The works developed by Paulo Freire and Henry Giroux on education as a libertarian praxis, Critical Pedagogy, and the role of school in the deconstruction of some societal beliefs have been fairly discussed in education. Freire and Giroux are considered, worldwide, as the precursors of a philosophy whereby the voice of those historically oppressed is being discussed and disclosed. Their views are a combination of philosophical, political, and educational theories. Accordingly, those main views or ideas about education, pedagogy, and the role of school will be discussed in this opinion piece. Additionally, reflections about the implications of those ideas for today’s educational system, and the relevance they still have, will be deliberated.
Education has become, according to Freire (1981), a simple act of pouring information into students` brains. Freire, in his book Pedagogy of the Oppressed, argues that an educational system is a mechanical act in which educators simply place ideas for the students to patiently receive, memorize, and repeat. The author, in order to exemplify this mechanical act, coined the term “banking.” The concept of banking refers to the act of only receiving, filling, and storing deposits of knowledge. This knowledge, consequently, is misguided. Furthermore, students become just collectors of information. There is no opportunity for them to create, transform, and challenge what is being stored automatically.
In addition, in the same book Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Paulo Freire outlines a theory of oppression. In Freire’s observation, education should be a libertarian practice and the key to liberation is the awakening of critical awareness (Rajagopalan, 2003). This awakening happens through a new type of educational system, one which creates a partnership between the educator and the student, empowering the student to enter into a dialogue and begin the process of humanization through thought and its correlative action. Education should be, therefore, producing experiences organized around issues and concerns that allow for a critical understanding of everyday oppressions (Freire, 1981). Freire calls for a methodology in which themes that are important to people’s lives are deliberated, and analyzed in school. Those themes, according to the author, should be pro-dialogue, involve revolutionary leaders, seek liberation of oppressive techniques, and deal with culturally engrained beliefs. All this is within the school milieu.
In the same line of thought, Giroux (1987), in the introduction to Critical Pedagogy, views schools as resources for larger communities. Giroux argues that schools are historical and cultural entities that are submitted to some ideological and political interests. Therefore, schools are vital resources that can help address social problems. Giroux arguments overlap with Freire`s in that of developing a Critical Pedagogy. Critical pedagogy is more than a method. Students can be helped to exercise their rights and responsibilities as critical citizens (Giroux, 1990). Critical pedagogy is essential to analyze how human experiences are produced, and how discourses are legitimated within the dynamics of everyday classroom. The fact that students are active participants in their own education makes schooling an act of individual empowerment. Individuals, as human agents, are constituted within different moral and ethical discourses, and experiences. Educators as agents of change can assist students to examine different discourses. Educators can give the power to shift the given curricula beyond transmission by using it as a base to question local discourses and beliefs. Discourses that can push students onto critical thought and action. Furthermore, both educators and students can shed light on how the acquisition of knowledge becomes something structured, around which school curricula are organized and legitimized (Giroux, 1987).
Therefore, primary and secondary schools and universities are forces that transform the world. They can transform it objectively and in everyday social relations. After all, as Freire (1981) stated, to be in the classroom is to be in the history and the re-writing of it. Schools are no indifferent agents for social change. Schools today should aim for a libertarian education. People need to feel subjects of critical thinking, developing their own views of the world manifested implicitly or explicitly in their own suggestions, thoughts, and of those of their peers. Education should be structured to encourage thinking in students. The educator and the student should go into a partnership and join in a dialogue to mutually come to conclusions about problems. The solutions must not be predetermined by the teacher, but instead must come together during the process of dialogue. The teacher and students learn from each other (Freire, 1987; Rajagopalan, 2003). Schools are places where teachers and students give meaning to their lives through the complex historical, cultural, and political forms they personify and produce.
The aforementioned discussion about education, Critical Pedagogy, and the role of school leads to thinking about the challenges education currently faces. Based on Giroux and Freire`s arguments, the main challenge seems to be to escape the influence of some societal structures that keep some oppressed and others oppressing. After all, as the authors argue, there is no such thing as neutrality in education. Primary and secondary schools, alongside with universities do not exist isolated and cannot escape the influences of societal beliefs and structures. Indeed, the more a social structure is denoted as rigid and dominating, the more educational institutions that constitute it are unavoidably marked by its climate, conveying their beliefs and permeating its action through different contexts. What seems to be needed is more openness in schools to discuss oppression in education and to break inequalities among cultural and political forms.
References
- GIROUX, H. (1990). Alfabetização e a pedagogia do empowerment político. In: FREIRE, Paulo; MACEDO, Donaldo. Alfabetização. Leitura do mundo, leitura da palavra. Rio de Janeiro: Paz e Terra.
- Giroux, H. (1987). Escola crítica e política cultural. Cortêz; Autores Associados. (Capitulo 2, p. 54 – 104)
- RAJAGOPALAN, K. (2003). Por uma Linguística Crítica: Linguagem, Identidade e a Questão Ética. São Paulo: Parábola Editorial.
- FREIRE, P. (1981). Pedagogia do oprimido. 9. ed. Rio de Janeiro: Paz & Terra.
