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Paulo Freire's The Pedagogy Of The Oppressed

1458 Words6 Pages
The following essay critically examines Paulo Freire’s writing ‘The Pedagogy of the oppressed’ where Freire compares the relationship between an oppressor and the oppressed in terms of the teacher and student relationship. He explains that liberation of the oppressed can only be accomplished through the appreciation of two key theories. The first is understanding what he refers to as the banking concept and problem-posing methods of education and the second is believing that liberation can only be achieved through the practice of critical thinking with the use of communication and dialogue.
The essay will also observe the significance of these theories and will question their relevance in today’s education system.

Throughout the book Freire longs for an education system where teachers and students are equal. He speaks of educational pedagogy when he associates the oppressed with students and the oppressors with teachers in order to promote co-intentional education as an alternative.
“Teachers and students (leadership and people), co-intent on reality, are both Subjects, not only in 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 or 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,
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