Pedagogy of the Oppressed Response

Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed really opened my eyes to the systemic modes of oppression, not only found in the education system, but also I society as well. Through my work I have attended many lectures and talks on oppression, communication, racial and sexual acceptance, and privilege. I would consider myself widely read on issues related to oppression, both systematic as well as cultural. In Freire’s book however, I found that many of the aspects of oppression were better explained than I had read or heard of before. I also appreciated his acknowledgement of “why” people do what they do, rather than just demonizing those who are oppressors, in order to understand the whole of the system.

In the first chapter I found myself drawn to the sections that talked about how oppression is eventually built into the cultural understanding of both the oppressors and the oppressed. The oppressors see any change in the system as an oppression on themselves, while the oppressed are afraid to speak out against the oppression and begin to believe what they are told about their oppression. The words that Paulo Freire used to explain this is the “fear of freedom” experienced by both the oppressors and the oppressed. This section really stuck out to me because I can see how this concept is perpetrated in various aspects of life in the US and abroad. These concepts that Freire puts forth can be used for many applications beyond education, and into politics and racial relations.

Starting the second chapter I was interested to see how Paulo Freire was going to incorporate the “oppressed and oppressors” into the realm of education. At first I thought that this section was going to be based on culture, where the Anglo-Americans were the oppressors, and the minority groups were the oppressed. I was surprised to find that the teachers were thought of as the oppressors and the students and the oppressed. At first I was skeptical, but Freire incorporated the idea of “oppressed and oppressors” into the education system by labeling it the “Banking model” of education. As I read the section I could help but feel as though many of the concepts he talks about are what people think that education is today. As I read I kept thinking about how concepts like discussions and standards based grading are fighting against the traditional system of “banking education.” However, state standardized tests, dictated content, and rigorous standards are all examples of the “banking system” and the pressures that help to enforce the whole of the system.

After I had finished with the article, I still had a few questions or concerns regarding the article and the sections that we read as a class. One aspect of education that I think Paulo Freire left out of the two chapters that we read (he could have addressed the issue in a later chapter that I didn’t read) is the fact that teachers are required by school boards to meet those standards set forth by the banking system. My question to the author would be how those requirements for teachers play into the system? Although teachers are the oppressors in the student teacher relationship, are not the teachers the oppressed in the teacher administrator relationship? All this being said, the administrators are the oppressed when these standards and tests come from the state government to the school districts. I think that teachers can solve the issues of oppression in their own individual classrooms, and I firmly believe that the state is making great leaps in developing a student centered model of education rather than an information centered model of education.  

The last concern that I have with this reading is to look at the system that we have in place. If we are to categorize the students as oppressed and the teachers as oppressors, then wouldn’t that same logic make the boss the oppressor and the employee the oppressed? This system of oppression is built into business, government, science, and every other aspect of our societal system. As a teacher I want my students to be able to have a say in their education and power in what and how they study, but if this idea of power over their education leads to them failing in the society the way it is built now, doesn’t that mean that the teacher has failed to teach the students how to be successful in life? If ultimately the student fails because of false hope in a system that crushes hopes systematically, then we have failed as teachers. I personally believe that the system that we have in place now needs to be changed, and we are making many of those changes in the education system. However, the system as a whole needs to change in order to best break down the oppressive system that we have outside of school as well.