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Running head: SUMMARY OF PEDAGOGY OF THE OPPRESSED
Summary of Pedagogy of the Oppressed
Amel Gataani
Colorado State University
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Running head: SUMMARY OF PEDAGOGY OF THE OPPRESSED
Abstract
Pedagogy of the Oppressed is a class analysis that discusses the colonizer and the colonized, the oppressor and the oppressed and the power relationship between the two. It asserts that the oppressor has no power without the consent of the oppressed and discusses the method of unraveling the system of oppression that exists in a class society and its impact on the education of the masses.
Summary of Pedagogy of the Oppressed
Introduction
Freire’s (1993) work acts as a guide to help assist the end user in understanding their socio-political situation and to aid people interested in helping “oppressed” people to realize that they and they alone own the power to change the status quo. The theories presented in this book are so controversial that they it has been banned in many counties especially totalitarian states that continue to use the methods described in the book to maintain power over their people through a carefully structured education system that is designed to keep the oppressed, oppressed.
The book is divided into four chapters. The first chapter provides an overview of the relationship between the oppressed and the oppressor. The second chapter is devoted to exposing and discussing the “banking system of education” as a method or tool used by people in authority to maintain control over the masses and contrasts the concept of “problem posing education” as a tool used for liberation. In the third chapter the reader is introduced to dialogics and the concept of thematic investigation. The book concludes with a chapter that summarizes the characteristics detailed in the previous chapters and introduces the characteristics of theories of cultural action.
Throughout this summary the reader will find themselves faced with strong language such as “oppressed” and “oppressor”. Freire is an advocate of using the appropriate language to describe the situation. It is noted in the introduction that often words like oppressed are substituted in academia with words like “disenfranchised” or “disadvantaged”, however these terms do not provide a counterpart for the object and subject and distort reality. Upon reading this summary the reader will encounter the word oppressed, which is defined a person who is prevented from being fully human and oppressor, which is the party that bears responsibility for the action.
Chapter 1
This chapter justifies the need for a pedagogy of the oppressed through an exploration of people’s fear of freedom and exposes the contradiction of the power struggle between the masses and the oppressors. Freire introduces the concept that people have had their humanity stolen from them historically and that the struggle to regain it is a struggle to liberate themselves and their oppressors as well. He explains that the struggle for the oppressed to regain their humanity is only possible “… because dehumanization, although a concrete historical fact, is not a given destiny but the result of an unjust order that engenders violence in the oppressors, which in turn dehumanizes the oppressed” (Freire, 1993, p.44). He warns the oppressed that in this liberation process it is of ultimate importance to not turn the tables and become the very thing they are struggling against, the oppressors. Rather, liberate themselves and their oppressors and become the restorers of humanity of both.
The author explains that the oppressors often use false generosity in order to protect their position of authority and maintain the unjust social order. In doing so, they maintain their authoritative position over the oppressed by keeping them in need of the “false” charity. The charity being labeled as false He describes true generosity as helping the oppressed to no longer require the assistance of the oppressors and helping them to realize that only they can fight for the restoration of their humanity.
Unfortunately, often when the oppressed struggle for their liberation, they find themselves striving to become the oppressors rather than liberators of humanity. For all that they have come to understand to be the oppressive nature of their existence and have learned to identify with their oppressors. Many therefore inadvertently strive to become the oppressor. An example is noted that once a peasant’s (oppressed) situation is changes and he is “promoted” to the overseer, he adopts the tyrannical nature of his oppressor and becomes worse to his comrades than the owner (oppressor) (Freire, 1993, p.46). This is because in his mind, in order to do his job, he needs to be tougher than the owner and fulfill the role of the oppressor.
Another characteristic of the oppressed is manifested in the dual nature of the oppressed. The oppressed may feel an internal contradiction where they feel an irresistible attraction towards the oppressor and their way of life and a yearning to aspire to reach the way of life of the oppressed. All the while they may also adopt the self-depreciation which is internalized through the opinion the oppressors hold on them (Freire, 1993, P.63). They downplay their knowledge base referring to themselves using terms like “ignorant” while making statements that indicate that only the Professor (member of the oppressors) knows best. They often begin to gain involvement in a discussion, only to back down and insist that they know nothing and need to listen to be taught.
The pedagogy of the oppressed identifies two stages of liberation. In the first stage, the oppressed have to realize their reality and commit themselves to its transformation (Freire, 1993, p.46). They need to gain a better understanding of their world view, their consciousness and their behavior. The oppressed must see themselves as humans worthy of liberation and only then will they be able to free themselves from the injustice of the oppression. They also need to see examples of the vulnerability of the oppressor (Freire, 1993, p.64) in order to understand the exploitation they were suffering and that the indeed are not less worthy than the oppressor. In the second stage, once the reality of the oppression is realized and transformed, it becomes the pedagogy of all people in the process of permanent liberation.
It is essential for the oppressed to realize that they need to be active participants of the struggle. Freire (1993) notes that he struggle begins with men’s recognition that they have been destroyed and that it can only continue through constant and permanent dialogue with the oppressor. It is essential that the educational methods of the oppressor are set aside for a participatory method of education where the dialogue continues between the two parties. Freire states:
A revolutionary leadership must accordingly practice co-intentional education. Teachers and students (leadership and people) co-intent on reality, are both Subjects, not only 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. (Freire, 1993, p.69)
Chapter 2
In this chapter Freire (1993) introduces and discusses the banking method of education which mirrors oppressive society. The banking method is fundamentally narrative in nature. The relationship between teacher and pupil is similar to that of oppressor and oppressed. The teacher talks about a subject and the pupil takes notes and notes it as fact without questioning, criticizing or analyzing the information. “The outstanding characteristic of this narrative education is the sonority of words, not their transforming power”(Freire, 1993, p.71). Students in turn, record memorize and repeat phrases without any understanding of what they mean or ever realizing their true significance. This method turns students into thoughtless receptacles or containers to be filled with information by the all knowing teacher. Information is deposited into these receptacles as simply and matter of fact as money is deposited into a bank. Student’s are not given the opportunity to inquire, rather are expected to retain. When people lack the opportunity to inquire and practice what they have learned, individuals cannot be truly human, but remain collectors or cataloguers of information. According to Freire (1993, p.72), “Knowledge emerges only through invention and re-invention, through the restless, impatient, continuing, hopeful inquiry human beings pursue in the world, with the world and with each other.”
It comes to no surprise that this method of education develops a more manageable society as it encourages individuals to store and retain information rather than develop a critical consciousness of the world around them. It creates a more passive individual that simply accepts their role in society as one of the passive receptacle with a limited view of reality. It minimizes the student’s creative thought process and neither leads to the world revealed or a critical analysis developed. The world is accepted as it is by the student, with little interest in seeing it transformed.
Freire argues that, “…those truly committed to liberation must reject the banking concept in its entirety, adopting instead a concept of women and men as conscious beings… they must abandon the educational goal of deposit-making and replace it with the posing of problems of human beings in their relations with the world.” (Freire, 1993, p.79)
He further states that, “Liberating education consists in acts of cognition, not transferrals of information.” Through this he introduces the concept of the “teacher-student” and the “student-teacher” where the teacher’s role in the classroom is to guide discussion posing problems to initiate discussion, not to direct and preach their “ultimate knowledge”. In problem-posing education, both the student and the teacher grow through dialogue and critical reflection. They come to see the world through a critical perception and understand that they exist in a world that is not static but ever changing and evolving. It promotes an authentic form of thought and action.
Freire details the conflicts between the two educational concepts in the following passage:
“Banking education (for obvious reasons) attempts, by mythicizing reality, to conceal certain facts which explain the way human beings exist in the world; problem posing education sets itself the task of demythologizing. Banking education resists dialogue; problem-posing education regards dialogue as indispensable to the act of cognition which unveils reality. Banking education treats students as objects of assistance; problem-posing education makes them critical thinkers. Banking education inhibits creativity and domesticates (although it cannot completely destroy) the intentionality of consciousness by isolating consciousness from the world, thereby denying people their ontological and historical vocation of becoming fully human. Problem-posing education bases itself on creativity and stimulates true reflection and action upon reality, thereby responding to the vocation of persons as beings who are authentic only when engaged in inquiry and creative transformation.” (Freire, 1993, p.83).
Basically, Freire (1993) contends that the banking theory fails to take into account and recognize human beings as historical beings, while problem-posing theory uses an individual’s history as a starting point. Problem-posing education is always evolving as humans evolve; it is not stagnant in nature. In Problem-posing education the world is no longer strictly defined by a knowledgeable other; instead it is open to interpretation and transformation.
Chapter 3
This chapter discusses dialogics and awakening critical consciousness through investigation. Freire begins by developing the concept of dialogics as the ultimate dialogue which is the key to education. He describes dialogue as requiring critical thinking, awareness of our full humanity and trust. Authentic, problem posing, education involves the teacher and student in dialogue in order to promote different views and ideas. In the banking method, dialogue is not encouraged and the teacher is there to teach the student, not discuss and learn with them.
He further develops his point by using examples of education plans that have failed because they were not developed with the student in mind. He maintains that the student’s world view and sense of reality should be the underlying factor when developing a program. In order to understand this view, an open dialogue with the people will help achieve the realization of their perspective and reflect their situation in the world (Freire, 1993, p.96). In order to communicate effectively, Freire (1993) believes the, “…educator needs to understand the structural conditions in which the thought and language of the people are dialectically framed.” According to Freire (1993), the task of the dialogical educator after understanding and revealing their student’s world view is to re-present it to them as a problem rather than a lecture (Freire, 1993, p.109).
Freire moves on to discuss education through thematic investigation which enlightens individuals on their historical and present reality. The use of thematic investigation allows participants to externalize their thematics see how they themselves would react to an experience or a situation that is being analyzed. They begin to discover the dimensions of reality and develop a perception of their previous perception and knowledge of their previous knowledge. This helps people to come to feel like masters of their thinking through thoughtful discussions about their views of the world.