Pedagogy of the Oppressed Chapter 2 Reaction

Pedagogy of the Oppressed—Paulo Freire

© 2011

Translation by Myra Bergman Ramos

Chapter 2

Reaction

            When I read Paulo Freire’s work, I am struck by how relevant it is to our current educational system, 40 years after its publication.  Chapter 2 was much easier for me to process than chapter one in that it addresses much of what I have experienced in the field of education.  There are many instances where students are expected to incorporate someone else’s idea of what is important to learning.  My experience is marked by what I have to teach and what my students bring to the classroom that they are interested in learning.

            One concept that settled in my mind was that of the semantics and pragmatics of what is taught and what is learned.  It seems as though Freire addresses the periphery of the origin of oppression of students as well as what should be done to rectify, in general, the oppression. However, he seems to only touch on how to attend to the meaning of what is taught and what, specifically, should be presented to students. 

I am processing this from my perspective as an elementary school teacher who has worked in mostly middle-class schools.  The issue of oppression, in the broadest sense, has not been forefront on my mind, but I have had students that have made me consider the why and what I teach where they are concerned.  For me, the reading of Freire’s work has caused me to reflect on my own position of the semantics and pragmatics of the structure of my classroom. What space do I create to allow students’ input to their education?  How do I encourage them to explore beyond the set curriculum?  How do I support them in “considering possibilities not thought of by their parents”, as Elliot Eisner once stated? Do I feel I am in this position to rescue or liberate?  I don’t have answers to these questions, but I need to keep them in mind.

As I began processing the information from this chapter, a scene from a story I read to my students came to mind.  It is from the book The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. In it, the protagonist laments that there is so much information to learn. Another character states that it isn’t the learning that is important but learning what to do with what you learn and why is what makes a difference.

Not focusing on what to do with information and why it is needed is what is lacking in our current educational system.  There is rhetoric from those in education who insist that students are taught and held accountable for understanding and applying what is learned in the classroom.  True understanding and application of information are difficult to measure and are not “tested”, and testing is the current gauge of success in most classrooms and schools. There is no dialogue with students as to whether or not the information is pertinent to them and their needs. I suppose that is oppression, and where some are oppressed, there is little freedom or liberation for all.

Forty years after Freire’s work, it seems as though the means to initiate change in our educational system is still in the control of the oppressors.  Many teachers as well as students could be labeled oppressed in that they lack the freedom to choose and construct a new framework for teaching students. There are few people who will begin a dialogue in order to enact change, and it seems that not only educational structures but societal and political venues are lacking in seeing oppression in any given classroom.  The need for change is critical, yet the educational climate is controlled by the oppressors with little chance of them renouncing any control or power.