The Pedagogy of Debt

Since about 1980, the university has been subject, like most institutions of the welfare state, to privatization, casualization of labor, and corporate management. It took some time for critics to understand what was going on, but the past decade has seen a great deal of analysis of the "corporate university," especially of labor and administration. One thing that has largely gone unanalyzed is the precipitous rise in student debt. This essay calls attention to the pernicious policy of student debt. It adduces a brief history of student debt, statistics of its dramatic rise in the past decade, and how it represents a shift in conception of higher education, from public to private service and youthful exemption to market conscription. It also speculates on the lessons that enforced debt—enforced if you need a higher degree—teaches about the public sphere, the market, and the possibilities of a welfare state.