer to as "false consciousness." Before discussing false consciousness, however, I felt it germane to provide some theoretical background on the issue of elitism and how it permeates American education. Contemporary evidence of the theory is also provided. Malcolm X taught that "history is best qualified to reward our research." American society has functioned as a disguised aristocracy and, as I contend, a veritable plutocracy - rule by the wealthy. In order to retain and replenish those ranks, I contend, the educational system is used as both a funnel and a filter; letting some in and keeping others out. False consciousness alone could not maintain the educational plutocracy for two full centuries were it not for certain structures (institutional arrangements) in place. Because of this, I address structural analysis and how it relates to on-going attempts at "educational reform." Following this section I offer a description of "the educational plutocracy," with an attempt at defining its objectives, goals and providing examples of the plutocracy at work. How is the plutocracy maintained? In the next segment I list eight elements of control. These are: (1) Micro-solutions to macro-level problems; (2) re-defining 'race' and its impact (using as examples the media, with emphasis on several newsweek articles, critical race theory and finally, what is called "anti-racist" education); (3) Inter-Academic competition (meaning the competition between universities, particularly the elite institutions); (4) Selective admissions policies; (5) Alienation of black students, staff and faculty (6) The Myth of diversity (using the examples of student diversity and 'multiculturalism on college campuses'); (7) The neglect of contributions by minority groups (using five components, originally formulated by Banks in regard to children's literature - content integration, knowledge construction, prejudice reduction, equity pedagogy and empowering school culture); and (8) The Community-oriented "partnership" façade, which uses black poverty and problems to generate Federal aid for institutions of higher education. All of these, I allege, contribute to the maintenance of the educational plutocracy. Finally, in the chapter titled, "Toward Contextual Reconversion," I attempt to further highlight the role and relevance of re-identifying the source of the problem by expanding the context of the educational plutocracy by indicting the power elite whom, I allege, control the scope and direction of higher education.