In my EDF class, we have to read a book called Wheels in the Head: Educational Philosophies of Authority, Freedom, and culture from Confucianism to Human Rights and the chapter we had to read this week mentioned Paulo Freire and how teachers and parents aren’t engaging children in discussions about what they think. By doing so this prepares children to be “unthinking objects of history”(210) and Freire sees this as a way of oppressors penetrating a person’s consciousness, so they will be able to be taken advantage of. This relates to hook’s when she warns us if we keep thinking there is a split between theory and practice, then we “deny the power of liberatory education for critical consciousness”(69) and if we think this way, we are reinforcing repression.
Consciousness
Square
I think this definitely is reminiscent of Freire’s first piece we examined at the start of the semester. This is similar in the idea of students being mindless, empty vessels waiting to have information and “knowledge” poured into them only to be regurgitated. Family is the first environment children are exposed to, even before school and friend relationships, so maybe this concept stemmed from that idealization and attitude.
I find it interesting how you link Freire here to consciousness. From our first day in school we are lead to believe that our teachers are the holders of all of the knowledge. We are trained to submit to the authority of our teachers and principals to teach us not to push back against tyranny. Freire would argue that this absolutely robs us of our ability to become complete conscious human beings.