Incorporating data from two years of ethnographic teacher-research, this article explores how a curriculum of "professionalism" resonates with teachers and students in a small New York City school of choice. Using the literature on Critical Whiteness Studies and philanthrocapitalism in the context of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's education reforms, the paper critiques the ways that the increasing privatization and corporatization of schools in the US reinforces racism and inequality. The discussion concludes by outlining instances where students and teachers resist market-based pedagogies of professionalism, and discusses the importance of critical intellectualism and humanizing pedagogy in a climate of market-based reforms in education. (Contains 9 notes.)