Week 11 - Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Friere

Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Friere - Chapter Four
Podcast lecture transcript on Chapter four

In chapter 3, Paulo pointed out the major difference between animals and humans:  that we have the ability to reflect and practice, reflect and practice, therefore transforming our situations, doing something about our existence…unlike animals who exist for the here and now, surviving for the here and now…humans who have not been empowered, students who have not learned of their power may operate in the same vein as animals, if they are not trained to ‘think.’  He continues in Chapter 4 to point this major difference between animals and humans:  that we have the opportunity to change our situation by first posing a problem, then exercising critical thinking to begin a workable change in making the world better.

This is what Paulo is continuing to express in chapter four.  Transformation of the ills, the issues of the world, not by just talking about it:  to just talk about the problems is the same as being on the verbose side of the equation.  To truly activate this pedagogy of social justice in the classroom, one must be actively engaged, modeling, practicing what is talked about.

Most of chapter four goes on to talk about how NOT to exercise social justice pedagogy.  Friere goes on to discuss several methods of anti-dialogical behaviors:  1) conquest – this automatically sets up an 'us versus them' situation:  someone who wants to conquer, and the conquered.  2) divide and conquer or divide and rule Paulo says is about people who see life in terms of their maintaining status quo at the expense of everyone else… 3) manipulation and 4) cultural invasion…

He ends the chapter by promoting what social justice pedagogy should be about:  cultural synthesis of which he dedicates all of five pages of chapter 4 to talking about.  I imagine his work in this book is mainly to espouse a perspective of the poor, the oppressed, one that doesn’t get told very often.  His work in “We Make the Road by Walking” goes on to show how cultural synthesis could operate in reality.  He and Myles Horton discuss the realities of implementing social justice pedagogy in the classroom. 

Even in chapter four, Friere briefly touches on what cultural synthesis is about.  It is about recognizing the voices of all people, allowing all people an opportunity to be the makers of their own world, contributors of their own existence, not at the expense of others, but with the expense of all…It would anti-dialogical to allow the oppressed to become oppressors themselves, although in their quest to be free, to name their world, to exist in fulfillment of their own humanity, the oppressed may transform in this manner:  first becoming like their oppressors, but then evolving beyond, liberating both themselves and their oppressors.  It is an act of love, an act of forgiveness, one that is not taught very often.

Character education may be the brainchild of espousing social justice.  Perhaps this is something that can be carried out beginning with the very young in classrooms, co-teaching, modeling good behavior toward all people, including all people in classroom discourse, allowing students to express their realities, offering choices in assignments, teaching in a variety of ways, using a variety of methods.  Examining each child up close when they enter the classroom, perhaps dedicating at least a week of built-in examination of each child, learning each child by name, pronouncing his or her name as he or she tells you to pronounce it, not correcting their identity.  You’d be surprised how something as simple as really listening to how a student wants his or her name pronounced will identity the type of teacher you are, revealing a teacher’s prejudices.    Students make judgments about whether or not you are approachable, safe, fair, equitable in your dealings from one student to the next.  I am reminded of foreign students at a private school that I taught in for several years , who came to me complaining that the computer teacher next door to me just never pronounced their names correctly, and even pronounced them differently each time.  They were very offended, but did not approach her, correct her.  They had been drenched in the authoritative home and school life as Paulo speaks about in oppressive systems.   These students were trained to keep quiet with authoritative people who conducted themselves in this manner.

The following ASCD website offers a good definition of character education, I think  :

Character education involves teaching children about basic human values including honesty, kindness, generosity, courage, freedom, equality, and respect.

The goal is to raise children to become morally responsible, self-disciplined citizens. Problem solving, decision making, and conflict resolution are important parts of developing moral character. Through role playing and discussions, students can see that their decisions affect other people and things. http://ascd.typepad.com/blog/2011/02/character-education-for-the-digital-age.html/

I don’t think Friere in his text is talking about teachers going out trying to teach culture, specific and mainstream cultural ways of living as may be a place in a social studies classroom, but that each teacher can be a promoter of equity, social justice for all students that enter in his or her classroom.  Promotion not by speech only, not by handing out a worksheet on Martin Luther King, Jr. during the month of February, or celebrating Cinco de Mayo in May or talking about the Indians and Pilgrims during the month of November to mention a few, but by praxis:  that is reflecting on what it is students need in your classroom and then practicing the method of social justice or cultural synthesis. 

Not throwing out or replacing curriculum, but synthesizing it, including the larger picture, telling or allowing more of the whole story or other perspectives to be told.  You can practice cultural synthesis in the classroom by exercising the practice of multicultural education [that is including other perspectives in your curriculum…it may involve a deeper research, although that has been made easier with the Internet!], differentiating instruction [that is, addressing or taking into consideration the various learning needs of your students, not teaching to the middle: a one size fits all curriculum], it may involve being a mentor to some of your students, it may involve checking to see what your students' learning strengths are using multiple intelligence surveys, it may involve taking a constructivist approach sometimes to allowing students to have a place in designing their own instruction, such as giving project-based assignments that involve their learning Math, but also involves more authentic-based approaches than rote memorization of facts and theorems.  For sure, in a  classroom of this nature, the room is not going to be all quiet everyday, but it will involve the engagement, attention of all of your students.

  I look forward to interacting with you on the DSEL 794 discussion board .  Thank you.

Dr. Herring

Week 10 - Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Friere - Chapter Three

Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Friere - Chapter Three
Podcast lecture transcript on Chapter Three

I am especially thrilled at finding the book ‘We Make the Road by Walking’ which offer practical conversations by Myles Horton and Paulo Friere on social change and education.  The book does a wonderful job of further fleshing out the ideas as presented in Chapter Three of Pedagogy of the Oppressed.  Myles Horton and Paulo Friere came together in the late 80’s, each beginning to be influenced by the same ideas of how to put educational theory into practice.  Both were influenced by poverty situations:  Miles from Tennessee and Paulo’s experience in Brazil…both also had parents who were slightly more educated than those whom they lived around, so both experienced the dichotomies of the rich and the poor, the powerful and the powerless.  In chapter three, Paulo begins to discuss the praxis or practice of being a true educator, especially when it comes to using education or the classroom to empower all students.  He discusses how the whole idea of dialoguing, talking, speaking to others should be not in order to show off how many words one can spout out, or how verbose or articulate we can be, but words should be used to transform the world.  Words should be used for specific purposes in the classroom:  to teach students how to self-emancipate, how to become empowered to activate change in their own lives., giving them concrete examples of how to take their learning and use it for their good, the community’s good. What impresses me most about Paulo Friere and Myles Horton are that they were educators themselves.  They were not merely philosophers, espousing deep thought about how people should activate and live,but they actually walked the walk, as they talked the talk.  They were doers, very active until their deaths.  Myles started the Highlander school in Tennessee in the early thirties, while Paulo was very active in educating the poor in Brazil, going on to teach at Universities, developing adult literacy programs.  While they espoused critical thinking, they lived out their ideas.  Critical thinking in chapter Three is also a component of educating using problem-posing or problem-solving as we call it today.  You can’t have one without the other.  To be a critical thinker is to be about coming up with solutions to problems in the world.  This is described as authentic education:  A with B…not A for B or the teacher telling the student or sympathizing with the student, not A about B, with the teacher even empathizing with the student, but A with B…that is getting to the heart of a student’s needs and addressing those specifically. 

You know what it is?  It is allowing students in the classroom to raise questions, with the teacher not being afraid of that type of transaction…many times teachers are afraid of this type of dialoguing because once again they may have the thought that they should be able to respond to every question, know the answer to every question. This is not excusing the incompetence of a teacher not knowing his or her subject; but it is allowing that even though we may have been taught that the teacher is the vessel of knowing it all, even knowing what is best for the child without the input of the child, that this may not be the best way to approach all children.  Especially children who have not had the opportunity to voice, speak, learn, and voice, speak, learn again and again. 

In chapter 3, Paulo points out the major difference between animals and humans:  that we have the ability to reflect and practice, reflect and practice, therefore transforming our situations, doing something about our existence…unlike animals who exist for the here and now, surviving for the here and now…humans who have not been empowered, students who have not learned of their power may operate in the same vein as animals, if they are not trained to ‘think.’  Is not that what the true essence of education is about?  Even with the differences in pedagogical beliefs, ideas about going about educating the young?  Is not that our job as educators, to train students how to use their minds, essentially how to not be reactionary, not to be operating in survival mode only, but to actually have that privilege to critically think, to make that work to their advantage…otherwise, why are we training the young?  It is because we have a duty, an obligation to life itself…the very existence of our lives is about what we have learned from others isn’t it?

This is what Paulo is trying to express in the chapter.  That education should be about teaching others how to take what they have learned and use it to transform their situations, especially those who are ignorant of how this can be done.  He is espousing that the best way to educate the poor is to teach them the hidden rules[i] that are already known to middle/upper class students when they enter the classroom, since that is who was initially trained and taught in the earlier times…first the wealthy boys, then wealthy boys and girls, then the development of common schools for all children, eventually including all children of all ethnicities in this country…

The remainder of chapter 3 goes on to discuss how to do thematic research…how thematic research is most beneficial in reaching the poor, as that is one of the best ways to allow the poor to have a voice, to truly represent their stories in collecting the data.  I imagine I have an attachment to this form of research as it allows both the teacher or researcher and student to contribute, participate in the development of this investigation.  However, to keep this within the realms of the classroom, Paulo is saying I believe that no matter what we are teaching, when we teach it, we should do so with the students’ experiences in mind, in view…an example he gives is on page 119, where with peasants, perhaps their discussion may be about say, asking for more money, increased wages and banding together to form a union, whereas the typical  educator’s approach to this situation would be to try and get these peasants to read traditional texts that have no meaning for their real situations, real needs…instead Paulo is saying the educator should consider his or her students, where they are coming from first, acknowledging them as participants in education, not mere vessels to receive/absorb/regurgitate what the teacher has to say.  Of course, this must be done within the realms of the classroom, within the realms of what a teacher can offer at the school he or she chooses to teach at…which is why this opportunity to flesh out what your philosophical stance will be before you go looking for the school to teach in is important…with this knowledge, you should be better able to decide the best teaching environment for you and the students you will affect.

I’ll leave you with a quote from Paulo in We Make the Road by Walking…page 66:

 In order for one to know, its just necessary to be alive, then people know.  The question is toknow what they know and how they know, to learn how to teach them things which they don’tknow and they want to know.  The question is to know whether my knowledge is necessary, because sometimes it is not necessary. Sometimes it is necessary but the need is not yet perceived by the people.  Then one of the tasks of the educator is also to provoke the discovering of need for knowing and never to impose the knowledge whose need was not yet perceived.  Sometimes the need is just felt—is that right?—but not yet perceived.  There is a difference…I would tell you that a good teacher is the teacher who, in being or becoming permanently competent, is permanently aware of surprise and never, never stops being surprised.  Do you see?  One of the worst things in life is to stop being surprised.  This is why Myles is a child!  Always we have to look.  Today suddenly a flower is the reason for your surprise.  Tomorrow, it may be the same flower, just with a different color, because of the age of the flower. (p 66, We Make the Road by Walking, Horton & Friere).

I do encourage if you have the time, to pick up this book, though it is not a requirement.

This lecture will be posted to the iTunes album on History and Philosophy of Education as Chapter Three.  If you are one of the co-lead in discussants for this section of the textbook, you should now also post your annotation on Chapter Three, along with a website link for an article or reading related to this discussion and your position from the article.  I will post a transcript of this lecture as my contribution to this discussion.  I look forward to interacting with you and the rest of the class in this discussion.  Thank you.

NOTE:

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References for hidden rules:  Poverty:  A framework for understanding and working with students and adults from poverty, Ruby K. Payne (1995).

This I believe is in reference today to Howard Gardner’s learning styles: “Multiple Intelligences”.  See http://www.thomasarmstrong.com/multiple_intelligences.htm

Let's continue this conversation in next week's posting.
Dr. Herring 
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Week 9 Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Friere - Chapter Two

Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Friere. 
Podcast lecture transcript on Chapter Two.

Continuing with the lecture in chapter Two, Friere is beginning to become more practical in his explanation of what this pedagogy entails….have you noticed that? 

I will begin with his description of the basis of most mainstream pedagogy and that is what he refers to as the ‘banking concept of education.’  The banking concept is your traditional method of educating students:  students listen while the teacher, professor lectures or deposits or fills the students’ heads with knowledge about a particular subject or topic or object.  In this type of pedagogy, the students are seen as receivers, receptors always and the teacher is the bestower, or giver of knowledge always.  According to Friere this pedagogy is imbalanced and contradictory and lacks the true reason for education; that is, it’s transforming power or ability to change students’ lives for the better.  According to Friere the banking method poses a problem, in that students and teachers are at odds with each other, rather than being considered as partners in the education process.  This partnering allows for the teacher to be seen as teacher-student and the student seen as student-teacher…the relationship is one of reciprocity rather than dichotomous.  He refers to the Hegelian dialectic which I reference in my script of this lecture. 

The Hegelian Dialectic is a process formulated by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel who lived in the 1700’s and died in 1831.  Hegel, a philosopher, envisioned that all thoughts and ideas are processed dichotomously.  That is, someone comes up with an idea or takes a position or side in an issue, called a’ thesis.’  Then someone else provides an opposing position, called an ‘antithesis.’  According to Hegel, this thesis and antithesis eventually merges to become a ‘synthesis’ or new ‘thesis’ and another opposing antithesis challenges this new thesis until those become a synthesis and this process continues until society reaches ultimately the ABSOLUTE IDEA, or the ultimate synthesis which produces no antithesis   According to Hegel, the world will eventually arrive at this absolute or world view.  So….

Switching back to Friere,  in Chapter two, he speaks on how even a slave engaged in this Hegelian Dialectic at least is aware that he has rights to a thesis that may be one that is merged with his master’s antithesis…that this slave at least is aware that he is educating his teacher as well as being educated…According to Friere, however, in the banking concept of education, the student is not aware most times that he or she is actually educating his or her teacher as well as being educated by the teacher.  Powerful, huh?  What are thoughts on this essay? See http://www.mokslai.lt/referatai/rasinys/12815.html .

On page 73 of the text, Friere goes on to outline or list 10 attitudes or practices that dominate the banking concept of teaching and I will read these and offer an example of each:

                a. the teacher teaches and the students are taught --- an example of this would be lectures, my   pod-cast lectures

                b. The teacher knows everything and the students know nothing --- most classrooms operate from this paradigm, whether knowingly or unknowingly…the teacher is given a teacher textbook loaded with the answers, test information and the key, the teacher-ese materials…do students get the same?  It is only recently that now students have access to supplemental materials provided by textbook companies, such as quiz takers, websites, resource links…students still in most classes do not get the same materials as the teachers get…why or why not?

                c. The teacher thinks and the students are thought about…a classic example is the traditional syllabus that students receive at the beginning of a class…the teacher created it with the students in mind, but the students are not consulted in the traditional classroom.

                d. The teacher talks and the students listen—meekly---again, most classrooms still are dominated by mostly teacher talk, unless the teacher takes measures to be more inclusive in allowing student talk…even when teachers modify the classroom to include more student input, students may feel put upon, uneasy in that they are used to being poured into, taught from the banking paradigm.

                e. The teacher disciplines and the students are disciplined---an example here would be to ask who assigns grades for the course, who provides the assessment?  The teacher does…who sets the parameters for discipline if the student does not follow the syllabus?  The teacher does…

                f. The teacher chooses and enforces his choice, and the students comply…again, the teacher chooses the textbook, materials and curriculum, or at least some educator has completed this process before the students enter the classroom.

                g. The teacher acts and the students have the illusion of acting through the action of the teacher….in other words, the teacher models the appropriate classroom behavior and the student follows.

                h. The teacher chooses the program content, and the students (who were not consulted) adapt to it…this sounds like setting the syllabus before class and then passing it out to the students.

                i. The teacher confuses the authority of knowledge with his or her own professional authority, which she or he sets in opposition to the freedom of the students…

                j. The teacher is the Subject of the learning process, while the pupils are mere objects…this is one of the most explanatory themes of the banking concept…the teacher is the subject, that is human and the students are seen as objects, or non-human depositories.

The flip side of the banking concept is the problem posing method of education.  In this atmosphere, the student and teacher are both teachers and students, interchangeably working together.  In this vein, students are allowed to create and re-create knowledge.  According to Friere, problem posing education makes students critical thinkers, encouraging students to take control of their own learning.  Problem posing treats students as subjects, human beings capable of making choices, decisions that will enhance their lives.  When students are allowed to engage in their own learning, beyond just listening and memorizing facts, they actually begin to think in terms of the usefulness of their learning.  This is liberating.  I often say that under the traditional banking model, the teacher gets to refine his or her craft in that he or she practices, re-affirms this knowledge every time he or she gets to recite it, write it, lecture it, speak it.  Problem posing education extends this gift of affirmation to the student as well.  When students have to teach something to another, then they become engaged in a completely different way…they get their hands on the data directly, thus becoming transformed in how they internalize it and teach it to another.  Problem posing education liberates the student from the role of passivity to that of action.  Friere refers to this as ‘acts of cognition’ rather than simply ‘transferal of information.’

Let's continue this conversation in next week's posting.
Dr. Herring 
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Week 8 - Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Friere --- Chapter One

Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Friere. 
Podcast lecture transcript on Chapter One.

I was pleased to meet several professors from across the world who are using Paulo Friere's work in their course offerings when I attended the Oxford Roundtable in Oxford, England in March. 2007  I was very fortunate to be invited to share in/attend a week long round table discussion of 35 professors and school people from the United States. To the left is a photo of  Dr. Kathryn Mendoza and myself attending a reception on the Pembroke College campus in Oxford, England.

In visiting Chapter 1 of Pedagogy of the Oppressed, it is important to note the definition of the phrase ‘pedagogy of the oppressed’…just what is the meaning of these four words in context?  Pedagogy, we hear referenced in education as the ‘methods, the art of educating students, the different ways that teachers teach their students.’  The word pedagogy can be traced back to early days in the Greek culture, where education was limited to the training of wealthier boys only, where these boys were assigned slaves or pedagogues whose job it was to lead these boys to school, carry their musical instruments, teach them such subjects as the art of rhetoric, politics, mathematics, and literature.  It is interesting to note that the word pedagogy derives from a culture that promoted preservation of the brightest, educating only a select few from the elite class.  It is interesting to note as well that out of that culture springs what we refer to nowadays as the Great Classics, the great literature that should be continued, passed on as the best, most liberal education one can possibly be exposed to.

Switching back to Friere however, in Chapter one, he speaks on promoting teaching, educating as well, but is saying that this should be shared with all classes of people as well.  Pedagogy according to Friere is about educating people who traditionally do not have a voice in the classroom.  For various reasons even today, Friere promotes extending the definition of pedagogy to include the oppressed.  Who are the oppressed?  Well, in his text, he refers to the oppressed as any people who have been de-humanized by those who oppress, or oppressors.  How does that happen?  According to Friere, a people are dehumanized when they are seen as less than human, treated as less than human, without regard for being able to think, make decisions, make intelligent choices about how they and their children wish to live out their lives.  According to Friere on page 56 in the text, the oppressed are generally referred to as ‘those people, savages, natives, barbaric, wicked, or ferocious.’  I would add that some names used today in reference to oppressed people are ‘people who are sensitive’, thin-skinned, etc. 

In chapter one, Friere is laying the foundation for how to establish a classroom that reaches beyond the traditional, schoolhouse student to empower those students who are coming from backgrounds that are oppressive, mainly the poor student.  What he seems to be saying in this chapter is that if you are a teacher, a professor, you are in a position superior to that of your students, if only by rights as being their ‘pedagogue.’  Whereas traditionally students from middle, upper class backgrounds may see the teacher in the same vein as the Greek pedagogue was seen, as a servant to the student, as someone whose duty it is to make them knowledgeable in order to maintain their status, their class.  This student is empowered to speak his or her thoughts, challenge the teachers, expected to know and grow in knowledge.

On the other hand, the poor student coming from an oppressed background is not equipped in that freedom yet, even if the student is just as knowledgeable, just as teachable, intelligent…such student has learned to internalize such inferiority and as Paulo describes it ‘ feel inferior to the boss or professor because the boss or professor seems to be the only one who knows things and is able to run things.’…they call themselves ignorant and say the professor is the one who has knowledge and to whom they should listen as is scripted on page 63 of the text.

So the question becomes, how do you as a classroom teacher activate this pedagogy?  How do you get students who have internalized learned ignorance, for example, when a 7 year old tells you ‘I can’t do this…it is too hard?’  How do you teach students who are suffering from the effects of oppression, teach them to take advantage of the education, use it for their benefit, to propel them out of their situation? 

Sounds like in this chapter, Friere is saying it starts with the teacher being CONSCIOUS [that is an awareness of this phenomenon of oppression], then bestowing the gift of independence on such student.  A teacher can start by telling such students, You CAN learn how to do this.  I BELIEVE THAT YOU CAN DO THIS…all students in this class will learn how to do this, and then go to work [the pedagogy part] figuring out how to best get the students to learn this information.  It involves dialoguing with each student, learning where they are coming from and meeting the student on that territory.  It involves meeting the student in a JOINT teaching-learning agreement.  It may involve intensive scaffolding, a pedagogy introduced by Vygostsky, involving heavy social interaction with students.  Scaffolding is defined as a reciprocal teaching/learning relationship between the teacher and the student.  As one reference puts it: “Instead of a teacher dictating her meaning to students for future recitation, a    teacher should collaborate with her students in order to create meaning in ways  that students can make their own (Hausfather, 1996)….see http://starfsfolk.khi.is/solrunb/vygotsky.htm ).

Friere refers to this relationship of reciprocity as co-intentional education as is shared on page 69 in the chapter, last paragraph:

                A revolutionary leadership must accordingly practice co-intentional education.

                Teachers and students (leadership and people), co-intent on reality, are both        

                Subjects, not only in the task of unveiling that reality, and thereby coming to

                know it critically, but in the task of re-creating that knowledge.  As they attain

                this knowledge of reality through common reflection and action, they discover

                themselves as its permanent re-creators.  In this way, the presence of the

                oppressed in the struggle for their liberation will be what it should be:  not

                pseudo participation, but committed involvement (p 69, POTO).

For those of you willing to take this a step further, see how this pedagogy has been activated in the classroom, you might want to get a copy of the book:  We Make the Road by Walking:  Conversations on Education and Social Change by Myles Horton and Paulo Friere (Temple University Press, 1990).  I was told about this book just this past week at the Oxford Roundtable I attended.  I was told the book offers a conversation between these two authors, Horton from the United States, raised poor in the Appalachian Mountains and going on to establish a school  based on this pedagogy.  Of course, this course, History and Philosophy of Education does not give the time to explore this text as well, and you are not required to go further, but it is there if you so desire.

Dr. Herring 
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Week 7 - Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Friere ---

Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Friere –

Podcast lecture on the Publisher’s Foreword and Introduction:

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Hello… I am giving a lecture today, commenting on the Publisher’s foreword and Introduction of Paulo Friere’s ‘Pedagogy of the Oppressed.’  This book has sold 750,000 copies worldwide as the front cover says.  It was first published in 1970, with the first English publication in 1993.   The copy that I have is the 30^th Anniversary Edition with a Publisher’s Foreword  and Introduction to the Anniversary Edition by Donaldo Macedo, followed by a Foreword by Richard Shaull and Preface.  The book contains four chapters, each introducing a concept, idea as put forth by Paulo Friere in how to be with people who are oppressed, how not to contribute as an oppressor, but how to help those who are oppressed become free.

Today’s lecture will focus on what has been discussed in the Publisher’s foreword and the Introduction to the Anniversary Edition.  In the Publisher’s Foreword, several terms are used in describing what the book is about.  We read that people who are oppressed can also be those who were colonized, so that is one word:  what does it mean to be colonized?  We also read that those people who oppress can also be those who were colonizers?  Who are the colonizers?

As the introduction refers to colonizers were the Portuguese, the Dutch, the British, people who took over large geographical territories of people, subverting them to slavery, inhuman treatment, in exchange for land, wealth produced from the land, goods, their women.  The colonized were people who were not used to the ways and wiles of the colonizers, given over as chattel or stolen from their roots, ways of living.  Once the colonized began to awaken and fight back, regain their lands, their independence, they are left destitute, poor and in place of perhaps a rule that was more favorable for those people, the rule of the colonizer becomes the government of choice.  Those in control oppress the people; those not in control are oppressed. 

What does it mean to be oppressed?  According to Mirriam-Webster, to be oppressed is to be wronged, subjugated, harassed, overcome, tortured, tormented.  Oppression always comes from an oppositional force, from the outside of one’s self.  History points to the oppression suffered by Africans brought over to this country in the early days of the formation of the United States of America, brought over as slaves to work and build the land.  They were oppressed in that they were forced to work, cultivate the land, against their will.  None of the slaves brought over in ships, stored and chained as if they were inhuman asked to be brought over, do you think?  The Atlantic slave trade is an example of oppression used to get people to produce for the good of others.  If the Africans tried to escape this treatment, if they ran away, they were tortured, beaten, maimed and sometimes killed.  Many times they were sold to other more oppressive masters.

As Professor Macedo mentions in the Foreword, this text is well known in third world countries, where oppression is most obvious even in 21^st century, where oppressive governments continue to beat down the poor, even kill them if they are not in accordance with the oppressive laws of that country.  But what about here in the United States?  Does oppression still exist here? 

Paulo Frieire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed became especially known here in the United States during the Civil Rights era, during the era when Dr. Martin Luther King was espousing the doctrine of peaceful co-existence between the races, especially the blacks and whites of this country, mirroring what Muhatmi Ghandi was teaching the poor, oppressed people to do in India.  Dr. King believed in Ghandi’s approach to oppression; he modeled how that through dialogue and peaceful demonstrations, not physically retaliating, but encouraging the masses to turn out in numbers and peacefully resist the oppression that had been placed upon blacks in this country. 

As Professor Macedo speaks of in the foreword, much of Pedagogy of the Oppressed has been reduced to teachers modeling dialoging as a means to allow all people to have a voice.  However, true implementation of this type pedagogy is much more than that.  That implementing this type of pedagogy involves joining the fight for social justice in any cause…to join the fight to give all humanity an opportunity to be respected as humans, to be allowed to speak, grow, develop and exercise freedoms that promote the realization of human dreams, otherwise, we risk being an oppressor, stagnating others’ dreams, as in Langston Hughes’ poem “A Dream Deferred”. 

Langston Hughes was a black poet during the Harlem Renaissance period. 

WIKIPEDIA NOTES Offer that:  The Harlem Renaissance was a time of outstanding creative activity. It was a flowering of African American art, literature, music and culture in the United States led primarily by the African American community based in Harlem, New York City, after World War I. The ‘spiritual coming of age’ best described the Harlem Renaissance because African Americans could now express their heritage and stand up for what they believed.

This African American movement is also known as The New Negro Movement do to the fact that it was centered around the ghetto areas of New York. This movement developed the culture of African Americans and broadened African American expression. African Americans were now encouraged to celebrate their heritage.

Literary historians and academics have yet to reach a consensus as to when the period known as the Harlem Renaissance began and ended. It is unofficially recognized to have begun in 1919 and ended during the early or mid 1930s, however its ideas lived on much longer. Most of the participants in this African American literary movement were descendants from a generation whose parents or grandparents had witnessed the injustices of slavery and the gains and losses that would come with Reconstruction after the American Civil War as the nation moved forward into the gradual entrenchment of Jim Crow in the Southern states and in its non-codified forms in many other parts of the country. Many of these people were part of the Great Migration out of the South and other racially stratified communities who sought relief from the worst of prejudices against them for a better standard of living in the North and Midwest regions of the United States. Others were Africans and people of African descent from the Caribbean who had come to the United States hoping for a better life. Uniting most of them was their convergence in Harlem, New York. They would make Harlem the most famous center of African American life in the United States at that time and one that would have far reaching influence on people of Africa and people of African descent across the world as well as American culture in general.

Characterizing the Harlem Renaissance was an overt racial pride that came to be represented in the idea of the New Negro who through intellect, the production of literature, art, and music could challenge the pervading racism and stereotypes from the larger white community of that era to promote progressive or socialist politics and racial integration and social integration. The creation of art and literature would serve to “uplift” the race. This became known as racial political propaganda. There would be no set style or uniting form singularly characterizing the various forms of art coming out of the Harlem Renaissance. Rather, there would be a mix of celebrating a Pan-Africanist perspective, “high-culture” and the “low-culture or low-life,” the traditional form of music to the blues and jazz, traditional and new experimental forms in literature like modernism and in poetry, for example, the new form of jazz poetry. This duality would eventually result in a number of African American artists of the Harlem Renaissance coming into conflict with conservatives in the black intelligentsia who would take issue with certain depictions of black life in whatever medium of the arts.

So Langston Hughes was one of the most important writers and thinkers of the Harlem Renaissance and I will read you one of his poems mentioned in the Introduction of Pedagogy of the Oppressed entitled  A Dream Deferred.

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This lecture will be posted in the assigned week for the Introduction and Foreword discussion.  You should now also post your annotation on the Publisher’s Foreword and Introduction, along with a website link for an article or reading related to this discussion and your position from the article. 

The Introduction in the book makes reference to 'deferred dreams' and how that the book gives words to describe and understand how oppressed people deal with 'deferred dreams.'  Langston Hughes, noted Harlem Renaissance poet wrote a poem entitled "A Dream Deferred".  Can you answer one of the following questions in his poem that relates to how to deal with oppression in the classroom?  Are there oppressed students in this country?

What happens to a dream deferred?  Does it dry up like a raisiin in the sun? Or fester like a sore-- and then run?  Does it stink like rotten meat?  Or crust and sugar over--like a syrupy sweet?  Maybe it just sags like a heavy load.  Or does it explode?     Langston Hughes

Week 6 - Curriculum, Standards and Testing

Focus Questions [as from Sadker and Sadker, et. al, 8th edition]

1. What is the formal curriculum taught in schools?
2. How does the invisible curriculum influence learning?
3. What is the place of the extracurriculum in school life?
4. What forces shape the school curriculum?
5. How has technology affected the curriculum?
6. How do textbook publishers and state adoption committees "drive" the curriculum?
7. What is standards-based education?
8. What are the provisions and criticisms of No Child Left Behind?
9. What problems are created by high stakes testing, and what are the testing alternatives?
10. How are cultural and political conflicts reflected in the school curriculum?
11. How can we rethink tomorrow's curriculum?

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1. What problems are created by high-stakes testing, and what are the testing alternatives?
   High-stakes tests are believed to contribute to increases in the number of dropouts and the increase in teacher and student stress. High scores on such tests do not necessarily reflect greater learning, and teachers who teach to the test eliminate other important topics from the curriculum. One testing alternative, authentic assessment, evaluates students by asking them to synthesize what they have learned in a final product or "exhibit."         
   
2. What is the formal curriculum taught in schools?
   The formal or visible curriculum is the school's official curriculum, but it is far from static. In colonial America, reading and religion were central. During the early part of the twentieth century, progressive ideas led to a curriculum that emphasized creative expression, social skills, and an integrated study of subject areas. By the 1980s and 1990s, spurred by poor standardized test scores, a back-to-basics curriculum with highstakes testing dominated.
3. How does the invisible curriculum influence learning?
   Schools teach an invisible curriculum that has two components. The hidden or implicit curriculum offers lessons that are not always intended, but emerge as students are shaped by the school culture, including the attitudes and behaviors of teachers. Topics considered unimportant or too controversial, inappropriate or not worth the time, and therefore not taught comprise the null curriculum.
4. What is the place of the extracurriculum in school life?
   Most students participate in the extracurriculum, a voluntary curriculum that includes sports, clubs, student government, and school publications. While some see these activities as part of a rich cocurriculum, others discount their value.
5. What forces shape the school curriculum?
   Many groups influence the content of the curriculum. In recent years, the federal government and specially appointed education commissions have been two groups promoting a standards-based, high-stakes testing curriculum.
   
6. How has technology affected the curriculum?
   Exciting virtual field trips that take students around the world or the online activities that create fascinating learning communities illustrate the technology's promise of rich learning activities. But American fascination with technology in the past has been overly optimistic, and that may also be true today. The jury is still out on technology's impact on learning. The presence of the digital divide reminds us that technology's potential benefits are shared by all, that wealth and geography play a role.
   
7. How do textbook publishers and state adoption committees "drive" the curriculum?
   More than 20 states, mainly located in the South and West, are textbook adoption states. Local school districts in these states must select their texts from an official, stateapproved list. The most populous of these states exert considerable influence in the development of textbooks.
8. What is standards-based education?
   The pressure to improve test scores led to standards-based education, a process of focusing the curriculum on specified topics and skills, followed by continuous testing to see if these standards have been learned.
9. What are the provisions and criticisms of No Child Left Behind?
   One of the most far-reaching federal education plans, No Child Left Behind, includes annual testing, identification of underperforming schools, employing only "highly qualified" teachers, and providing additional learning options to students attending underperforming schools. Lack of funding and reliance on a single test to measure learning are just two of the criticisms leveled at the law.
10. How are cultural and political conflicts reflected in the school curriculum?
    Opposing the theory of evolution, some support intelligent design, an alternative explanation for the origin of humans. Cultural and political differences over what should be taught have led to book banning and censorship. Proponents of a core curriculum and cultural literacy argue with multiculturalists who advocate the greater inclusion of the roles, experiences, and contributions of women and people of color.
11. How can we rethink tomorrow's curriculum?
    Because of the knowledge explosion, some educators believe that we should focus less on content and more on process, including critical thinking skills, metacognition, and critical pedagogy. The reader is invited to consider a new approach to the current curriculum, and the authors suggest a four-tier curriculum that promotes self-understanding, human relations, and greater individualization. The Saber-Tooth Curriculum teaches us that a curriculum should preserve the past, but not be limited by it.     Reference:  Sadker & Sadker, 8th edition

================================================================Alternative Readings/Websites:
           1.  The Hidden Curriculum
           2.   Curriculum Types
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Return to COURSECOMPASS DSEL 794'S DISCUSSION BOARD AND POST THE FOLLOWING:
Read "The Saber-Tooth Curriculum" at:
http://nerds.unl.edu/pages/preser/sec/articles/sabertooth.html .
Add a new discussion thread responding to the following questions:
 What is the main message of this excerpt from 'The Saber-Tooth Curriculum' in relation today's education?  What, if any, in the current traditional education program would you equate with fish-grabbing-with-the-bare-hands?  Why?  What changes would you suggest making to the current traditional education program to avoid creating our own saber-tooth experience?  Why?  How do you suggest teachers avoid a curriculum programmed for obsolescence (Sadker, et al)?

Dr. Herring

Weeks 4 and 5 Philosophy of Education

What is your philosophy about life, about how education should go?  Do you know?  You may already have an idea.  One of the best ways to check on how you believe about education is to think back on who your favorite teachers were as you were growing up.  How did they govern the classroom?  Were they laissez-faire or very structured?  What did you enjoy most about that teacher?  Why did you enjoy that classroom?

Spend time exploring these questions and then read chapter eight.  See if you can identify the philosophy most held by your favorite teacher(s).  Is that how you have governed your classroom? or intend to govern it?

In looking at the chapter, definitions for the four basic areas of systematic philosophy: metaphysics, epistemology, axiology, and logic are provided. These definitions are used in analyzing the various philosophies of education that follow in the chapter.

The section on idealism examines one of the earliest philosophies of education. This philosophy posits that truth and values are absolute and universal. In pedagogical matters, idealism is presented as a philosophy that asserts the primacy of the intellectual dimension of human nature. A curriculum reflecting idealism would focus on emphasizing the finest elements of the cultural heritage.

The section on realism is examined as an educational philosophy that affirms the existence of objective knowledge and values. This section presents the realists' conception of education, curriculum, and methodology of instruction. A curriculum reflecting realism would focus on subject matter like history, languages, science, and mathematics as the organized bodies of knowledge.

The section on pragmatism is related to John Dewey's experimentalist philosophy of education. The basis for Dewey's pragmatic orientation is treated in terms of his evolutionary conception of a changing reality. Instruction would be organized around problem solving according to the scientific method.

Existentialism is examined as a newer movement in educational philosophy that stresses personal reflection and choice. From the existentialist perspective, philosophizing about the meaning of one's life and of freedom is a central activity. Classroom dialogues would be designed to stimulate an awareness that each person creates a self-concept through significant choices.

The section on progressive principles as articulated by the Progressive Education Association are presented. The origins of the progressive movement in education are examined in terms of a movement toward child-centered education that is flexible, permissive, and open-ended. Instruction based on progressive principles would include activities and projects based on students' interests and needs. Links are also made to the modern concept of constructivism.

Social reconstructionism is presented as a theory that recognizes that society is in a state of crisis.  The theme of an interdependent world is used to present the urgency of social and educational reform as advocated by the social reconstructionists. Instruction would emphasize the use of social sciences in solving significant, and often controversial, socioeconomic problems.

Sections on perennialism and essentialism characterize these ideas as examples of traditional or conservative theories of education. Their traditionalism stems from the view that education is a process of transmitting an organized body of knowledge to students. A perennialist curriculum would be based on the great books and works of art of the Western cultural heritage. An essentialist curriculum would emphasize the skills and subjects that transmit the cultural heritage and that contribute to socioeconomic efficiency.

Critical theory is not addressed in this text, but deserves some mention. This recently developed theory challenges the status quo that traditional schools reproduce. Critical theorists contend that the power holders in society use institutions like the schools to dominate those who lack power. Students and teachers should be empowered to create an education that challenges the current power structure.

Theories of Education:  perennialism, essentialism, pragmatism, existentialism, postmodernism
See the Internet Encyclopedia of Education
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You have been exposed to several overarching systems of beliefs that have developed over time:  realism, idealism, pragmatism, existentialism and postmodernism.  Out of these beliefs have evolved more specific sets of ways of thinking that pertain directly to the classroom and inform what you will do (or will not do) in the classroom:  progressivism, critical theory, perennalism, and essentialism.  How do you ascribe to these beliefs?  Where do you fit in as a future educator?  For certain this examination might be quite self-critical or it might not be.  You probably already have been thinking about which of these theories/philosophies/beliefs you relate to most.  It could be that you reflected back on a teacher who taught using a specific method such as constructivist teaching that points to a postmodernistic view, or a teacher who was strict, didactic, lectured as a realist.  What we are finding in the research and already know to be most important, is that it really does not matter which philosophy you most agree with; what matters is whether or not you can facilitate a learning environment for students that is productive, successful for them. 
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Read chapter 8 and monograph below, " A Confucian View of Good Teaching."

- GO BACK TO COURSECOMPASS DSEL 794 AND
Post your comment in at least 400 words, answering the questions at the end of the reading below on A Confucian View of Good Teaching for Discussion Postings 3 and 4 [combined] by Saturday, March 5, midnight


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A Confucian View of Good Teaching

Confucius (551-479 b.c.) developed the ethical system that governed society, politics, and education in ancient China. Concerned with maintaining social and cultural harmony, Confucius's ideas on education emphasized the proper attitudes and relationships between teachers and students. Confucian philosophy has had and continues to exercise an important influence on culture and education in China, Japan, Korea, and in other Asian countries. The following selection is from Confucius's "Record on the Subject of Education."

When a superior man knows the causes which make instruction successful, and those which make it of no effect, he can become a teacher of others. Thus in his teaching, he leads and does not drag; he strengthens and does not discourage; he opens the way but does not conduct to the end without the learner's own efforts. Leading and not dragging produces harmony. Strengthening and not discouraging makes attainment easy. Opening the way and not conducting to the end makes the learner thoughtful. He who produces such harmony, easy attainment, and thoughtfulness may be pronounced a skillful teacher.

The good singer makes men able to continue his notes, and so the good teacher makes them able to carry out his ideas. His words are brief, but far-reaching; unpretentious, but deep; with few illustrations, but instructive. In this way he may be said to perpetuate his ideas.

When a man of talents and virtue knows the difficulty on the one hand and the facility on the other in the attainment of learning, and knows also the good and bad qualities of his pupils, he can vary his methods of teaching. When he can vary his methods of teaching, he can be a master indeed. When he can be a teacher indeed, he can be the Head of an official department. When he can be such a Head, he can be the Ruler of a state. Hence it is from the teacher indeed that one learns to be a ruler, and the choice of a teacher demands the greatest care; as it is said in the Record, "The three kings and the four dynasties were what they were by their teachers."

Questions
According to Confucius, what principles contribute to successful teaching and learning?
What deficiencies may interfere with students' learning?
When should teachers vary their teaching methods?
What did Confucius believe was an appropriate teacher-learner relationship?
What are your ideas of good teaching? Which are part of your philosophy of education? How do they agree with or differ from Confucius's ideas?


Source: Robert Ulich, ed., Three Thousand Years of Educational Wisdom (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1954), pp. 21?22.

Dr. Herring

Weeks 2 [and 3] Chapter 7 - The History of American Education

     Chapter 7 begins the history of American education, addressing the nature and purpose of Colonial Education. What was the nature and purpose of Colonial Education?  Mainly, to promote Christianity, the gospel of Jesus Christ according to the King James Version of the Holy Bible, to save souls from a burning Hell, from Satan, the Devil.  The New England Primer was the main text used, first published in 1687 by Benjamin Harris.  It was the first textbook used in the colonies.  The1777 edition contained such text as The Lord's Prayer:

The LORD's Prayer.

OUR Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation. But deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever. AMEN. 

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One, two, three syllable lesson for children:

Easy Syllables, etc. Ba be bi bo bu ca ce ci co cu da de di do du fa fe fi fo fu ga ge gi go gu ha he hi ho hu ja je ji jo ju ka ke ki ko ku la le li lo lu ma me mi mo mu na ne ni no nu pa pe pi po pu ra re ri ro ru ta te ti to tu va ve vi vo vu wa we wi wo wy ya ye yi yo yu za ze zi zo zu  Words of one Syllable. Age all ape are Babe beef best bold Cat cake crown cup Deaf
dead dry dull Eat ear eggs eyes Face feet fish foul Gate good grass great Hand hat head heart Ice ink isle jobb Kick kind kneel know Lamb lame land long Made mole moon mouth Name night noise noon Oak once one ounce Pain pair pence pound Quart queen quick quilt Rain raise rose run Saint sage salt said Take talk time throat Vain vice vile view Way wait waste would  Words of two Syllables. Ab-sent ab-hor a-pron au-thor Ba-bel be-came be-guile bold-ly Ca-pon cel-lar con-stant cup-board Dai-ly de-pend di-vers du-ty Ea-gle ea-ger en-close e-ven Fa-ther fa-mous fe-male fu-ture Ga-ther gar-den gra-vy glo-ry
Hei-nous hate-ful hu-mane hus-band In-fant in-deed in-cence i-sland Ja-cob jeal-ous jus-tice ju-lep La-bour la-den la-dy la-zy Ma-ny ma-ry mo-tive mu-sick  Words of three Syllables. A-bu-sing a-mend-ing ar-gu-ment Bar-ba-rous be-ne-fit beg-gar-ly Cal-cu-late can-dle-stick con-foun-ded Dam-ni-fy dif-fi-cult drow-si-ness Ea-ger-ly em-ploy-ing evi-dence Fa-cul-ty fa-mi-ly fu-ne-ral Gar-de-ner glo-ri-ous gra-ti-tude Hap-pi-ness har-mo-ny ho-li-ness

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Hornbooks were used by students to take home and study lessons.  The main purpose of Colonial Education was to thoroughly indoctrinate students with the Holy Scriptures from The Holy Bible, the King James Version.
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The very first education laws were established in the state of Massachusetts known as the Massachusetts Education Laws of 1642 and 1647
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Early schools included the One Room School House, Dame Schools ran by women in the home, Latin Grammar Schools, the first college was Harvard College, Private Schools such as the Mennonites, the Swedes, Dutch and Jews in New York , and Plantation Owners hired Tutors in the South.  None of these early schooling initiatives involved schooling African Slaves.

How did the Common School Movement promote universal education?

 ...Due to the prevail of leading educators of the 17th century who promoted that all students should be educated for both practical and idealistic purposes.  These included promoters such as: 

- Thomas Jefferson – who said education should be for  common, white children, not just the elite.

- Benjamin Franklin -  who said that education should extend beyond free elementary school to include the ACADEMY.

- Horace Mann – who introduced the idea of the public elementary school for all students – known as ‘the father of public education’ – helped to create the Massachusetts Board of Education

- and  President Andrew Jackson -  Was Andrew Jackson a great President?

 see the link on the Indian Removal -  he was the voice of the Common People, the Poor Whites.

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How did secondary schools evolve?

as the Gap between elementary and university education existed – secondary schools evolved first as tuition charging academies, creating Normal Schools for females who wanted to be teachers; Academies for boys wanting to go into the Military.

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The secondary school movement included: 

The English Classical School  [1821]– first free, secondary education school  for working class boys in the U.S., in Boston, MA

Academies [1700-1800s] – some college prep, some  business education

High Schools – free, public schools, supported by school taxes [see Kalamazoo, MI case of 1874 - The "Kalamazoo Case" became the rule of law throughout the nation, paving the way for the widespread acceptance of tax-supported high schools. The City of Kalamazoo opened a high school operated through tax support in 1859. In 1873, three owners of considerable downtown property filed a circuit court suit to prevent the township treasurer from collecting that portion of the school property tax intended for the support of the high school. In February 1874, the judge ruled in favor of the school board. The case was immediately appealed to the Michigan Supreme Court where it was upheld. ]

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How did teaching become a gendered career?

Early teaching was considered a ‘man’s job; per the Holy Bible:  men worked outside the home; women took care of the inside of the home; men were considered the HEAD, after God, after Christ.

 Education is STILL...

Gendered Male  - early colonial days, men dominated the teaching field

Gendered Female – introduction of home Dame schools, where women taught students in their kitchens, homes;

introduction of common schools increased demand for women teachers, although preference for single, spinsters

Gendered Male – white women should be at home being mothers to continue the white race.

Gendered White Female – today 90% of teachers in the U.S. are white ----  71% of the teachers are female
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What role has the Federal Government played in American Education?

The Federal Government's history of involvement with schools include:

the National Defense Education Act

the Tenth Amendment

the Land Ordinance Act

the Northwest Ordinance

the Bureau of Indian Affairs [Native American Tribes Schooling

the Categorical Grants [Headstart; Food Stamps; Medicaid]

the National School Lunch Act

and No Child Left Behind Act

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This concludes the blog posting for Week 2 [and 3]  Chapter 7 - the History of American Education.  You can return to Course Compass Blackboard for the posted reading excerpts.

Jennifer Herring, PhD