The School Story: Young Adult Narratives in the Age of Neoliberalism

The School Story: Young Adult Narratives in the Age of Neoliberalism explores the work of contemporary writers, filmmakers, and critics who reflect on the school experience, revealing a mounting sense of crisis in education around the world. It examines serious novels for teens, light-hearted middle-grade fiction, and Malala Yousafzais autobiography, highlighting the influence of neoliberal initiatives on school experience.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 196 pages
Publication date: 04 February 2022
Publisher: University Press of Mississippi

The School Story: Young Adult Narratives in the Age of Neoliberalism delves into the examination of contemporary writers, filmmakers, and critics who, through their reflections on the school experience, contribute to shaping prevailing notions about education. The creations discussed primarily revolve around stories aimed at children and young adults. David Aitchison explores a range of serious novels for teens, including works by Laurie Halse Anderson, Faiza Guènes, Andrew Clements, and Tommy Greenwald, as well as Malala Yousafzais autobiography for young readers, I Am Malala. He also responds to narratives that center around young people, such as those found in novels like Sapphires' Push and films like Battle Royale and Cooties. While these stories offer diverse accounts of young life, they betray a growing sense of crisis in education worldwide, particularly in terms of equity (the degree to which students from diverse backgrounds have fair opportunities to receive quality education) and empowerment (the extent to which diverse students are encouraged to develop strength, confidence, and selfhood as learners).

Drawing particular attention to the impact of neoliberal initiatives on school experiences, this book explores the implications of learning and success being increasingly measured by entrepreneurship, competitive individualism, and marketplace gains. The School Story remains attentive to the ways in which power structures, institutional routines, school spaces, and social relations operate within the contemporary school story, offering provocative insights into a genre that speaks profoundly to the increasingly precarious position of education in the twenty-first century.

Weight: 322g
Dimension: 152 x 227 x 18 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781496837639