The Imprint of Business Norms on American Education By Dameon V ...

argued,” he noted, that “the choice of content should be the pupil’s own, otherwise freedom is denied and the development of autonomy frustrated” (pp. 132–133). I am not concerned with the autonomy of identity. As I stated earlier, I am exploring the instrumentality of education and its effect on pupils’ conceptions of knowledge—an exploration of knowledge acquisition.

Regarding the utility of knowledge, Dewey (1916) warned of educating learners for instrumental purposes, specifically for business: “new industries spring up, and old ones are revolutionized,” and consequently, “when the occupation changes its methods, such individuals are left behind with even less definite training” (p. 140). However, some advocates for the corporate culture in education argue that their values are democratically based, universally applicable, and aimed at enhancing personal growth (McWilliam, 2000). But, the claim of universal social skills to be transmitted to others is problematic for democracy; it incorporates a utopian view of society with totalitarian sentiments.

Karl Popper (1962) argued that this view of universality roots in a Platonic totalitarianism² where Plato taught that “change is evil” (p. 37)—that changes of the seasons, the wind, one’s body, and the character of the mind are all evil. In effect, Plato advocated for totalitarian measures to create the utopian society through social engineering processes, where the rational autonomy of individuals was limited and change was arrested (Popper, 1962). Plato did not hold liberty in high regard. He asserted that “tyranny develops out of no other constitution than democracy” and that it is always the way of “demos” (the masses) “to put forward one man as its special champion and protector and cherish and magnify him” (Plato, 2000, 564a and 565c). Further, Plato believed the masses were not capable of practical autonomy and should be controlled and not allowed to pursue their own initiatives (Plato, 1926, 942a–942b; Plato, 1976, 317a). A philosophy of this sort applied in education is in contrast to the philosophy of a liberal education.

Popper (1962) effectively challenged the Platonic rationale, asserting that Plato favored utopian engineering as an experiment that “recom