Smithy of the Soul: Resistance to Colonial and Neocolonial Education

In recent decades education throughout much of the English-speaking world has been dominated by socio-economic interests that insist on a “lean state” and corporate-friendly economy; the health of the marketplace is positioned as the key to a healthy and content citizenry. Lost in the resulting culture of achievement are students’ powers of self-determination, identities beyond earning power, and connection to community beyond the economy. If democracy is compromised through the simple political equation with the free-market, it is further compromised by the absence of an education geared to democratic participation and action. Resistance-via-education to such indoctrination was formulated and put into practice during an earlier imperial mission--that of the British Empire in Ireland. A closer look at the work and writing of educator Padraig Pearse reveals that they do--in spite of a separation across space and time--converge with those of critical pedagogists Paulo Freire and Henry Giroux. Opposition to neo-liberal attempts to indoctrinate students, parents, and educators into a market-driven educational ethos demonstrate that these “new” missions are not so new: the mission of an “empire” is to produce obedient citizens and workers in a global, capitalist enterprise