This document provides an overview of Paulo Freire and his ideas about critical pedagogy and the banking concept of education versus problem-posing education. It discusses Freire's view that the current education system acts to oppress students and how problem-posing education which treats students as co-creators could help overcome this oppression. The document also mentions how Freire's book Pedagogy of the Oppressed was recently banned in Arizona schools and debates around issues of multiculturalism and language in education.

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Pedagogy of the
Oppressed
Paulo Freire

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Who is Paulo Freire?
 Take a look at this
brief biography on
Freire
 How did his life
experiences influence
his thinking and ideas
that we see in
Pedagogy of the
Oppressed?

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Critical Pedagogy
 Freire was a critical pedagogy theorist – but
what does that mean? Click here to find out
more about it
 Our old friend John Dewey was also
influential in the field of critical pedagogy,
but perhaps some of the other authors
we‟ve read would agree with these ideas as
well – what do you think?

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Methods of Education
Check out this video for a quick review on
what Freire wrote about the banking
concept of education vs. the problem-
posing method

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Banking or Problem-Posing?
 Freire makes a strong case for the problem-posing method of
education. Teachers can certainly learn from their students, and
dialogue is very important in the classroom.
 How do you feel about his transfer of oppression to the school
setting? This can be looked at in a couple ways…
 Oppression of minorities
 Oppression of student by teacher (regardless of race, culture,
gender, age, etc.)

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With which method would the
other authors we have studied
agree? PROBLEM-POSING METHOD
BANKING CONCEPT

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Banned
 Freire‟s Pedagogy of the Oppressed was banned from schools
in Tucson, Arizona earlier this year, along side the suspension
controversy of Tucson‟s Mexican American Studies program.
 The ban on Freire is based on his political leanings toward
socialism, but the developers of the MAS program simply liked
his ideas about education.
 As Julio Cammarota said, “„Why aren‟t they talking about Jack
London? Why aren‟t they talking about Steinbeck or Orwell? All of
them were open socialists.‟”
 What do you think? Is this ban Freire‟s oppression at work?

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The Oppressed: Who Are They?
 There are different ways that people can be oppressed – just
think of all the types of prejudices that exist in our society
 Social relations are dynamic and contextual
 How about “adultism”, that is, the “overbearing domination of
adults” over children? Here, Freire‟s ideas are applied to Maria
Montessori‟s

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Overcoming Injustice
 Watch this interview with Freire
 He supported multicultural education, which is apparent in his
discussion about tolerance of other languages
 He also says people need to learn the dominant syntax to
overcome injustice
 What do you make of this in terms of what he said about the
oppressed enabling their situation by buying into the conditions
set forth by the oppressed?

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The Complexity of the Issue
 We‟ve already discussed the delicate and elaborate nature of
education‟s role in this country
 Even after his death, Freire‟s work lives on
 “Democracy is a fragile entity…Understanding these diverse
dimensions and structures that shape schooling and the knowledge
it conveys is necessary…to the very survival of democratic
schooling – not to mention the continued existence of democracy
itself.”
 Do you think critical pedagogy can account for the complexity
of improving education? If so, how? If not, why?

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References
About paulo friere. (n.d.). Retrieved November 17, 2012, from
http://www.pedagogyoftheoppressed.com/author/
Education as human liberation (n.d.). Retrieved November 18, 2012, from
http://www.csupomona.edu/~plin/ls201/montess_freire2.html
Kincheloe, J. L. (n.d.) Retrieved November 18, 2012, from
http://www.freireproject.org/Freire_Critical_Pedagogy_Project_Description
Kylarayen. (2012, March 13). Freire‟s banking concept of education [Video file]. Retrieved
from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoxHpNYFg5E
LiteracyDotOrg. (2009, December 30). Paulo freire – an incredible conversation [Video
file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFWjnkFypFA
Planas, R. (2012, April 19). Neither banned nor allowed: Mexican american studies in
limbo in arizona. Retrieved from
http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2012/04/19/neither-banned-nor-allowed-mexican-
american-studies-in-limbo-in-arizona/
What is critical pedagogy? (n.d.). Retrieved November 17, 2012 from
http://www.21stcenturyschools.com/What_is_Critical_Pedagogy.htm