ABSTRACT
In the previous chapters I have discussed some of the ways in which power circulates and works its way through educational institutions. Sometimes we can see the effects as things unfold; sometimes the impact is felt or noticed only later on. Power can take different forms of expression — for example, tenure and promotion reviews, appointments to be chair or dean, salaries, workload, schedules, and so on. But power can also make itself known through attitudes, values, and positions. We have already seen how “the ideology of fatalism” and “the corporate model” have had an impact on education — that is, on students, faculty, and the culture of academia. Our encounters and struggles with power occur every day, yet, in many ways, it remains the word unspoken. We might say or hear, “How did Norm get away with
that,” or “Did you hear what they did to Lizzette,” but rarely is there explicit and useful dialogue about how power works. We discuss neither our attitudes towards it nor what we can do when it is working against good teaching and learning — against what it is that we stand for in education.
