What Dreams May Come?: Class Struggle and the Supplanting of the Ideology of Equality of Opportunity in Australian Education

Abstract

If, as E. P. Thompson suggested, class is best understood in terms of class struggle, then social class in Australia has been entrenched with a vengeance. Class struggle, largely 'from above', is radically altering not just education policy, but the entire relationship between government and citizen. An increasingly authoritarian Stale has formulated new sedition laws (Maher, 2006; Williams, 2006); legislated dragnet definitions of terrorism and terrorist activities (Nette, 2005, 2006 ); used anti-asylum-seeker laws to suspend habeas corpus and permit indefinite detention: doubled the budget of Australia' s spy agencies and empowered them to operate as a secret-police force; militarized police force s and extended Federal police powers to intervene in stale-level conflicts: enacted a 'shoot 10 kill' law allowing military engagement in domestic 'emergencies' (McCulloch, 2005/06); and had Australian troops intervene concurrently in an unprecedented four overseas conflicts.