Paulo Freire: Teaching for Freedom and Transformation: The Philosophical Influences on the Work of Paulo Freire

190 Pages·2011·1.07 MB·English

by  John Dale

Paulo Freire: Teaching for Freedom
and Transformation
EXPLORATIONS OF EDUCATIONAL PURPOSE
Volume12
FoundingEditor
JoeKincheloe(1950–2008)
SeriesEditors
ShirleyR.Steinberg,McGillUniversity,Montreal,Quebec,Canada
KennethTobin,CityUniversityofNewYork,USA
EditorialBoard
BarrieBarrell,MemorialUniversityofNewfoundland,Canada
RochelleBrock,UniversityofIndiana,Gary,USA
StephenPetrina,UniversityofBritishColumbia,Canada
ChristineQuail,StateUniversityofNewYork,Oneonta,USA
NelsonRodriguez,CollegeofNewJersey,USA
LeilaVillaverde,UniversityofNorthCarolina,Greensboro,USA
JohnWillinsky,StanfordUniversity,USA
SeriesScope
Intoday’sdominantmodesofpedagogy,questionsaboutissuesofrace,class,gen-
der, sexuality, colonialism, religion, and other social dynamics are rarely asked.
Questionsaboutthesocialspaceswherepedagogytakesplace–inschools,media,
andcorporatethinktanks–arenotraised.Andtheyneedtobe.
TheExplorationsofEducationalPurposebookseriescanhelpestablisharenewed
interest in such questions and their centrality in the larger study of education and
thepreparationofteachersandothereducationalprofessionals.Theeditorsofthis
series feel that education matters and that the world is in need of a rethinking of
educationandeducationalpurpose.
Coming from a critical pedagogical orientation, Explorations of Educational
Purpose aims to have the study of education transcend the trivialization that often
degradesit.Ratherthanbecontentwiththefrivolous,scholarlylaxformsofteacher
educationandweakteachingprevailingintheworldtoday,weshouldworktowards
education that truly takes the unattained potential of human beings as its starting
point.Theserieswillpresentstudiesofalldimensionsofeducationandofferalter-
natives.Theultimateaimoftheseriesistocreatenewpossibilitiesforpeoplearound
the world who suffer under the current design of socio-political and educational
institutions.
Forfurthervolumes:
http://www.springer.com/series/7472
·
John Dale Emery J. Hyslop-Margison
Paulo Freire: Teaching for
Freedom and Transformation
The Philosophical Influence on the Work
of Paulo Freire
123
JohnDale Prof.EmeryJ.Hyslop-Margison
UniversityofIndianapolis UniversityofNewBrunswick
SecretariatCircle506 FacultyofEducation
46901 KokomoIndiana FrederictonNeubraunschweig
USA Canada
[email protected] [email protected]
ISBN978-90-481-9099-7 e-ISBN978-90-481-9100-0
DOI10.1007/978-90-481-9100-0
SpringerDordrechtHeidelbergLondonNewYork
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2010935108
©SpringerScience+BusinessMediaB.V.2010
Nopartofthisworkmaybereproduced,storedinaretrievalsystem,ortransmittedinanyformorby
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ForDorian andCaitlin

Foreword
Criticalityisn’tparticularlypopular
ShirleyR.Steinberg
Paulo Freire, like John Dewey, was and is a hated scholar. To some readers, the
assertion that these two men were not revered by everyone would be surprising.
To others, those who have read Freire and Dewey, and who continue to work to
keepacriticalprogressivepedagogyelasticandthriving,theyprobablyknowhow
muchtheirownworkisreviled.ThisbookisaboutPauloFreire,amanwhosework
was feared and hated even as a new scholar, whose name continues to raise blood
pressurewhendiscussedinmanyfacultiesofeducation.Whatisitaboutthenotion
ofsocialjusticeandequitythatbotherssomanyoftheprivileged?Whyisitthatthis
humblemanfromRecife,thisbelly-laughing,religious,philosopher-teacher,lover,
andex-convictelicitssuchanger?Inourcurrentpoliticalclimate,even30-year-old
booksbyJonathanKozolcreateanimosity.
TheeducationofteachersinNorthAmericaceased,forthemostpart,yearsago.
SomehowthepedagogyofthepedagoguesbecamerelegatedtoKWLcharts,rubri-
cization,high-stakestesting,andteacher-proofunitsandtextscreatedbypublishers.
I remember clearly thinking that Piaget was quite passé back in the day, and now,
atleasttome,Iamreconsideringhimassomewhatprogressive.That’showlowwe
havegone.
In a meeting somewhere in New York a month ago, I was with a member of
the NY State Board of Regents, and one of the NY Education czar’s top men, Joe
Frey. As we discussed teacher education and new programs, Frey was describing
the new mandate under Patterson’s man, Commissioner David Steiner. [A sidebar
here,SteineristheformerdeanofHunterCollege,consideredbymanyinthe1990s
asa“maverick,”andtheauthorofRethinkingDemocraticEducation:ThePolitics
of Reform. Steiner is an intellect, and somewhat of a philosopher scholar, in the
traditionofafoundationsprofessor.HecertainlywasaDeweyanatonepoint.]Frey
toldusthatNYStatehasnowdeterminedtobringin“non-traditional”teachers.That
is,tobringinteacherswhoarenotteachers.Freyassertedthattheproblemwiththe
NYschoolswastheFacultiesofEducation,andthathisoffic wasredesigningthe
concept of what a teacher was meant to do. This had to be done outside of the
confine ofhighereducation,anddefinitel ,outofaschoolofeducation.
vii
viii Foreword
IwasbeingpaidasaconsultanttomeetwithFrey,soIlistenedwithinterestand
attemptedtoaskblandquestions.Iaskedhimhowtheyintendedtoteachtheteach-
ershowtoteach.Freyrepliedthatpedagogywasnotnecessary,thereasonchildren
inNewYorkwerenotlearningwasduetothefactthattheywerecontentdeficient
Iaskedabouttheclassissues,thedifferenceinopportunitiesinmarginalizedareas.
FreyexclaimedthatallchildreninNewYorkStatehavethesameopportunities.He
began to describe what he saw as the new New York school. Tied intricately with
Obama’snewRacetotheTop,Freysaidthatcontentspecificit andrigoroustesting
wouldbeincreased.ListeningwithallthesubtletyIcouldmuster,Iaskedhowthis
newcurriculumwouldbedelivered.
Frey said that Pearson Publishing was already creating the new statewide cur-
riculum. They were well into the development, and he had high hopes for the
product. Going on with some specificit , he added that all schools would have
this implemented within a stated timeline. I scoured my mind to think of who
couldbeinvolvedinthisdevelopment.KnowingmostoftheNewYorkprofessor-
types in my field I was wondering who got this consultant gig, and, frankly, how
lucrative it would be for him or her. Remembering Sternberg and the millions he
...
amassed with Success for All, which didn’t even lead to success for some this
NewYork/Pearsonmarriagewouldyieldinterestingprogeny.Freykeptreferringto
...
PearsonandthePearsoncurriculum soIhadtoask,“Joe,sorrytostopyouhere,
but who are the educational scholars working with Pearson? I just want to get an
ideaoftheideologicalfoundationsofthenewprogram.”Hedidn’thesitate:
...
“We don’t have education people scholars or academics working on this,
Pearsonisdevelopingtheprogramforus.Afteritisdevelopedwewillhavesome
peoplelookatit.”
...
ButIdigress thisbookisnotforthosewhosupportadeskillednotionofteach-
ing. It is not for those who have bought into the test-driven Race to the Top cum
NoChildLeftBehinddecontextualizedrhetoric.Thisbookisforthosewhoseeka
pedagogy to transform. Not a canon, not a method, and certainly, not the Freirean
...
way it is for those who desire elasticity in their teaching, who don’t intend to
dwell in the bulletin-boarded halls of pastel schooling. Along with a mandate for
pedagogy,Freire’sworkcombineswiththecriticaltheoreticalphilosophiesofthose
from the Frankfurt School. This ideological stance calls for teachers to identify
sources of power, how power works, and how the marginalized are repressed due
to sources of power. This is where teaching teachers gets dicey. It is essential that
we name the names of those in power, we work with students to understand the
machinations of power, and we create a curriculum of empowerment, which also
workswithintheconfine ofstate-orprovinciallymandatedcurricula.
Inculturalstudies,manyofushavediscussedthenotionofacultureoffear.That
phrasetendstoidentifyissuesregardingpoliticalandeconomicstatesofbeing,and
current oppression of citizenry. It is also used in connection with racism and sex-
ism,basicallydiscussinghowprejudicesarerootedinvisceralfearandignorance.
IcontendthatthecultureoffearthatIseedailyexistsinpublicschoolsandfacul-
tiesofeducation.Tenureterrorcoupledwithmeasurablerunningrecordssmothers
Foreword ix
any creativity or initiative that teachers might have. As teachers who teach crit-
ical pedagogy, we often get students returning to our office after their frst job,
tellingusthat“allthatsocialjusticeandempowermentstuffwasgreat,butwedon’t
have that option. We have to test and measure, there is no time for Freire.” The
attrition rate of new teachers grows as the socioeconomic condition of a commu-
nity declines. In New York City schools, teachers actually make less money in
Manhattan than they do in Long Island, in Garden City, for instance. Afraid to
lose their jobs, afraid to be caught teaching off the books, afraid to fin alterna-
tivewaystoteachcurriculum,teachersarejustafraid.Teachersofteachersarejust
asafraid,crushedbytheweightoffor-profi behemothNCATE,Americanschools
of education scurry and jump to the demand for initial “accreditation” visits, and
5-year revisits. After escaping to Canada, I watch bemused as my friends tell me
theirsoapoperatictalesof“cookingthecurricularbooks,”changingstats,andlate-
nightauthorshipoffauxmissionstatements.SchoolspayNCATEalargeamountof
money, NCATE demands accountability, and teaching is brought to the proverbial
screeching halt as deans and department chairs chortle the Pagliaccian demand to
...
Vestilagiubba performandputonthecostumesforNCATE.
NowonderFreireishated.Becomingcriticalisalwaysanactofbecoming.Itis
not rubric-friendly, nor charted on a weekly record. Fear has been instilled within
the very bowels of education, and we are now dealing with the stomach fl of
publisher-driven,centralized,standardized,capitalized,cauterizedpedagogy.What
arewegoingtodoaboutit?
ShirleyR.Steinbergisresearchprofessor(professorainvestigadora)forGeneralitatdeCatalunya
attheUniversityofBarcelonaandteachesatMcGillUniversity.