Paolo Freire's as a Great Educator - Essay Example

? Paolo Freire's as a Great Educator Introduction Education is an integral part of our life. The area of education is very broad and can be changed and improved endlessly. Changes are very important for the field of education as it should transform in order to correspond to students’ and instructors’ needs, which also change rapidly. Thus, theorists who deal with the area of education and its transformation contribute much into the development of learners’ personalities. The given paper will talk about famous theorist Paolo Freire, who made a great contribution into the development of learning process itself and the relations between a teacher and a student in particular. Paolo Freire was born in the Northeastern port of Recife, September 19, 1921. His parents were not rich and their family can be related more to a middle-class family. It should be mentioned that the life of middle class was greatly influenced by historical events that took place in Brazil that time. The Great Depression has made a great impact on their way of living in Brazil. Family’s financial status was also shaken after death of Paolo’s father. Paolo was prevented from his proper education at school and when family has sustained after the crisis, he managed to finish his school education and entered the University of Pernambuco to study law and philosophy. In 1944 Freire got married. He married an elementary school teacher Elza Maia Costa Oliveira and they gave birth to five children. Parenthood of Freire contributed much to his further development: “As a parent, Paulo’s interests in theories of education began to grow, leading him to do more extensive reading in education, philosophy, and the sociology of education than in law. In fact after passing the bar he quickly abandoned law as a means of earning a living in order to go work as a welfare official...” (Faundez, p. 22). In 1959, Freire has succeeded in his doctoral thesis on adult illiteracy, he gained a professorship degree in history and philosophy at the University of Recife. This region experienced a severe poverty and economy of it was declining. The first signs of emancipation can be related to 1871, when 700,000 slaves were freed. Illiteracy and ill health were the negative consequences of post-economic crisis. There was a great percent of illiterate people at that time and it reached 75%. Freire began his career in a challenging cultural environment and his role as a great educator and a philosopher cannot be denied. Freire and his Ideas Poor people of Recife were Freire’s audience. He worked in the slums of Recife. He thought that authoritarian relationship between teacher and pupil was inefficient. Freire underlined that the process making an individual literate was the first step on the way of dealing with poverty. Freire tried to improve his experience while working as a teacher of poor people. He expanded his work and the results were successful: "The results of this experiment were impressive. Three hundred workers learned to read and write in forty-five days” (Elias, p. 4). An urban teacher has turned into a national expert in the issue of adult literacy. In spite of the phenomenal success of his programs there were some challenges. He was a great educator and he made poor people believe in themselves and after that he provided them with information and knowledge. He inspired those people who seemed to be never restored to reinstate their minds and self-esteem again. He tried to prove that the first step in dealing with poverty was the economic justice, reform and opposition to repression. It is known that “Freirean-based literacy programs involve an examination of society’s hidden economies of power and privilege and how these help to inform students’ subjectivities" (McLaren & Leonard, p. 53). The underclass has been often challenged in terms of political and economic oppression. Freire tried to expand his ideas across the nation. He thought about a nation-wide implementation of educational programs. “This national literacy campaign was modeled after the example of Cuba, which had almost eliminated illiteracy through a massive literacy campaign a few years earlier” (Elias, p. 5). Marxist ideals were neglected and there were many movements initiated by the military leaders. Many challenging events happened to Freire, when he was accused of selling firearms. Moreover, his promotion of education ideas was considered as a propagandistic movement of revolutionary ideas. He served as a progressive administrator of the underclass consciousness. On the other hand, some researchers claim that: "Incitement to revolt was never the direct objective of Freire as an educator. Freire wanted only to aid the reformist government of Joao Goulart in its efforts to bring certain political and social reforms to northeast Brazil” (Elias, p. 6). In Chile Freire continued his nation-wide educational program. The underclass depended on his ability to promote a more successful life among these people. He taught them not only to read and to write, but also instilled a hope for a better life in them. Freire reflected his creative ideas in the book Pedagogy of the Oppressed. This publication expanded horizons of Freire. He was finally acknowledged around the world. He was a powerful man, able to sow his magnificent educational ideas around the world. Later on, Freire was impressed by the huge levels of poverty in America. He could not even imagine that people in this country lived under such drastic conditions. He was struggling against students' oppression in Universities when he met it. In 1970 Freire occupied a position of Assistant Secretary of Education in the World Council of Churches in Geneva, Switzerland. He developed his educational principles on Marxism, but he also was much focused on the ideas of Christianity, especially Catholicism. Freire wanted to expand his ideals and ideas to the Third World countries. In 1979 he was invited to Brazil again. He had an incredible experience. He travelled around the world, published books, communicated with the students and teachers of different countries. Starting from 1989 in Sao Paulo Freire occupied a position of the Minister of Education and became responsible for changes in school system (Freire 1972). Freire’s Methods Freire based his pedagogic system on two basic levels. He stated that it was necessary to consider macroeducation and microeducation (Faundez, 1989). He defined macroeducation as the curriculum, basic national educational programs and the underlying philosophies of the programs. Microeducation was much related to the way of communication and interaction between a teacher and a student. There was a certain philosophic background in this type of relationship. The pedagogic interaction was not much authoritarian. It was more like a subtle change in the process of education and interaction in class. Freire underlined: “... adult educators have typically found their offerings of educational assistance more suited to and more frequently utilized by the upwardly mobile than the hardcore disadvantaged” (Grabowski, p. 3). A subjective reality experienced by learners should be taken into account by teachers too. It was one of the main benefits of socially-friendly education. The interests of the learner should not be violated in any case. Freire claims that it is necessary to consider every action of the learner, because it is the reflection of consciousness. This approach is referred to as "praxis". In other words, it can be explained as an approach, which enables a teacher to make thoughtful and meaningful actions. Freire introduced revolutionary decisions not only in the process of curriculum development, but also in teacher-student relationship development. Freire thought that one of the greatest mistakes of teachers was that they appealed to their students in a demeaning manner. This type of a teacher's behavior signifies presence and existence of authoritarian principle in their relationships. Freire claims that it is necessary for a teacher to be not like an expert, but to be a colleague in the process of education. A teacher cannot be dominant in the relationship with the student, because he must pay attention to the student’s ideas. Grabowski claims: “In seeking to provide adult education for the oppressed, Freire vehemently rejects teacher-dominated and subject matter-oriented education” (Grabowski, p. 5). A fast success of Freire's methods can be explained by his emphasis made on the process of "conscientization”. A process of authentic education is often described by this word. At first his ideas were popular in Latin America and finally they expanded throughout the world. Thomas Jefferson once claimed that literacy progress depends on the democracy in education. It was difficult for Brazil to be transformed from oligarchy to democracy because of the illiteracy of the masses. It was necessary for Brazil to improve the structure of a national democratic state. In accordance with Freire, Brazilian society had many hardships with its own culture identification. As a result, the critical construction of a democracy was undermined (Collins, p. 11). Literacy was an important step in underclass social position improvement. This fact cannot be denied at all and he realized that Brazil required certain changes in the process of education improvement: "for such a society in transition, a mode of education providing profound political reforms, not just new techniques and economic structures, was necessary to assure the basis and establishment of democracy" (Collins, p. 11). Freire’s Philosophy Freire developed his philosophy with respect to such aspects as technique, curriculum, and human development. His philosophy included such elements as a mixture of pedagogic, economic, and social issues. He underlined that it is necessary for students and teachers to promote their interaction and reach common goals in the process of education. Literacy and citizenship cannot be separated from each other. Citizens in democracy have many benefits and there is no doubt about that. He wanted to prevent poverty from further expansion. Freire was much focused on liberation of students from teachers' dominance and oppression. Collins explains Freire's methods in the following way: “Education as the Practice of Freedom presents a philosophical view of what men and women are capable of becoming when enabled to transform history and become subjects through the process of critical reflection” (Collins, p. 10). Freire underlined that in Recife the underclass accepted their status. He introduced some unique concepts, which can be hardly translated into English. For example, "massified' that means a loss of a sense of individuality among the representatives of the underclass. People did not perceive themselves like individuals. Conclusion Therefore, we can talk about Freire as a great educator and philosopher. His contribution into the area of education is invaluable. He teaches a learner not only the content of the discipline, but also tries to introduce some individual-centered beliefs for his students. He tries to help them to find out their identities. Freire underlines that a teacher should be proactive. In other words, it is necessary for a teacher to penetrate the life of the learner and instruct him about different aspects of human existence. Nowadays we can see that teachers do not teach their students in vacuum too. In accordance with Freire’s ideas, a teacher reinforces the oppression in the class if he is focused on his dominance and authority. It is better for education to be developed in the social and political context. This type of education would bear more fruits for sure. Education should fulfill a human potential and the human condition will be certainly improved. Freire introduced political education and he claimed that it is necessary to promote social and political background of education. He sees that people live all over the world under unfavorable conditions. Poverty takes away their individual identities. Freire makes many attempts to respond to this tendency and critically considered current processes in the society with respect to the coming changes. References Collins, Denis, S. J 1977, Paulo Freire: His life, Works & Thought. New York: Paulist Press. Elias, John L 1994, Paulo Freire: Pedagogue of Liberation. Malabar, Florida: Krieger Publishing Company. Faundez, Antonio 1989, Paulo Freire: Learning to Question– A Pedagogy of Liberation. New York: Continuum. Freire, Paulo 1972, A Revolutionary Dilemma for the Adult Educator. Ed. by Stanley M. Grabowski, Director of the ERIC Clearinghouse. Syracuse: Syracuse University. McLaren, Peter & Leonard, Peter. Eds 1993, Paulo Freire: A critical encounter. London: Routledge. Read More