Analysis: Far Right Attacks Endanger Education
Viktor Orban, the president of Hungary, and his government banned gender studies programs. (Wikimedia Commons)
What’s been happening in U.S. states like Florida and Texas are only small parts of a wider global phenomenon: in the past few years, countries all over the world have experienced far-right attacks on their education system. While altering a country’s education system to better fit the population is not inherently a bad thing, examining certain examples reveals how harmful the consequences can really be. From changing the curriculum to defunding public schools, far-right governments sometimes try to control education to benefit their allies.
Banning Curriculum
In Hungary, the government notoriously banned gender studies from being offered in universities in 2018. Only a handful of colleges, including international ones like the CEU, have this major. Hungary claimed that its limited budget and the lack of demand for gender studies majors in the labor market were its main reasons for banning it. However, Hungarian president Viktor Orban has previously claimed that the government believes that one “is born male or female” and that gender studies is “an ideology, not a science.” Supporters both domestic and foreign believe that this was a valid reaction to the increasingly liberal values in education. Critics argue that the ban effectively limits democracy by restricting academic freedom; the European Union even approved a proposal that condemned Hungary and called for sanctions. However, no sanctions appeared.
Banning curriculum can make citizens more intolerant, which can be particularly helpful for right-wing governments who benefit from creating outgroups. In the case of Hungary, the government benefits from stigmatizing minorities, such as the LGBTQ+ community, because doing so aligns with the conservative ideology it wants to impose on the nation.
Defunding Public Schools
The new right-wing New Zealand government unveiled a plan that would reintroduce charter schools to the nation in September. Charter schools are schools which are run by private sponsors and funded by the government. The government abolished these institutions in 2018 just four years after their implementation because the former prime minister perceived that they were failing. Now, New Zealand is bringing them back to give parents more choice over their children’s education. Some of the previous charter schools supported this decision because they believed that this system allowed them more freedom. The opposition, including the Labor Party to which the former prime minister belonged ,disagreed, stating there was a lack of research on whether charter schools actually improved educational outcomes for students and that charter schools prevented teachers from unionizing. There were also concerns over the lack of transparency because charter schools do not need to respond to Official Information Act requests.
It must be said that not all charter schools are bad. By nature, each one is unique. The problem emerges when right-wing governments use them to undermine public schools. To put it simply, charter schools divert resources and funding from public schools because they take money from tax-payers and school districts and if a student decides to attend a charter school, the public school loses money. This becomes an issue because public schools may have students who need more funding for their learning, such as ELA learners, while charter schools often reject these students during admissions processes.
As many public schools don’t have enough funding to help their students, they can be labeled as “failures.” This gives far-right politicians an excuse to further defund public schools or even attempt to get rid of them altogether. Many far-right groups want to do this because it gives them more control over what gets taught. Charter and private schools don’t need to teach a standardized curriculum, allowing them to teach whatever they want without any repercussions. Because sponsors of these schools often align with the values of the right-wing, these political groups can spread their ideology and influence the youth.
Why is this important?
Hungary and New Zealand are only two examples of a global phenomenon. In the United States, Brazil, Turkey, Russia, the United Kingdom, and more, similar things are happening. Other countries with far-right groups are getting inspired to do the same in their homes. This aligns with the resurgence of the far-right around the world. It is important to recognize this pattern regardless of whether one agrees with the ideas of these groups, because, ultimately, an extreme ideology having control over a nation’s—and even the world’s—education poses a great risk to many, especially vulnerable groups.