Alienated Reality Instead of Dreams, Essay Example

Education is a key to the future. In the Ancient times, it was almost the only way an individual could become a member of society and a citizen. Nowadays, one of the most controversial issues of our society is whether education is a right or a commodity. If it is a right, then it should be provided by state, if it is commodity then it should correspond to the law of supply and demand. So, it would have to be sold at the most competitive price to the existing demand. The problem is that the recent global crisis and economic recession showed that old ways are not as simple as they might have seemed before. It is interesting to view contemporary situation with education in USA in terms of the Marx’ alienation theory. The similarities between his workers and American students are sticking.

First of all, before explaining until which extent contemporary American students can be viewed in terms of alienation, the connection between higher education and job crisis should be indicated. From one point, the cause-effect connection is an opposite – when the number of jobs on the market is limited educational sphere should stagnate, as well. This would be explained according to the law of supply and demand – since demand for certain jobs or jobs in general decreases, the supply should also decrease. On the other hand, the sphere of education is driven by a different motive – human desire to give their children a better life and education is viewed as means for that a better life. Thus, it may seem that contribution of the higher education to job crisis is in the creation of extra unemployment each year due to the number of students which graduate without actual existence of job offers for them.

On the other hand, the situation is not that simple, and the problem is not only in inconsistency between the number of graduates and existing job vacancies, the problem is that, in order to receive desired higher education, students have to take loans and by the end of their term are left with $25-30,000 in student loans debts, which cannot be signed out as bankruptcy and need to be paid of stable salary, which most of them shall not see. So, it can be argued, that the higher education does not only contribute to unemployment but also to its severity since it contributes to the increase in unemployed people with a huge debt on top of their needs to live for something and build their future.

Placing this situation into the discourse of the alienation theory, it is most likely Marx would see the cause of all problems in change of the status of education from the right to commodity. As a result, the value of the provided service is calculated in terms of the future income certain job might bring. In other words, the salary of a doctor is much higher than the salary of a plumber or social worker. From the students perspective, their final product is a totality of skills and knowledge acquired, basically that it what they are paying for. The problem here is that in order to gain that that final product as a graduate applicable for a job, they need to survive market relationship and view every single step of their path from the point of growing financial debt. Therefore, their initial product of becoming a specialist in the chosen field and contributing to the development of our society is substituted by the new target – to get a job to pay the debt and to survive. In other words, money, instead of means of interactions conduct becomes the final goal in them. Job is for getting money, for living and also for the sake of money. Thus, changes in the process result in an entirely different outcome and its different relation to the worker/student:

“Indeed, where the product, as the object of labor, pay for labor itself, there the wage is but a necessary consequence of labor’s estrangement. Likewise, in the wage of labor, labor does not appear as an end in itself but as the servant of the wage” (Marx, 34).

From all described, it can be concluded that since students’ perception of the final target and skills requirements change due to the financial discourse of contemporary studies, the process of alienation of student from his/her final specialization takes place. Students do not only refrain themselves from the subject of their studies but also from their roles as specialist in their field of studies in society in general. For them, it is no longer the loved subject that matters but the high-salary job to cover all debts and living costs. In this context, the talent and creativity are destroyed by necessity and survivability under conditions of the market economy. Thus, the second form of alienation is also taking place – graduates become alike and act in single manner in order to correspond to the posed job offer requirements and in order to express themselves and creativity through their skills and potential contribution to the posed tasks. Due to this they become alienated from society because they cannot conduct social activity without a job and means of life; thus, any life, including social life without money becomes impossible. So they become also excluded from the human race mainly because they do not have means for survival without a job and money subsequently. Thus, money becomes of the same importance as fire for a prehistoric man.

Overall, this essay shows that under contemporary conditions of economic recession, the traditional ways of market prove to be not enough, and new ways of the situation resolution are required. The facilitation of the American students’ situation into the discourse of Marx’s alienation theory does give answers to how the problem should be resolve, it might simply show certain changes and undesired shift from individualization of skills and creativity to common ground and technical skills. This does not simply mean that scientists of tomorrow my end up fixing machines or selling burgers, but also that unemployment may continue rising due to the inconsistency between existing supply and demand. Thus, the situation needs to be looked from the point of which specialists are needed and only who shall pay more for his/her dreams.

Work Cited

Marx K. and Engels F. The Economic Manuscript and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844: and the Communist Manifesto (Great Books in Philosophy). London: Prometheus Books. Print.