Educational Change
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Educational change has fallen upon hard times. The traditional assumption that education is fundamentally tied to the imperatives of critical citizenship designed to educate people to exercise civic leadership can no longer be accepted. Against the conditions of reduced public school funding and the decree for cultural conformity and choice, there are larger social realities of power and oppression that are often ignored. Such realities include power, difference and the growing inequality of rich and poor. The writings of Brazilian educator and philosopher Paulo Freire in Pedagogy of the Oppressed and sociologist Allan Johnson in Privilege, Oppression and Difference provide an antidote to these growing social realities. Freire and Johnson argue that in order to change the inherent state of inequality in the United State, those who are privileged and those who are not must work together to confront societal and socioeconomical issues that hinder the advancement of America and its educational system.
Based on the demands of the educational system of America, our society is forced to conform to a standard level of education. This educational distortion is beneficiary to the educators sector of education and a way of governing learning. In Paulo Freires Pedagogy of the Oppressed, he illustrates how the “banking” concept of education is an instrument of oppression and suggests a “problem-posing” concept as means of liberation. Freire explains that within the “banking” concept there is a teacher-student contradiction and the “problem-posing” method acts to supersede said contradiction. The author creates urgency for change, placing emphasis on the need for students to express their individuality by breaking through the wall of conformity.
Allan G. Johnson, author of Privilege, Oppression and Difference expresses a call for change that is similar to Paulo Freires. Johnson addresses diversity-power. He illustrates the effects of power and privilege on everyone and that every individual has a role in making change happen. The author introduces and defines the concept of privilege as “the notion that certain members of society benefit from institutionalized assumptions and beliefs about what is normal” (21). Conversely, attention is also given to various groups that are harmed by these same assumptions. Johnsons emphasizes that the power of privilege is used to dominate the role of others and in turn helps to increase the level to which others are oppressed.
The interlocking systems of oppressing can be seen through the use/misuse of power, according to Freire, “education is suffering from narration sickness” (52). Freire believes that in the banking concept students are merely objects rather than subjects and are fed facts and information that the educator wants them to memorize and repeat (53). Such behavior is what makes the educator the oppressor and their students, the oppressed. Thus, the “banking” concept of education is lifeless content detached from reality (. Freire suggest that teachers have the ability to establish a difference between “education” and “schooling” as a type of social relation. The author asserts that “authority must be on the side of freedom, not against it” (61). Freire believes that it is the responsibility of educators to address repression, formed by habit and training and create an atmosphere of authentic liberation through the use of dialogue. The main idea behind the “problem-posing” method is that students develop the ability to perceive the way they exist and reject the idea that reality is static. The implementation of a teacher-student relationship relinquishes the possession of complete control from the teacher, allowing both the teacher and student to reflect together on themselves and the world, establishing an authentic form of thought (64).
Power can be seen inside and outside of educational institutions according to both Freire and Johnson. Paulo Freire observes the presence of power in the “banking” concept of education. In such a system the teacher holds complete control over the student, bestowing knowledge as if it was a gift (53). In the banking concept the teacher is in a position of privilege. In Privilege, Oppression and Difference, Johnson describes power as a result of privilege. The author states, “the trouble that surrounds difference is really about privilege and power-the existence of privilege and the lopsided distribution of power that keeps it going” (12). Johnson believes that no culture is inherently better than another because each person has his or her own unique culture based on unique experiences. Power, rather is spread disproportionally, leading to misconceptions of supremacy. Thus, educators must not repress a students cultural expressions (dreams and hopes), but work through them toward empowering the student. Johnson points out that many theorize but do not struggle with the oppressed, and that this produces disparity of power. The disadvantaged need transformative intellectuals amongst them to help promote self-education and opposition to oppression. Such education can be achieved through Freires problem-posing method.
In addition to power, difference is also used to create and maintain oppression. According to Johnson ” the trouble around diversity, then, isnt just that people differ from one another. The trouble is produced by a world organized in ways that encourage people to use difference to include, exclude, reward or punish, credit or discredit, elevate or oppress, value or devalue, leave alone or harass” (16). The author argues that difference is socially constructed and illustrates his point via the diversity wheel. The diversity wheel serves as a praxis in which individuals are classified into distinct groups based on physical, environmental as well as materialistic factors (14-15). The author points out that the slightest shift in the wheel would change peoples lives significantly. Such a phenomenon can support that difference as well as privilege is in fact, a social construct and that “diversity isnt about the “variety” that the word suggests (17). Johnson asserts that difference is a cultural myth that is only used to justify keeping those who are deemed to be “outsiders” on the outside, Freires banking method is a prime example of this.
In Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Freire states that “the teacher presents himself to students as their necessary opposite; by considering their ignorance absolute, he justifies his own existence. The students, alienated like the slave in Hegelian dialectic, accept their ignorance as justifying the teachers existence-but, unlike the slave, they never discover that they educate the