This chapter employs a political economy lens to illustrate how neoliberal ideology is moving beyond the business realm and becoming increasingly intertwined with educational processes and international education. Additionally, the chapter builds on literature that traces discursive orientations and educational agendas that can compete, overlap, or even become entangled despite stemming from seemingly different intentions. I employ a form of Foucauldian discourse analysis in examining how normalized ideas might limit the various intentions, policies, and practices in everyday interactions, including the work in the K-12 public school sector in Canada. This qualitative ethnographic study spanned over one school year and investigated the experiences of international students enrolled in a secondary school located within British Columbia (BC), Canada. Data for this study include ethnographic fieldnotes, interviews (with students, teachers, and administrators), and analyses of policy and program documents. The findings point to interlocking and competing tensions within educational agendas for international education in public schools. The constraints of a deeply rooted neoliberal ideology can create an ad hoc quality in the implementation of international programs with sometimes problematic consequences for young students who are left scrambling to sort through the complicated aspects of studying abroad.