Pedagogy of the Oppressed

The excerpt from Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed looks into the relationship between teachers and students from a somewhat outdated worldview. According to Freire, “Education is suffering from narration sickness.” Freire believes the teacher is nothing more than a tyrant. The teacher talks, talks, talks, and drills and grills the poor, helpless student—this is what Freire thinks of teachers. I kind of see where he is coming from—given the fact this article was written in 1993—but I don’t think that teachers today are like this anymore. Traditionally, teachers lectured 90% of the time and students were able to ask questions the reaming 10% of the time. However, today, teachers can and do allow students more opportunity to converse with the teacher and each other. I believe the ration now is 40% lecture time for the teacher and 60% of the time is for the students.

At the end of his long rant on education, Freire makes a bold statement: “No oppressive order could permit the oppressed to begin to question: Why?” I think that sums up his beef with education and educators. He must have been traumatized, as a child, and now feels obligated to tell the world, we need a revolution in education. I think if he would have written this in 2015, he would reconsider his argument because teachers no longer are supposed to be that tyrannical dictator who cracks out the ruler on his or her subservient students. Also, in my experience, teachers allow room for discussion in the class, like never before. Students are expected to talk and share ideas. No longer is it acceptable to pick on the same students over and over again. Therefore, Freire today would—most likely—not be so harsh on teachers because teachers don’t rule with an iron fist any longer. Today, teachers seem to be blamed for everything because many students come from homes that set no boundaries for their kids. Thus, Johnny deserves an A regardless of whether he actually earned it. I actually think teachers are the “oppressed” these days and they need to be encouraged more by society and NOT discouraged. Teachers are truly working with America’s future: the students.