Commodified Education, Profit-driven Mass Media, and American Democracy: A Synthesis

Through a critical analysis we argue that, because of the commodification of educational products, students are being miseducated. Commodified education uncritically endorses establishment views and anti-intellectualism rather than providing students with what they need to understand society. Rather than seeing education as a process of developing the power of reasoning and judgment, students have been conditioned to place more emphasis on education as a vehicle for acquiring money. This anti-intellectual message is then reinforced by the profit-driven mass media, which celebrates consumerist values. Any solution to the problem requires the rejection of the commodity structure and its replacement with consciousnessraising and transformative education.