Conclusion

In this concluding chapter the author summarizes the broad arguments of the book and addresses its implications for how we understand the relationship between schooling, consciousness, and the broader structures of capitalist society. This chapter also includes some examples from social studies teaching as well as high-stakes testing to help think through the politics of education versus the politics of indoctrination, landing on the conclusion that all curriculum carries political ends. The author then discusses theorizing on the relationship between consciousness and capitalist structure, focusing particularly on the concept of relative autonomy. The chapter concludes with an emphasis on the need to understand teaching and learning as dialectical process that does in fact leave room for students to develop more liberatory forms of consciousness.