Date of Graduation

Summer 2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Transformative Education and Social Change

Committee Chairperson

John Elmore, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Jason Wozniak, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Dana Morrison, Ph.D.

Abstract

This thesis highlights hustle culture as a significant issue that impacts education today. While the concern stemmed from a personal experience with so-called burnout, the term “hustle culture” is used to emphasize the systemic nature of the overwork, burnout, and exhaustion that teachers and students face, particularly the intersections of capitalism and ableism. When tracing the history and current manifestations of hustle culture, it becomes clear that educational institutions, policies, practices, and interactions play a major role in normalizing, perpetuating, and romanticizing hustle culture as the pathway to individual success and wealth in a capitalist system. In reality, hustle culture both marginalizes disabled bodyminds and actively creates disablement through physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual means. On the other hand, practicing slow education has the potential to improve educational outcomes and expand our capacities for critical consciousness and educational transformation for a free and democratic society. In considering alternative relationships to our bodyminds, space, and time, I turn to iterations of the slow movement, critical disability theory, and embodiment theories to elucidate how we might deepen our educative experiences, slow down, and care for each other while teaching and learning within the existing capitalist system. As a first step, I detail a Resist the Hustle and Slow Down book club for teachers as a supportive co-learning space to unlearn hustle culture shame and find ways to practice slowness in one’s teacher role and beyond.

Final Version Confirmation

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