PEDAGOGY OF THE OPPRESSED – Paulo Freire

Pedagogy of the Oppressed is one of the most common nonfiction books to start, and then stop, reading. Lots of teachers, academics, social workers crack it open at some point. Plenty activists and leaders interested in social justice do the same. Yet it’s also one of those books that defeats people. They get tripped up by its phrasing, the density of its text and the weight of its ideas. The clunky translation and frequent references to other thinkers don’t make things easier. Some aren’t prepared for its revolutionary, anti-capitalist, and anti-imperialist aims. And so, for some or all these reasons, folks leave the book unfinished.

That’s a shame, because Freire’s work is brilliant and useful. Still, I get why this book about emancipatory education can so inaccessible when you read it. This was one of the densest books I have read as part of Prole Academy. In some ways, it was more difficult to read than the seediest parts of Marxist economics. Paulo Freire was an expert educator and a lifelong student – true to his ideal for how we all should be. It’s clear to me that he read about everyone relevant to his field and his concerns. He isn’t afraid to cite their work and appropriate their philosophy. If he has one fault as a writer, it’s an ironic one in that he doesn’t seem to want to make this work terribly accessible to laymen. Maybe that’s inevitable for such a weighty subject, or maybe it’s because of how Myra Bergman Ramos translated this book from Spanish into English.

I hope that that won’t turn you away from the book, though. If you’re willing to work through it, what you receive is well worth the effort. If you’re interested in the practice of teaching, or pedagogy, it’s essential reading. The pedagogy given here helps us examine society’s current classes and social roles. It explains how elites deprive us of the knowledge and agency we need to liberate themselves. It holds insight into how revolutionary movements should, and shouldn’t, raise critical consciousness.

Paulo Freire worked to develop a process to educate and liberate oppressed people. He saw systems of injustice, exploitation, and violence pervading his society and others. These left large swathes of people in poverty, without resources or sociopolitical power. He called those people oppressed, and those in control of them oppressors. Freire’s frame of reference was the mid-20th century Brazilian slums where he grew up. Still, we can find these oppressive systems at work throughout the world.

What examples can we find of oppressive systems in Freire’s time and in our own?

TWO FROM FREIRE:
1. Peasants subjected to abuse and exploitation by large landowners and government officials
2. Urban dwellers forced by corporate and government entities into slums. These people depend on low-wage work, if any is available at all. They suffer from food insecurity, unstable housing and high rates of crime.

ONE FROM THE MODERN U.S.:
3. Decaying rural towns facing epidemics of poverty and opioid abuse. Governments spend their money elsewhere. Corporations moved out decades ago after exploiting the towns when they were profitable. Infrastructure has crumbled. Few opportunities exist for employment, business creation, or adequate public health and education.

What others can you think of? Write them in the comments at the bottom of this review.

What was Freire’s Goal?

“To awaken in the oppressed the knowledge, creativity, and constant critical reflective capacities necessary to unveil, demystify, and understand the power relations responsible for their oppressed marginalization and, through this recognition, begin a project of liberation through praxis.”

In other words:
To help people realize their oppression, and how to free themselves and others.

What educational system does Paulo Freire criticize?

Freire blasted the “banking” concept of education most prominent during his time. In this method, teachers treat students like empty vessels and try to “fill” them. Students start out knowing nothing. Knowledge is something fixed, a gift for teachers to give to students and for students to accept. Teachers expect students to memorize and recite without question. Critical thinking is not encouraged. Students are passive in school and when they enter society, that passivity remains.

What is Paulo Freire’s alternative educational system?

Freire offers the “problem-posing method” of education. In it, “teacher-students” engage in dialogue with “student-teachers”. Both parties both teach and learn in a collaborative process. Teachers and students contemplate concepts, systems and examples together. They interrogate and engage their material, looking for connections and new insights. Students share their own considerations with the teacher. Both parties work to create new conceptions, unraveling and expanding their reality together.

What Does This Method Look Like and How Can it Surprise Us?

A researcher showed students a picture of a drunken man walking on the street in Santiago. Across from him, three young men chatted on the corner. The researcher wanted to spark a talk about alcoholism, in an almost preachy way.  Instead, participants mentioned that the drunk man had likely been working all day. He was likely depressed and anxious because he is still unable to take care of his family after this. Participants drew a “connection between earning low wages, feeling exploited, and getting drunk.” They saw it as a self-destructive “flight from reality.” The drunken man was trying to cope with his inability to get ahead.  In describing him this way, they empathize with him and refuse to condemn him. They identified with him vs. the young men who chatted nearby, and likely didn’t work.   They used this image to make connections and better understand their own reality.

What Lessons Does Freire Offer for Revolutionaries?

Praxis means a “transformation of the world” and “requires theory to illuminate it.” Any authentic revolution must involve dialogue between leaders and the people. This keeps it from being a coup or a bureaucratic dictatorship.

“Dialogue does not impose, does not manipulate, does not domesticate, does not “sloganize””. He believed revolutionary movements that created excess bureaucracy distanced themselves from the people.

“The revolution is made neither by the leaders for the people, nor by the people for the leaders, but by both acting together in unshakable solidarity”.

Bottom Line:

This book turned conventional Western ideas of education on their head. It did so for good reason. Freire’s philosophy of teaching isn’t about filling students with trivia. It’s not about preparing them for gainful employment. It’s about helping them see the forces in play that affect their lives. It helps them make connections to better express and perceive their world. This includes the systems that oppress them through poverty, ignorance, and servitude. Only through raising this consciousness can they liberate themselves. Only then can they become “more fully human.”

Freire’s book is a slog at times, but that’s in part because it’s thick with insight. The revolution in education he’s talking about requires a great deal of effort. Freire requires that of his readers, as well. Read the book – sit with it, savor it, take your time and take notes. There’s a student guide published for it by Antonia Darder as well, which I read after this book. It gave useful context on Freire’s life, worldview and philosophy. Still, it doesn’t simplify the book’s main arguments and, in some ways, it complicates them. You can finish this book in a few days, but wrestling with its ideas is a worthwhile task for a lifetime.