Paolo+Freire

Paolo Freire (1921-1997) //Educar Para Transformar//

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=**Freire's Big Ideas**=

Brazilian theorist, Paolo Freire believed in the conscientizacao, better known as critical consciousness. This idea involves the ability to perceive social, political, and economic injustice and to take action against the oppressive elements present in society. He looked at education as a means to promote this critical consciousness.

Education is a subversive //(able to overthrow an establishment)// force- where schools can be the agent of change. Schools should not be the producers of problems. Common educational practices are dehumanizing and oppress students because students are not able to interact with the material. Freire was not necessarily against the curriculum, but did not agree with the authoritarian and elitist way the curriculum was often presented and taught. Instead, education should open minds to higher states of consciousness rather than just deposit information for future use. It should provide opportunities for the oppressed to overcome their condition. Friere acknowledges that the oppressed do have to work for their own liberation as there can be no transformation without action.
 * Liberation Through Education**

As he states: // No pedagogy which is truly liberating can remain distant from the oppressed by treating them as unfortunates and by presenting for their emulation models from among the oppressors. The oppressed must be their own example in the struggle for their redemption (Freire, 1970, p. 54). //

Freire believed that people would learn, through learning, that they can make and remake themselves, because people can take responsibility for themselves as being capable of know what they know and knowing what they don't know. He also felt that the oppressor can change too. Together the oppressed and oppressors can recreate knowledge together, thus creating a better society.

Freire believed that systems that use the Banking model of education (quite common during his lifetime), instead of exploratory approaches, turn students off from learning. He describes this banking concept as one that only promotes students to receive, file, and then store information. Banking attempts to control people's actions and thinking and limits their creative ability. Because knowledge emerges through invention, re-invention and inquiry, this banking method oppresses students. Freire argued that by using participatory methods in teaching and encouraging critical thinking, a rigorous yet rigid democratic pedagogy can result.
 * Opposed the Banking System**

Freire also talked of //narration sickness//. He said this is due to teachers lecturing too much and leaving little room for dialogue or exploration among students. He referred to the students as lifeless and petrified listening objects.
 * Dialogue and Narration Sickness**

Freire argued that if we can reduce the banking method of teaching, the usage of problem posing techniques can increase the involvement of students in their own learning. Freire felt that dialogue plays a big part in this, as students together can construct the class' dialogue based upon the information the teacher presents. The teacher should no longer be the sole source of information. People need to be able to name and label their their reality and also assess it. By learning new words and about new social-political realities, consciousness, literacy, and critical thinking are all improved. As people learn more about their world and can better define it, they can then better act as an agent to change it. The praxis that Friere promotes involves analysis, discussion, and action to change a situation and eventually create a new, better situation. When these steps are followed, he believes that true learning has occurred-- learning that can bring about liberation.

TIES TO OTHER THEORISTS

Learning theorist, @John Dewey, has many ideals in common with Paolo Friere. They both argued that experiential-type learning, rather than the banking method, benefit the student. The both viewed education as a mechanism for increasing consciousness and having the ability to bring about social change.

Carl Rogers says that a person cannot teach another person directly- instead a person can only facilitate another's learning. This goes along with Freire's opposition against the banking method of teaching and how he thinks narration by the teacher limits student learning.

Benjamin Bloom explains different levels of thinking going from remembering on the lowest tier up to creating on the highest tier. Freire calls for varying levels of this taxonomy in his explanation of increasing consciousness. He discusses naming and labeling the world (lower level thinking) but then taking this information and using it to promote change in oneself and the society in which they live (higher level thinking).

Jean Lave believes that social processes influence the way people think, solve problems, perform procedures, build knowledge, and interact with each other. Like Freire, she believes that learning with others is how one can learn best. Freire's urge that education can promote liberation relies heavily on learners learning about the world with the people around them.

[] [] [] @http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paolo_Freire Http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/ED307200.pdf Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Continuum.
 * Sources:**

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