Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Volume 39, Number 18, July 26, 1976.

Reproducing Workers

Reproducing Workers

So what is the production of workers in a technical sense? Briefly, it means giving workers skills to fit into production. Such as the ability to read and write, do simple maths. Beyond this, some jobs pecific skills are taught - technical subjects, even the professional schools at universities.

It is not enough to just produce these skills though. There is an immense body of evidence suggesting that employers do not see higher levels of education as evidence primarily of skills. Rather it is evidence of abilities to fit into the productive framework well.

It is thus no accident that schools are structured very similarly to industry: there are rigid authority patterns for example. More importantly, the stress on competition, on individual achievement, performs a very great cohesive function.

Individualism both atomises the working class and justifies 'failure'. As people see themselves as individuals, they see problems as also individual - affecting just them. Thus the possibilities of combined action to combat the problems are glossed over.

The school system justifies failure by telling students that if we 'fail' the tests, it is our own fault. An unequal social system can thus gloss over continued inequality. If people get low wages, it is not because of exploitation, but their own failure to make use of opportunities.