In this article, Austin Pickup centers Foucault's concept of "problematization" as an important methodological tool for displacing neoliberalism from its stable perch atop a perceived absence of other possibilities. According to Pickup, the genealogical analysis envisaged and practiced by Foucault opens up new avenues by indicating not only that, but also how the present reality is the product of historical contingency rather than logical necessity. After discussing this concept, Pickup highlights Koopman's recent analysis, who argues that the diagnostic work of "problematization" might be usefully paired with the normative reconstructive work central to pragmatism within a larger framework of critical inquiry. Pickup states that applied to the current educational climate, such a project of critical inquiry offers a powerful activist framework for grappling with and reconstructing the present dangers of neoliberal reform.