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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Return to COURSECOMPASS DSEL 794'S DISCUSSION BOARD TO POST 

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