Week 4

Part 1

It’s quite difficult to summarize in three short paragraphs what I think are the most important things to know about Paulo Freire and his ideas.  His thoughts and writings transcended any progressive cognitive understanding for his time.  As an educator of young children, I find many of his theories and practices applicable today in the teaching of children.  I recently began reading “Pedagogy of the Oppressed” and have been blown away with the thoughts and ideas presented in this book written in 1921!!  Once I was able to wrap my humble brain around his thought process, I realized that he was able to write down reasons and developmental concepts about oppression that I instinctively felt to be true, but was unable to verbalize.  Freire’s concept of a “culture of silence” is that oppressed individuals in society loose the means to objectively and critically respond to the culture that is forced on them by the dominant culture.  Freire discusses how the oppressed and the oppressor enable the continuance of oppression and discusses, in depth, how these two sides dance together to the music of oppression.  I’ve only begun reading this book, but each page provides me with insightful moments of awareness.

Freire’s experiences deeply influenced his life’s work.  At a very early age in life, Freire had an intuitive awareness of the world around him, especially those in great need.  He experienced hunger and poverty at a young age and through this connectivity with those around him and his personal experiences, he developed an understanding of the relationship between social class and knowledge.  Freire also lived among the poor, rural families and laborers, which deepened his understanding of the effects of socio-economics on education.   This understanding led Paulo Freire to dedicate his life to pedagogy – the art of teaching and the way people learn.

With his commitment, experience and knowledge, Freire developed a contemporary educational theory consisting of eight sections:  Theory of Value, Knowledge, Human Nature, Learning, Transmission, Society, Opportunity and Consensus.  His educational theory revolves around the concept that one must value the learner as an active participant in the acquisition of knowledge.  Additionally, knowledge is a social construct, which involves all of the learner’s experiences, memories, emotions, and feelings along with the relationships with other learners.  Learning is not stagnate – it is changing and on-going.  Additionally, acquired knowledge affects one’s beliefs through discussions with other learners and critical reflection.  In this process, teachers also become the learners as they explore how their students understand the world around them with the purpose of understanding what affects the student’s learning process and how they learn.  Working with young children, I understand how important it is to learn about a child’s culture, background, socio-economic status, family structure and any other information that might provide clues to how a child interprets and understands the world around him/her.  With this information, a teacher can develop a means to allow a child the opportunity to explore, manipulate, communicate and question new concepts and ideas. 

While Freire was attempting to make socio-educational changes in his country as a progressive educator, he had an opportunity to try out his method of education in the village of Angicos, Brazil in 1963.  His experiment proved successful with 300 sugarcane sharecroppers learning to read and write in 45 days.  As a result, the government approved thousands of schools to be set up all over Brazil.  Freire’s literacy education process involves the formation of critical consciousness that allows people to question the nature of their historic and social situation whereby allowing the people to create a democratic society.  After a military coup in 1964, Freire was arrested twice and imprisoned for 70 days being a “traitor”.  Freire received political asylum and lived in Santiago, Massachusetts, and Geneva during his 16 years of political exile.  During this time, he continued to work and travel worldwide to improve education practices and create literacy reforms.   I believe the importance of this time of his life demonstrates his inability to allow authoritarian governments to dictate what he can think and what he can learn.  He challenged the assumption that schools can become tools used by “parents, businesses and the community to impose their values and beliefs” (Lyons), which leads to the oppression of the less privileged.  Freire’s entire career was based upon his “desire to provide greater opportunity for the poor and oppressed people of the world, but particularly in Brazil” (Lyons).  Freire would not allow anything, including political exile, to deter him from his objective and the world is enlightened as a result of his efforts in educational reform.

References

Bentley, Leslie. A Brief Biography of Paulo Freire. Pedagogy & Theatre of the Oppressed. December 1999. .

Contemporary Educational Thought. Paulo Freire. Department of Teaching and Learning, School of Education, University of Miami. .

Lyons, John. Paulo Freire's Educational Theory. New Foundations. ©2001. 4 January 2008.  .

Lownd, Peter. Freire's Life and Work.

Part 2 – Review of Classmate’s Work

Beatriz – She believes that the video with President Obama relates to our class because “Many of the things that Obama addresses can also be put into use with current events that are taking place with Latin Countries. We need to find a common ground with all countries, not just Muslim countries.”

Brandon learned a lot about President Obama’s policies and aspirations from watching this video.

Candace believes that Oprah is one of the most influential people of our time.

Isabell believes that “knowledge of other cultures builds us in better people through understanding. Successful people like Oprah are always learning.”

Jamison believes that Obama’s speech relates to our class because, the United States has some sort of problem with every country in this world and the problems discussed in the video are the same with Latin American cultures.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Kathy’s blog.  I especially enjoyed reading her ending summary:   In summary, the passionate speeches given by both speakers remind us to be selfless, humble, open-minded, compassionate and to look inside ourselves to do our part to make the world a better place. One of my favorite quotes from Oprah's speech, "success is helping someone else move forward to higher ground."  Well said Kathy!!

Kim summarized Oprah’s speech to the graduates with these words:  “To share this world means what happens in one place affects the entire world.”

Paul felt energized by Oprah’s motivational speech.

Robert felt that Obama “eloquently addressed the fears of various nations and religions with viable solutions, the need for a peaceful resolution” and believes Obama “did this with wisdom and the foresight of a true leader. Most importantly, he spoke of how all nations need to work together, respect one another, and learn from each other to resolve the issues our world is now experiencing.” – Great Summary!

Shannon felt that Obama’s speech paid attention to the nuances and had great depth and spoke of his “dedication to the cause of equality for all.”