Pedagogy For/Of the Oppressed
Education Reform, In The News Saturday, May 26th, 2007
An EducationState reading of Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed has provoked a debate.
A debate regarding the extent to which we (teachers) can interfere in the education of Others (students). One group takes the view that true educatin is only possible through complete independence. The other groups sees this as impossibe, for the notion of Education itself implies one part of society having what others don’t.
Freire’s seminal work went much further than anything that had been published previously and was so revolutionary that he found himself exiled. His exile was a reaction to the underlying theme of his work i.e. that he and his followers, together with the learners, are able to forge a new life-affirming, educational path. What’s not discussed with any conviction, however, is the question of how it is possible for the oppressor, in order to achieve human liberation, to shed himself of all his values and prejudices and avoid ‘false generosity’. Freire assumes that this is possible but is it?
He very much holds a romantic view of human nature but, taking a realist view, people are often distrustful and capricious. In response to the practicalities of human interaction, a much more revolutionary form Education is required perhaps. Education that does away with teachers altogether, yet offers the services of professionals including subject-experts, counsellors, healthcare professionals and so on, and offers also the secure space and sufficient resources to self-teach. This is where Freire’s discussion of trust is so relevant. For without trusting groups or individuals to self-educate, there can be no education.