Education is often touted as a route out of poverty and means of increasing equity. This course interrogates that assumption. Drawing on interdisciplinary scholarship and local and global case studies, students examine competing educational theories, pedagogies and movements, and their historical and potential roles in contributing to greater social justice or to social and economic stratification. Topics include universal education, cultural imperialism, popular education, corporate sponsored education, education for development, decolonial education, international competition, and the politics of knowledge production.