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Paulo Freire

Paulo Freire was a Brazilian educator and influential theorist of education Education

Education is the process by which an individual is encouraged and enabled to develop fully his or her in... 

.

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Quotations

A real humanist can be identified more by his trust in the people, which engages him in their struggle.

Chapter 1

Almost never do they realize that they, too, 'know things' they have learned in their relations with the world.

Chapter 1

As long as they live in the duality in which to be is to to be like, and to be like is to be like the oppressor, this contribution is impossible.

As the oppressor minority subordinates and dominates the majority, it must divide it and keep it divided in order to remain in power.

Certain members of the oppressor class join the oppressed in their struggle for liberation.

Dialogue cannot exist, however, in the absence of a profound love for the world and its people.

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Encyclopedia



Paulo Freire was a Brazilian educator and influential theorist of education Education

Education is the process by which an individual is encouraged and enabled to develop fully his or her in... 

.

Life

Born on 19 September 1921 to middle class Middle class

The middle class, in colloquial usage, consists of those people who have a degree of economic independen... 

 parents in Recife Recife

Recife, 2005 population 1,501,000 is the third largest city in the Northeastern Region of Brazil [i] and... 

, Brazil Brazil

Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest and most populous country [i] ... 

, Freire knew poverty and hunger during the 1929 Great Depression Great Depression

The Great Depression was a worldwide economic downturn [i] which started in 1929 and lasting ... 

, an experience that would shape his concerns for the poor and would help to construct his particular educational worldview.

Freire entered the University of Recife in 1943, enrolling in the Faculty of Law, but also studying philosophy Philosophy

[i]
... 

 and the psychology of language. Following his entrance into the legal bar, he never actually practised law and instead worked as a teacher in secondary schools teaching Portuguese. In 1944, he married Elza Maia Costa de Oliveira, a fellow teacher: the two would work together for the rest of her life while raising five children.

In 1946, Freire was appointed Director of the Department of Education and Culture of the Social Service in the State of Pernambuco Pernambuco

Pernambuco
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... 

 . During this time working, primarily working among illiterate poor, Freire began to embrace a non-orthodox form of what could be considered liberation theology . It's particularly important to note that in Brazil at the time, literacy Literacy

The traditional definition of literacy is the ability to use language [i]–to read [i], write [i] ... 

 was a requirement for voting in presidential elections Voting

Voting is a method of decision making [i] wherein a group such as a meeting [i] or an electorate [i] att ... 

.

In 1961, he was appointed director of the Department of Cultural Extension of Recife University, and in 1962 he had the first opportunity for widespread application of his theories, when 300 sugarcane Sugarcane

[i]
... 

 workers were taught to read and write in just 45 days. In response to this experiment, the Brazilian government approved the creation of thousands of cultural circles across the country.

In 1964, a military coup put an end to that effort, and resulted in the imprisonment of Freire as a traitor for 70 days. After a brief exile in Bolivia Bolivia

Bolivia, officially the Republic of Bolivia , named after Simon Bolivar [i], is a landlocked [i] country [i] ... 

, Freire worked in Chile Chile

Chile, officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America [i] occupying a long coast ... 

 for five years for the Christian Democratic Agrarian Reform Movement and the Food and Agriculture Organization Food and Agriculture Organization

The Food and Agriculture Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations [i] that works to r... 

. In 1967, Freire published his first book, Education as the Practice of Freedom.

The book was well received, and Freire was offered a visiting professorship at Harvard University Harvard University

"Harvard" redirects here. For other uses of the name Harvard, see Harvard [i].
... 

 in 1969. The previous year, he wrote his most famous book, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, which was published also in Spanish Spanish language

Spanish or Castilian is an Iberian Romance language [i]. ... 

 and English English language

English is a widely distributed language that originated in England [i] but is now the primary language ... 

 in 1970. It wasn't published in Brazil until 1974 when General Ernesto Geisel Ernesto Geisel

Ernesto Beckmann Geisel was a Brazilian [i] military leader and politician [i].
... 

 took control of Brazil and began his process of cultural liberalisation.

After a year in Cambridge Cambridge

The city [i] of Cambridge is an old English [i] university [i] ... 

, Freire moved to Geneva, Switzerland Geneva

Geneva is the second most populous city in Switzerland [i] , and is the most populous city of Romandy [i] ... 

 to work as a special education adviser to the World Council of Churches. During this time Freire acted as an advisor on education reform in former Portuguese colonies Portuguese Empire

The Portuguese Empire was the first Global empire [i] in history and also the earliest and longest lived ... 

 in Africa, particularly Guinea Bissau Guinea-Bissau

Guinea-Bissau, officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau , is a country in western Africa [i], and ... 

 and Mozambique Mozambique

Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa [i] border ... 

.

In 1979, he was able to return to Brazil, and moved back in 1980. Freire joined the Workers' Party  in the city of São Paulo São Paulo

So Paulo is the capital [i] of the state [i] of So Paulo [i] in southeastern Brazil [i] ... 

, and acted as a supervisor for its adult literacy project from 1980 to 1986. When the PT prevailed in the municipal elections in 1986, Freire was appointed Secretary of Education for São Paulo.

In 1986, his wife Elza died and Freire married Maria Araújo Freire, who continues with her own radical educational work.

In 1991, the Paulo Freire Institute was established in São Paulo to extend and elaborate his theories of popular education. The Institute maintains the Freire archives.

Freire died of heart failure on May 2, 1997.


Awards

  • King Balduin Prize for International Development
  • Prize for Outstanding Christian Educators with his wife Elza
  • UNESCO 1986 Prize for Education for Peace

Theoretical Contributions

Paulo Freire contributes a philosophy of education that comes not only from the more classical approaches stemming from Plato Plato

Plato , whose real name is believed to have been Aristocles, was an immensely influential ancient... 

, but also from modern Marxist Marxism

Marxism refers to the philosophy [i] and social theory [i] based on Karl Marx [i]'s w ... 

 and anti-colonialist thinkers. In fact, in many ways his Pedagogy of the Oppressed may best be read as an extension of or reply to Frantz Fanon Frantz Fanon

Frantz Fanon is a Martinique [i]-born French author and essayist. ... 

's The Wretched of the Earth The Wretched of the Earth

The Wretched of the Earth is Frantz Fanon [i]'s best-known work, written during and regarding the Algeria [i] ... 

, which laid strong emphasis on the need to provide native populations with an education which was simultaneously new and modern and anti-colonial .

Freire is best-known for his attack on what he called the "banking" concept of education, in which the student was viewed as an empty account to be filled by the teacher. Of course, this is not really a new move — Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a Geneva [i]-born philosopher [i] of the Enlightenment [i]... 

's conception of the child as an active learner was already a step away from the tabula rasa , and thinkers like John Dewey John Dewey

John Dewey was an American [i] philosopher [i], psychologist [i], and educational reformer [i]... 

 and Alfred North Whitehead Alfred North Whitehead

Alfred North Whitehead, OM [i] was an English mathematician [i] who became an American philosopher [i] ... 

 were strongly critical of the transmission of mere "facts" as the goal of education. Freire's work is one of the foundations of critical pedagogy.

More challenging is Freire's strong aversion to the teacher-student dichotomy. This dichotomy is admitted in Rousseau and constrained in Dewey, but Freire comes close to insisting that it should be completely abolished. This is hard to imagine in absolute terms , but what Freire suggests is that a deep reciprocity be inserted into our notions of teacher and student. Freire wants us to think in terms of teacher-student and student-teacher, that is, a teacher who learns and a learner who teaches, as the basic roles of classroom participation.

This is one of the few attempts anywhere to implement something like democracy Democracy

Democracy is a form of government [i] for a nation state, or for an organiz ... 

 as an educational method and not merely a goal of democratic education. Even Dewey, for whom democracy was a touchstone, did not integrate democratic practices fully into his methods. However, in its early, strong form this kind of classroom has sometimes been criticized on the grounds that it can mask rather than overcome the teacher's authority.

See also

  • Pedagogy of the Oppressed
  • Issues in Freirean pedagogy
  • Conscientization
  • Reconstructivism

External links