1. Neoliberal Education - The Process of Dehumanization
Neoliberal education has been a prevailing form of education in many
countries like U.K., U.S., China, etc. A review of literature shows a great
influence of neo-liberal ideas on education in many countries including U.S.,
U. K. and Canada (Davies, 2009; Harden& Majhanovich, 2004; Lubienski,
2005; Kuchapski, 1998). Taking education as commodity which can be
marketized, neoliberal education regards students’ performance as products
through which schools attract customers- parents. This paper aims to explore
the consequences of neoliberal education in China through my own
experience and to analyze how students are oppressed by neoliberal
education in China using Freire’s critical pedagogy. The paper would also
challenge the “norms” of education through bell hook’s theories from
Teaching to Transgress. Finally, I would like to introduce the Finnish
education system which has been regarded as a success in education by many
scholars like Pasi Sahlberg, Andy Hargreaves, Linda Darling-Hammond, etc.
1. Studying experience in China
Here I am going to analyze the consequences of neoliberal education using my
own experience of post-secondary education in China (Harbin Normal University).
After becoming a member of the WTO, it is clear that the norms, guidelines
and regulations of that organization have influenced not only the way that
trade and business are managed, but also how Higher Education is run,
especially when Higher Education is defined as a service by the General

2. Agreement on Trade as a WTO directive (Zhang, 2003; Siqueira, 2005;
Huang, 2006, Mok & Lo, 2012).
To avoid the subjectivity of my opinions, I launched a survey online asking my
friends (all of them are Chinese who have finished their undergraduate studies in
Chinese universities and colleges) of their opinions on post-secondary education.
My questions are the following: (1.) has post-education helped you find your
interest? (2.) Are you clear with your future career after graduating from colleges or
universities? (3.) Do you think “good students” (those who have achieved high
scores in exams) would have a brighter future than those who were less satisfactory
in exams?
To my great surprise, 89 out of 116 responded to my questions. Among them
more than 70 percent (68 out of 89) replied three “no”s to my three questions
including myself. The result shows that it is appropriate to use my experience to
analyze higher education in at least my university, since I have the same opinion
towards post-secondary education in China with majority respondents.
High-stakes exam has long been a major method for universities to select applicants
in China. National College Entrance Examination (Gao-Kao) is one of the most
important exams for Chinese students. “Although it can provide Chinese educators
and policy makers with an enormous pool of information about student achievement
growth, school efficiency, etc., the current use of the test is mainly limited to
ranking students by their raw scores” (Wang, Huang & Schnell, 2013, p. 55).
Like other high-stakes tests (SATS and EQAO), Gao-Kao has limited influence

3. on students’ academic achievement. The exam has only made students stressed.
Moreover, to achieve high scores in those exams, students are taught to focus on
“surface” learning. Students are taught exam techniques rather than authentic
knowledge (Hicks, 2015, p.1).
Another main feature of neoliberal education is “the mechanistic and
behaviorist view of learning based on transmission” (Hicks, 2015, p.1). I still
remember that we spent days and days sitting in the library memorizing the contents
we learned before exams and forgot most of them right after the exams. The absurd
thing is sometimes we did not even understand what we memorized. I remember
that we could score high but know nothing about the knowledge.
2. Using Freire’s and hook’s theories to critique my post-secondary studying
experience in China and in Canada
My class was the best class in my year when I was doing my undergraduate
degree- by “best” I mean the students were top 30 of Gao-Kao. The quotation marks
I used on “best” means that school leaders and professors agreed that we were the
best due to our excellent academic merits in Gao-Kao; however, I am not sure
whether we were. We 30 girls were always studying in other people’s eyes.
Actually, we were just memorizing what professors had passed on us during
lectures for the sake of scholarships (the only requirement for the scholarship was
high scores in final exams). My undergraduate study was just like hooks’
description of banking system- “all students need to do is consume information fed
to them by a professor and be able to memorize and store it” (hooks, 1994, p.14).

4. Here is the policy of exams at that time: The professors would give a broad
scope of what would be tested, and students would spend half a month memorizing
definitions and terms. It was more of a test of memory rather than knowledge. I still
remember how we used techniques to memorize the terms that we did not
understand. My most unforgettable experience in the university is preparing for
literature exams. We spent days memorizing almost the whole literature book. The
matching of authors and their works weigh most in final exams, so we spent most
revision time on it. The literature teacher took a role of “an instructor and
transmitter of knowledge”, which is a typical feature of neoliberal education (Hicks,
2015, p.1).
Now looking back, I realize how mechanistic my studying approaches were. My
classes in that period (especially my literature class) can be described by Freire’s
“banking” system in which “the teacher-student relationship involves a narrating
Subject (the teacher) and patient, listening objects (the students). Education is
suffering from narration sickness” (Friere, 2012, p.71).
It is true that in most classes, teachers took the role of “knowledge transmitter”,
and students were passively accepting the knowledge without any question. “Worse
yet, the narration system turns students into ‘containers’, into ‘receptacles’ to be
‘filled’ by the teacher” (Friere, 2012, p.72). As a student, I had always been
patiently receiving knowledge from my teachers without asking why I was learning
in that way. As Friere pointed out that “the more completely they (students) accept
the passive role imposed on them, the more they tend simply to adapt to the world

5. as it is and to the fragmented view of reality deposited in them” (Friere, 2012, p.73).
Moreover, being used to be fed with knowledge, I am unable to think critically
about what my life goal is and how I could fulfill my dream. Now I keep asking
myself for what reason I chose to receive knowledge and what good schooling has
done to me. I feel fragile when I could not find answers to my questions. I, as well
as many other Chinese students, have been trained into machines that do not have
the consciousness to challenge the normalized banking education system in China.
“The more students work at storing the deposits entrusted to them, the less they
develop the critical consciousness which result from their intervention in the world
as transformers of that world” (Friere, 2012, p. 73).
All my professors but one in Harbin Normal University taught strictly according
to textbooks. It was a routine that the professors read and roughly explained the
contents and students made notes according to lectures. One can only notice the
teacher in class. Hardly any student asked any questions during the whole class.
There was little or no interaction between lecturers and students. The atmosphere in
the classes was depressing, serious, and oppressing. Engaged pedagogy is
advocated by bell hooks in her book Teaching to Transgress. Her engaged pedagogy
proposed that educators of libratory teaching “believe that our work is not merely to
share information but to share in the intellectual and spiritual growth of our
students” (hooks, 1994, p. 13).
My graduate study in Canada gives me an idea of what engaged pedagogy is.
Since all my graduate classes are in seminar form, there are lots of chances for

6. students to engage in discussions on various topics. Students speak freely in classes
and professors are facilitators rather than instructors. I feel the same as bell hooks in
that “throughout my years as student and professor, I have been most inspired by
those teachers who have had the courage to transgress those boundaries that would
confine each pupil to a rote, assembly-line approach to learning” (ibid).
Cramming knowledge is a process of dehumanization which deprives students’
ability of thinking critically and independently. Education focusing only on exams
and scores treats students as commodities that can be marketized by schools.
Students like me who are used to accepting knowledge without thinking have no
consciousness to analyze things happening to them, thus feeling lost when they are
challenged by ever-changing realities.
3. Consequences of neoliberal education
As it has been mentioned at the beginning, Chinese higher education has been
influenced by neoliberalism since 2001. Here I would like to analyze the
consequences of Chinese neoliberal education using my own undergraduate
studying experience. Neoliberal education has many aspects of influences on
nations, schools etc. For example, Weiner (2011) described neoliberalism’s
influences on education as “public-school closings, fragmentation of the school
system’s administrative apparatus; budget cuts, high-stakes standardized testing and
the destruction of the teacher unions as a significant player in education” (Weiner,
2011, page unknown). Here I would like to talk about the bad influences of
neoliberal education on individual students’ intellectual development in particular.

7. After adapting to the idea of “examination is what education all about”, I feel
lose of identity as a human being. I do not know what I want to do after graduation.
To enter to a famous university, my only goal of high school was getting high scores
in various exams. Education was equaled to preparation for exams for the three high
school years. After attending the university, I found myself still studying for exams.
Studying for exams had been an unconquerable concept due to our education
system’s “stressing on competition by results of exams” (Hicks, 2015, p.1).
My undergraduate study did not make me feel empowered by knowledge. On
contrary, I felt weak after graduation since I only learned techniques to take exams
rather than authentic knowledge since neoliberal education is “performance driven
and demonstrates its effectiveness by results” (ibid).
4. A comparison between Chinese higher education and Finnish higher education
Finnish education has been regarded as successful by many scholars like Pasi
Sahlberg, Andy Hargreaves, Linda Darling-Hammond, etc. “Finland has been
ranked as one of the top-performing countries in PISA for the past decade”
(Sahlberg, 2012, p.93). Here I would like to compare the two education modes-
Chinese one and Finnish one, to understand the differences of education results in
these two countries.
Sahlberg concludes five interrelated factors leading to Finland’s success in
education. Those include “a focus on equity and well-being; dealing with
difference; funding efficiency; teachers who are highly valued and highly trained;
smart accountability policies” (Sahlberg, 2012, pp 97-99). Here I would like to

8. focus on the first aspect of Finland’s success in education.
Instead of stressing on students’ success in exams, Finnish education focuses
more on students’ well-being. “Finnish schools emphasize on the importance of
cultivating in young people those dispositions and habits of mind that are often
associated with innovators: risk-taking, flexibility, initiative, collaboration, and the
ability to apply knowledge to novel situation” (Sahlberg, 2012, p106).
Neoliberal education in China stresses on competition and excellent results in
exams; Finnish education, however, stresses on collaboration and students’ ability
in problem-solving. The former is teaching tests techniques; the later, on contrary, is
teaching authentic knowledge and skills. Zhao pointed out in her article in CNN
news that “‘they (Chinese universities) only teach how to pass exams and how to
find jobs after graduation, rather than academic research’ says Yang (a professor in
Fudan University)” (Zhao, 2010, CNN news).
A comparison of the two education concepts shows the basic differences of aims
in the two countries’ education. Seriously influenced by neoliberalism, Chinese
education is focusing on exams, cramming knowledge, thus depriving students’
identity as human being. Having always been trained like machines, Chinese
students are lacking in innovation and creativity.
Freire’s banking system has appropriately described how roting can dehumanize
students and mechanize them. Freire and bell hook’s engaged pedagogy points out
how students can be freed from banking system and be empowered by authentic
knowledge. Chinese neoliberal education needs to be challenged and researched.

9. Chinese students need to be rescued from banking system.
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