Life in Schools: An Introduction to Critical Pedagogy in the Foundations of Education (4th Edition)

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Summary: Critical Pedagogy: Alive and Kicking
Review: For too long, one-trick theoretical "experts" (tearing down the work of others) on the educational left have reduced students to passive consumers of knowledge-leaving them fatigued and disillusioned. I think it is safe to say that McLaren's body of work does not fall into this category-as it is never dull or predictable. Blending theory with biography and history at the intersection of where students/teachers construct themselves subjectively within schools, McLaren's book Life in Schools offers a real-and-imagined "pedagogy of hope" (Friere's words) or--as he prefers to term it--a "revolutionary critical pedagogy." Mollifying the gnashing anti-theory critics, McLaren acts as our anti-tour guide of capitalist schooling through a dialectical process reflection and critique upon his own unique experience as an elementary school teacher in Canada. By situating this critique (which is at the core of a revolutionary critical pedagogy) not in the space of the self but in the revolutionary site of the social, McLaren puts the ideology of capitalist knowledge industry permanently on the defensive. He achieves this by providing the reader with theoretical and empirical tools to both understand and intervene in emerging global structures that are increasingly organizing and regulating everyday practices of schooling. Offering new insights into the re-enchanted field of "revolutionary critical pedagogy," (e.g., Paula Allman, Dave Hill and Glenn Rikowski), McLaren's book Life in Schools is a must read for hope-deprived students and teachers struggling against the neo-liberal model of education, which is immune to the plight of millions of the world's poorest children.

Rating:
Summary: No Critical Pedagogy, just political rhetoric
Review: Peter McLaren presents information that evokes strong feelings and inner thoughts from the reader. I am pleased with the information that he presents. However, his vocabulary forced me to bring out the dictionary to bring a better understanding to what he actually was saying. The "ethnographic" presentation of his experiences in his early years of teaching were thought provoking and at times depressing in nature. To think that children come to school with so much "baggage" is a wonder that they can learn at all. McLaren is a writer that may upset some educators. In my case he brings out the passion for continuing to teach and to help the children that are in need the most. He has allowed me to reach deep into my "teaching soul" and continue my quest for educating "all" of our children that attend our schools.

Rating:
Summary: A thought provoking educational work.
Review: Peter McLaren presents information that evokes strong feelings and inner thoughts from the reader. I am pleased with the information that he presents. However, his vocabulary forced me to bring out the dictionary to bring a better understanding to what he actually was saying. The "ethnographic" presentation of his experiences in his early years of teaching were thought provoking and at times depressing in nature. To think that children come to school with so much "baggage" is a wonder that they can learn at all. McLaren is a writer that may upset some educators. In my case he brings out the passion for continuing to teach and to help the children that are in need the most. He has allowed me to reach deep into my "teaching soul" and continue my quest for educating "all" of our children that attend our schools.

Rating:
Summary: Back to the Basics in Critical Pedagogy
Review: Peter McLaren's book Life in Schools is among the very few texts in critical pedagogy that connects empirical to theoretical and everyday experiences to general ideas about schooling in an understandable manner. It builds its solid arguments in a humanist Marxist tradition, and stays firmly in our, the common people, side. It is a serious and honest book in which teacher's and student's everyday experiences are situated in a larger political context. It's a book for those of us who dare to teach, talk and think critically in these times of global terror.

Rating:
Summary: The Good and the Bad of Pete McLaren
Review: Peter McLaren's expansive, revised tome on education gives a lot of insight into his life, conditions in inner-city Canadian schools (it's not all hockey and curing bacon, people!) and the need to adopt a new educational paradigm based more on respect for the induvidual needs of students. With a keen eye and a compassionate soul, McLaren chronicles the lives of his students, their families, and the world they live in. As a teacher, I can attest that this section is not only moving, but can make one a better educator if it is reflected on and the lessons from it implemented.

However, the impenetrable politio/educational diatribe that consumes the latter part of the book could and should have been left on the editing room floor. McLaren, angrily, indignantly, and with the use of WAY too many vocabulary words, twists Marxism into knots trying to show how it would be better for students, teachers, all mankind and the little fishes too if we adopted socialist principles. (Okay, the little fishes part I made up but you get it.) It's unfortunate that this odd fusion of chronicles and politics must be, and one wonders why Allyn and Bacon doesn't remarket the book with the first part expanded and the second part dropped. But who are we to wonder at the ways of the mighty publishing gods? We can only offer our burned out lightbulbs and worn bookmarks as tribute, and hope that they will be kind.

Rating:
Summary: No Critical Pedagogy, just political rhetoric
Review: The only good thing is that the review system does not let me rate this zero stars. From the obscure language to the fight the system attitude, this book does nothing except expound upon Profesor McLaren's political views. This publication points at one facet of the discussion of critical pedagogy and fails to evaluate the other aspects. As a political work, this book appears well researched, but look elsewhere for a book on critical pedagogy.