Political ideologies are all around us. If we observe carefully, even in a field that we would not usually associate with politics would have applications of political ideologies being injected into its policies. This is because, without politics a country wouldn’t be in order. In education, there are several political ideologies that have been applied in our system. A statement that has always been going around is ‘politics should stay out of education’ which is actually a vague statement but one of the interpretations of this sentence is that any political ideologies should not influence the education system. In reality, education is actually not value-free nor is it ideology-free. In the context of public administration, based on the manner in which education is managed and its existing policies, and to what objectives, ideological considerations are inherent. This essay will elaborate on a few types of political ideologies and their manifestations.

The first one is classical liberalism. This is a political ideology that puts emphasis on individual liberty. The individual is more important than the state and the individual only becomes a citizen of the state through consent. The individual is also a rational human being and is able to make decisions for him/herself. This indicates that the individual is capable of autonomy and self-government. Classical liberalism is being applied through Malaysian education by its citizens having the freedom to choose which educational institutions to enroll into. This applies to all types (public or private, in whatever medium of instruction) and all levels (primary to tertiary) of education institutions. Parents can choose which school their children should enroll into. SPM leavers could choose any university that they would like to attend. This kind of freedom allows individuals to define their own destiny and later experience the result of the hard work that they have poured into after they have completed formal education.

The second one is modern liberalism. It is a political ideology that responds to the limitations of classical liberalism. What classical liberalism has overlooked was that although an individual is free and has the liberty to make choices for his/herself, sometimes he/she is not truly happy with the external conditions that have befallen upon him/her. Sometimes there is an invisible wall that even when the individual has decided to change his/her own destiny, the system that he/she is under makes him/her feel disadvantaged. So, modern liberalism advocates that there should be government intervention to help those whose positive liberty has been violated. This political ideology promotes the social welfare of the society. The concept of liberty should be viewed broadly and positively. In Malaysian education system, under the Pakatan Harapan government, the former Education Minister has announced to open national school enrolment to undocumented children just as long as one of the parents of the children possesses a Malaysian identification card. Prior to such an effort, if one of the parents is not a Malaysian citizen, the children would not be allowed to enter national schools. The recent policy on the enrolment of undocumented children is an example of the positive liberty that has been provided by the government which is the idea that modern liberalism has put into as one of its basic principles.

Traditional conservatism is a political ideology that focuses on maintaining social order by having traditional authorities direct and maintain it so that individuals could obtain peace and stability. It also argues that people should not have the freedom to violate moral precepts. This political ideology is very evident within the school system. The teaching of moral values, praying in schools, and obeying school rules and authority (teachers, principals) are the examples of how traditional conservatism is being manifested.

Socialism is a political ideology that argues that major industries are owned and controlled by the government rather than by individual people and companies. Public education institutions are such industries that are owned by the government and can be accessed by everyone regardless of social class. This grants everyone access to education so that society can be functional and contribute their knowledge and skills for the nation’s future development.

Social democracy integrates socialism and democracy. It is an effort to provide peaceful, legal work toward socialism. Multiparty competition and civil liberties are the democratic aspects that are being integrated into this system which will reinforce socialist efforts in order to protect and provide welfare for the society. In the aspect of education, all of the above are integrated and reinforced. The government, through which they’ve been elected by the people (classical liberalism), applies socialism as one of its political ideologies so that everyone can get equal access to education. The elected government implements policies and helps the disadvantaged perhaps by giving government scholarships to those who are poor but have proven to work hard and deserve quality education whether within the country or internationally – modern liberalism is being applied here.

For neoliberalism, this ideology’s practises and policies seek to commodify any organization (Klees, 2008) by reducing the impact of public and governmental involvement and primarily utilizing and even extending the principles of laissez-faire economic mobility and the free market (Olssen & Peters, 2005). For individuals to operate within the logic of neoliberalism, acquiring a proficient level of the English language is one of the skills that are laid out in the Malaysian Education Blueprint 2013-2025, specifically in shift 2, citing employability factors. As part of the commodification of English, English teachers are also considered as neoliberal agents (Shi & Lin, 2016).

Overall, ideologies are arbitrary and inherent in our education system. Although public opinion tends to say we should separate education from politics, the reality is political ideologies will always run through ideas about education and the implementation of education policies.

References:

Klees, S. J. (2008). A quarter-century of neoliberal thinking in education: Misleading analyses and failed policies. Globalization, Societies, and Education, 6(4), 311-348. https://doi.org/10.1080/14767720802506672

Olssen, M., & Peters, M. A. (2005). Neoliberalism, higher education, and the knowledge economy: From the free market to knowledge capitalism. Journal of education policy, 20(3), 313-345. https://doi.org/10.1080/02680930500108718

Shi, L., Lin, RP. (2016). Teaching English as a Global Language in the Age of Neoliberalism. In: Guo, S., Guo, Y. (eds) Spotlight on China. Spotlight on China. SensePublishers, Rotterdam. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6300-669-9_10

Written by Auzellea Kristin Mozihim