Rating: 
Summary: Ray of Hope for a Human Future
Review: If you think there should be more social justice in our world and that the systems of our modern society may even prevent social justice Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed is for you. This Brazilian educator and philosopher wrote in 1970 of a world, our world, where 'Concern for humanization leads at once to the recognition of dehumanization, not only as an ontological possibility but as an historical reality.'(Freire, 43) Freire would spend 70 some days in prison and live in exile for over 6 years for his writings and teachings particularly as they related to Brazilian peasants.
Freire wrote that we all live a dehumanized existence where a minority has conquered the majority via 'injustice, exploitation, oppression, and...Violence.'(Freire, 43) Freire doesn't apologize for having a Marxist prospective and shouldn't. If you don't believe all humans fit into just one of two classes the haves and the have-not's then this book is not for you. However it should be because, in his first 5 pages Freire illustrates this reality in a stunning clarity. For Freire seeking any but a more human future leads to despair and is there fore not an option.
Freire describes the objectification process 'In their unrestrained eagerness to possess, the oppressors develop the conviction that it is possible for them to transform everything into objects of their purchasing power.'(Freire, 58) Being so objectified steals everyone's humanity thus returning us to a cast like plebe status even those who do the objectifying are in the end dehumanized by their appetite. '...their situation has reduced them to things. In order to regain their humanity they must cease to be things and fight as men and women.' Only once their reality as objectified things is revealed can men and women begin their fight for liberation.
We fear freedom because of the story we have been feed since kindergarten. Freedom or liberation from our dehumanized existence requires among other things critical dialogue and reflection. '...reflection'-true reflection'-leads to action'when the situation calls for action, that action will constitute an authentic praxis only if its consequences become the object of critical reflection.'(Freire, 68) In order for the oppressed to recognize their reality, not the myths of the oppressors, serious deliberation must be entered into before the process of liberation can begin. Freire believes that we are subject to themes, false reality if you will, which have been imposed on the oppressed. The oppressed must re-define their reality to understand their true vocation, that of liberation. Critical to this deliberation is the process of dialogue.
'Dialogue is the encounter between men, mediated by the world, in order to name the world.'(Freire, 88) Entered into dialogue together the oppressed can peruse their reality and will come to understand in a more complete way their actuality as people in pursuit of humanizing processes. '...faith in humankind' writes Freire 'faith in their power to make and remake, to create and re-create, faith in their vocation to be more fully human.'(Freire, 90) The job of the people is to remake our reality into a liberating and humanizing certainty, to escape our objectified existence. One cannot be in dialogue or think about our objectification without others entering that dialogue as well. One cannot think for another, just as another cannot think for the one, but all must enter into dialogue and reflection as a community together.
Freire describes the current education system as ''suffering from narration sickness.'(Freire, 71) that is a reality or narrative that is static and immobile, told as a positive or sure existence one which students should or must mold themselves to.
This 'Narration leads students to memorize mechanically the narrated content.'(Freire, 72) Freire calls this the banking system of education where '...knowledge is a gift bestowed by those who consider themselves knowledgeable upon those whom they consider to know nothing.'(Freire, 74) This is the deposit of knowledge not of thought. Freire continues, '...his ready-to-wear approach serves to obviate thinking.' (Freire, 78) Because this system of education forces the oppressed to adapt to the situation the oppressors can more easily dominate them. Students of the banking system are turned into '...receiving objects.'(Freire, 77) they are in this way further objectified and dehumanized.
Lesson are given not as a narrative or fact but rather in terms of a problem or question to be solved. The student and the teacher learn together from one another in dialogue and reflection. Instead of asking students to remember information and regurgitate it in a non-thinking robot like way students of the problem posing method would be given a challenge and would be asked to resolve it. The teacher and student become partners of investigation like a team of gumshoes solving a criminal riddle. 'The students'-no longer docile listeners'are now critical co-investigators in dialogue with the teacher.'(Freire, 81) By promoting critical thinking skills, dialogue and class wide reflection the march to liberation can begin. The process must be founded in co-reflection about the world, their place, and humanity; then as false themes are revealed real problems become apparent.
No apology is necessary for the liberal use of leftist ideology including communism, Marx's definition of class 'access to the means of production' in a keystone of this study. If you disagree with this definition then this reviewer would suggest you think about what it means to be 'middle' 'lower' or 'upper class'. And if your think you enjoy true freedom then you must ask yourself why you had to go to work yesterday and the day before. Pedagogy of the Oppressed is a ray of hope and light in a world full of dehumanizing weapons polices and institutions it is a must read for all who seek freedom and a humanizing future.
Problem posing education used properly can at least, promote thoughtful reflection and dialogue as a community, if not something grander like liberation. Re-democratization of our communities must start with an education that allows people to recognize their dehumanized existence and that reveals the false narratives of our world. Via reflection and dialogue Freire's problem posing pedagogy gives us hope for a liberating future as equals.
Rating:
Summary: Ray of Hope for a Human Future
Review: If you think there should be more social justice in our world and that the systems of our modern society may even prevent social justice Paulo Freire�s Pedagogy of the Oppressed is for you. This Brazilian educator and philosopher wrote in 1970 of a world, our world, where �Concern for humanization leads at once to the recognition of dehumanization, not only as an ontological possibility but as an historical reality.�(Freire, 43) Freire would spend 70 some days in prison and live in exile for over 6 years for his writings and teachings particularly as they related to Brazilian peasants.
Freire wrote that we all live a dehumanized existence where a minority has conquered the majority via �injustice, exploitation, oppression, and...Violence.�(Freire, 43) Freire doesn�t apologize for having a Marxist prospective and shouldn�t. If you don�t believe all humans fit into just one of two classes the haves and the have-not�s then this book is not for you. However it should be because, in his first 5 pages Freire illustrates this reality in a stunning clarity. For Freire seeking any but a more human future leads to despair and is there fore not an option.
Freire describes the objectification process �In their unrestrained eagerness to possess, the oppressors develop the conviction that it is possible for them to transform everything into objects of their purchasing power.�(Freire, 58) Being so objectified steals everyone�s humanity thus returning us to a cast like plebe status even those who do the objectifying are in the end dehumanized by their appetite. �...their situation has reduced them to things. In order to regain their humanity they must cease to be things and fight as men and women.� Only once their reality as objectified things is revealed can men and women begin their fight for liberation.
We fear freedom because of the story we have been feed since kindergarten. Freedom or liberation from our dehumanized existence requires among other things critical dialogue and reflection. �...reflection�-true reflection�-leads to action�when the situation calls for action, that action will constitute an authentic praxis only if its consequences become the object of critical reflection.�(Freire, 68) In order for the oppressed to recognize their reality, not the myths of the oppressors, serious deliberation must be entered into before the process of liberation can begin. Freire believes that we are subject to themes, false reality if you will, which have been imposed on the oppressed. The oppressed must re-define their reality to understand their true vocation, that of liberation. Critical to this deliberation is the process of dialogue.
�Dialogue is the encounter between men, mediated by the world, in order to name the world.�(Freire, 88) Entered into dialogue together the oppressed can peruse their reality and will come to understand in a more complete way their actuality as people in pursuit of humanizing processes. �...faith in humankind� writes Freire �faith in their power to make and remake, to create and re-create, faith in their vocation to be more fully human.�(Freire, 90) The job of the people is to remake our reality into a liberating and humanizing certainty, to escape our objectified existence. One cannot be in dialogue or think about our objectification without others entering that dialogue as well. One cannot think for another, just as another cannot think for the one, but all must enter into dialogue and reflection as a community together.
Freire describes the current education system as ��suffering from narration sickness.�(Freire, 71) that is a reality or narrative that is static and immobile, told as a positive or sure existence one which students should or must mold themselves to.
This �Narration leads students to memorize mechanically the narrated content.�(Freire, 72) Freire calls this the banking system of education where �...knowledge is a gift bestowed by those who consider themselves knowledgeable upon those whom they consider to know nothing.�(Freire, 74) This is the deposit of knowledge not of thought. Freire continues, �...his ready-to-wear approach serves to obviate thinking.� (Freire, 78) Because this system of education forces the oppressed to adapt to the situation the oppressors can more easily dominate them. Students of the banking system are turned into �...receiving objects.�(Freire, 77) they are in this way further objectified and dehumanized.
Lesson are given not as a narrative or fact but rather in terms of a problem or question to be solved. The student and the teacher learn together from one another in dialogue and reflection. Instead of asking students to remember information and regurgitate it in a non-thinking robot like way students of the problem posing method would be given a challenge and would be asked to resolve it. The teacher and student become partners of investigation like a team of gumshoes solving a criminal riddle. �The students�-no longer docile listeners�are now critical co-investigators in dialogue with the teacher.�(Freire, 81) By promoting critical thinking skills, dialogue and class wide reflection the march to liberation can begin. The process must be founded in co-reflection about the world, their place, and humanity; then as false themes are revealed real problems become apparent.
No apology is necessary for the liberal use of leftist ideology including communism, Marx�s definition of class �access to the means of production� in a keystone of this study. If you disagree with this definition then this reviewer would suggest you think about what it means to be �middle� �lower� or �upper class�. And if your think you enjoy true freedom then you must ask yourself why you had to go to work yesterday and the day before. Pedagogy of the Oppressed is a ray of hope and light in a world full of dehumanizing weapons polices and institutions it is a must read for all who seek freedom and a humanizing future.
Problem posing education used properly can at least, promote thoughtful reflection and dialogue as a community, if not something grander like liberation. Re-democratization of our communities must start with an education that allows people to recognize their dehumanized existence and that reveals the false narratives of our world. Via reflection and dialogue Freire�s problem posing pedagogy gives us hope for a liberating future as equals.
Rating:
Summary: Pedagogy of the Oppressed
Review: Is there a book more important to understanding how the educational systems facilitate the reproduction of oppresive systems? Probably not. In this classic work, openly critiques current "banking" models of education and explains how they work to reproduce oppresive systems. In true recognition of his Marxist ethos, Freire subsequently lays out a plan of action (praxis) for transforming society and realizing humankind's "historical vocation" of becoming more fully human. This is a must-read book for EVERYONE!
Rating:
Summary: Pedagogy of the Oppressed
Review: Is there a book more important to understanding how the educational systems facilitate the reproduction of oppresive systems? Probably not. In this classic work, openly critiques current "banking" models of education and explains how they work to reproduce oppresive systems. In true recognition of his Marxist ethos, Freire subsequently lays out a plan of action (praxis) for transforming society and realizing humankind's "historical vocation" of becoming more fully human. This is a must-read book for EVERYONE!
Rating:
Summary: a perfect guidebook for the people interested in adult edu.
Review: It helpes the reader understand and interpret the society that she/he lives in and social inequalities between the high-status and the oppressed. I really agree that when you communicate and talk with people you can find and learn lots of things from them.Ireally appreciate this book and thanks to freire for this practiceable book.
Rating:
Summary: a must read to understand modern man
Review: KEY CONCEPTS: * Important exploration of dialogue and the possibilities for liberatory practice. * Freire provides a rationale for a pedagogy of the oppressed; * introduces the highly influential notion of banking education; * highlights the the contrasts between education forms that treat people as objects rather than subjects; * explores education as cultural action. In the early 1970's, Brazilian educator, Paulo Freire, visited Harvard and published an English translation of his best known work, Pedagogy of the Oppressed. His general critique of education presented an analysis which challenged the neutrality of the technological model dominant in American schools. He argued that any curriculum which ignores racism, sexism, the exploitation of workers, and other forms of oppression at the same time supports the status quo. It inhibits the expansion of consciousness and blocks creative and liberating social action for change. In Freire's view of education, learning to take control and achieving power are not individual objectives, as in a "boot strap" theory of empowerment. For poor and dispossessed people, strength is in numbers and social change is accomplished in unity. Power is shared, not the power of a few who improve themselves at the expense of others, but the power of the many who find strength and purpose in a common vision. Liberation achieved by individuals at the expense of others is an act of oppression. Personal freedom and the development of individuals can only occur in mutuality with others. In the experience of women's groups, civil rights workers, and many others committed to liberatory action, collective power and collegiality protect the individual far more than authoritarian and hierarchial modes of organization. While Freire's theoretical framework gave many community-based educators grounds for hope, it was his pedagogy--the practical, how-to-do-it methods--which gave them sought-after tools for the reconstruction of urban adult education. Freire advocated dialogue and critical thought as a substitute for "banking" education in which the riches of knowledge were deposited in the empty vault of a learner's mind. He suggested several pedagogical techniques based on the mass literacy campaigns he organized in Brazil and Chile--campaigns integral to broadly defined programs of revolution and social change. It was these techniques which many literacy and basic education programs immediately incorporated into their practice: reflection on the political content of learner's day-to-day experience, the organization of "culture circles" which promote dialogue and peer interaction, and the use of "people's knowledge" as the basis for curriculum.
Rating:
Summary: a must read to understand modern man
Review: KEY CONCEPTS: * Important exploration of dialogue and the possibilities for liberatory practice. * Freire provides a rationale for a pedagogy of the oppressed; * introduces the highly influential notion of banking education; * highlights the the contrasts between education forms that treat people as objects rather than subjects; * explores education as cultural action. In the early 1970's, Brazilian educator, Paulo Freire, visited Harvard and published an English translation of his best known work, Pedagogy of the Oppressed. His general critique of education presented an analysis which challenged the neutrality of the technological model dominant in American schools. He argued that any curriculum which ignores racism, sexism, the exploitation of workers, and other forms of oppression at the same time supports the status quo. It inhibits the expansion of consciousness and blocks creative and liberating social action for change. In Freire's view of education, learning to take control and achieving power are not individual objectives, as in a "boot strap" theory of empowerment. For poor and dispossessed people, strength is in numbers and social change is accomplished in unity. Power is shared, not the power of a few who improve themselves at the expense of others, but the power of the many who find strength and purpose in a common vision. Liberation achieved by individuals at the expense of others is an act of oppression. Personal freedom and the development of individuals can only occur in mutuality with others. In the experience of women's groups, civil rights workers, and many others committed to liberatory action, collective power and collegiality protect the individual far more than authoritarian and hierarchial modes of organization. While Freire's theoretical framework gave many community-based educators grounds for hope, it was his pedagogy--the practical, how-to-do-it methods--which gave them sought-after tools for the reconstruction of urban adult education. Freire advocated dialogue and critical thought as a substitute for "banking" education in which the riches of knowledge were deposited in the empty vault of a learner's mind. He suggested several pedagogical techniques based on the mass literacy campaigns he organized in Brazil and Chile--campaigns integral to broadly defined programs of revolution and social change. It was these techniques which many literacy and basic education programs immediately incorporated into their practice: reflection on the political content of learner's day-to-day experience, the organization of "culture circles" which promote dialogue and peer interaction, and the use of "people's knowledge" as the basis for curriculum.
Rating: 
Summary: A revolutionary book for adult educators and adult learners
Review: My initial thoughts upon reading the first chapter of the book were mixed. The author took a whole chapter to explain what could have been said in a few words in order to explain the message the book was trying to model. Fortunately, I kept reading and wound up really enjoying this book and recommending it to others. Where the book starts to become interesting is in the second chapter. The revolutionary feel of this book comes on strong and this thread continues throughout. This book is not for those who are in fear of words near and dear to behavioral sciences or psychology. A lot of "adult" language is used and I recommend having a good dictionary near by. Pedagogy of the Oppressed looks at two audiences, the oppressor and the oppressed learner. Oppressors try and oppress their students or subjects for selfish gain. Through the process of oppression the "oppressed" become brainwashed into thinking that they cannot improve their socio-economic positions. This book is a must for anyone who goes into the teaching or education of adults and will challenge the traditional model of teaching. This will make you think about your own paradigms as well as your own learning as an adult. "Pedagogy of the Oppressed" is an excellent book. The language is a bit challenging if you are not familiar with psychological terms and adult education yet with a bit of patience and a dictionary, it can be understood.
Rating: 
Summary: I'll make this short, he didnt.
Review: So many words to say so little. This book could have been three pages long and that would have been sufficient. He goes on and on on the same topics of what its like to be oppressed and what the oppressed must do to brake free from oppression. This is all very much common sence, at least it seems so to me, having taken a college class here and there. Marx is taken far out of context and this book altogether preaches a utopian way of things thats as far fetched as communism functioning in a capitalist society.
Rating:
Summary: The Communist Manifesto's Long-Awaited Complement
Review: Such authors as Marx, Engels, Gintis, and Bowles have long bemoaned the oppression so widely found in the Brazil that Paulo Freire witnessed. However, their exhortations for revolt never saved the world from the evils of oppression. Freire's book provides the missing link to hope, justice, and dignity: the intellectual liberation of the oppressed. Freire's model, which has been elaborated on by Henry Giroux and Peter McLaren, ends the problem of power which has plagued both capitalist and communist societies. Freire solves the problems bemoaned by everyone from Illich to Foucault. The only reason this book is not on every shelf is that most people have been so subverted by their oppressive teachers(Feyeraband 1978)that they are incapable of understanding their own plight. Freire ends all of this. Freire is better for mankind than Marx, Jefferson, and Christ combined.
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