Reviews for Education: its nature and purpose

The average rating for Education: its nature and purpose based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2016-06-08 00:00:00 Robert Thomson This is my second time reading this book in the last year, and the vistas it opens up continue to expand. Freire's exploration of the problematizing method is layered and thoughtful. This is a brief book, but that's like saying it doesn't take very long to see a beautiful sunrise. This book helps layout the approach for overturning the pedagogy of the oppressed and combating the banking model of education (teacher deposits information into students). The solution is put forward in The Pedagogy of the Oppressed, but in this book the problem focused model of education is more fully developed. The approach is geared toward the cultural realities in Chile and Brazil, so it must be adapted by the reader in order to apply the education for critical consciousness to the various cultural realities in the United States, but the adaptation is not too hard to envision. The banking model of education is the overemphasis on didactic teaching (lecture) and of course, the glut of standardized testing -- overall, the banking model assigns a passive role to the student. The problem focused model of education can be exhibited in the classroom through inquiry based instruction and genuine seminars. The problem focused model of education allows for education for critical consciousness through the students' dynamic interaction with questions, the open-ended questions of the inquiry process. The dialogue in the seminars between the teacher and the students does NOT consist of the teacher approving of the knowledge the students repeat (after having heard it from the teacher). The dialogue in the seminar consists of the students and the teacher exploring open-ended questions without assumptions of correct answers -- especially on the teacher's part. This allows for the students to discover knowledge/understanding on their own, and in this discovery, a transformation of the world takes place. This transformation expresses the true aim of education (as Freire explains it): the practice of freedom -- in understanding & making meaning of the world. Anything less than the problem focused model of education amounts to the domestication of humans -- the taming of people, taking away the freedom of thought & critical thinking that allows for praxis. As Freire defines it, praxis is the combination of action and reflection, and it's what separates humans from being brute animals. The combination of action & reflection isn't possible for students (and citizens at large) who have been domesticated by the banking model of education -- only conditioned responses to advertising & propaganda are possible. One of the most important aspects of Education for Critical Consciousness that I haven't mentioned is the importance of the teacher understanding, empathizing, and valuing the point of view & cultural background of each student. If teachers don't take the time to do this, then they are essentially performing cultural invasion and are acting in the realm of domestication. What's the biggest reason teachers don't use the problem focused model of education? One reason is the fact that nearly the entire education system (K-16) is rigged towards the banking model of education. Freire nails another reason: many teachers, when faced with knowable objects, "are incapable of taking up a cognitive position. They remain in the realm of 'doxa' beyond which they are the mere repeaters of texts read but not known." Education for Critical Consciousness excels at explicitly showing how an education system can function through oppression & manipulation to create domesticated animals, and it also excels at showing how education can create people who can actually think for themselves.

Review # 2 was written on 2020-08-16 00:00:00 Peter Constance Though Freire's analysis of the "dialogue" required for any education to be necessarily transformative can be easily applied to more contemporary ideas of decolonizing education, the failure to synthesize Brazilian women into his vision of radical "historical participation" leaves much to be desired.