Pedagogy of the Oppressed- Insights for reflection

Written by educator Paulo Freire

Published in the Year -1968

I had a wonderful experience reading the book ‘Pedagogy of the Oppressed’ by Paulo Freire.

The book tries to bring a model for liberation to the oppressed through dialogue and action. I would like to list some thoughts struck my mind while reading the book.

People think that if and only if they suppress someone they can live as a ‘man’- to suppress becomes the way to live and the way of living. This suppression need not only be landlord-peasant type of suppression. But suppression of any form.
A person does not realize that he is knowledgeable and he knows something. The awareness of self is very much lacking. This need not only be bookish knowledge or from any formal education but rather a knowledge about the self.
Large number (or may be less number) of participants are seen in the discussions on decision making. However, we see people staying quiet and listening to others speak. The author represents them as ‘Pseudo-participants’. Either they should be given a chance or they should be empowered to speak for themselves.
The Narrative character of Schools- the author relates the current schooling system to banking system. There is a 'depositor' and 'depositories' in a bank. In the schools, the method of teaching is in such a way that the teacher acts as a depositor of ‘knowledge’ and the children are ‘depositories’. Here neither the teacher is benefitted nor the child. The child misses out to finding herself which leads her into a more confused state where she is not able to relate to her environment and way of life. Here teacher is seen as the authority of the knowledge, which is not right- even they believe in the text book they follow.
The after effect of the banking system of education may lead to a situation where the depositories (children) strives for the emergence of consciousness and critical intervention in reality.
Author says “Knowledge emerges only through invention and re-invention, through restless, impatient, continuing, hopeful inquiry men pursue in the world, with the world and with each other”.
The author satires on the oppressor, in order to stop the oppressed from uniting, the oppressor shows ‘Humanitarianism’ to preserve a profitable situation for themselves.
Importance of dialogue is narrated by the author; according to the author dialogue is the give and take between two individuals mediated by the world.
Love is significant in a dialogue. If you does not love people and you do not love life, you cannot enter into a dialogue. Dialogue is where you manipulate yourself with ideas and share to get insights. In the current system of schooling dialogue is rather one way which does not allow manipulation of ideas and inhibits subsequent insights.
The author describes that through dialogues 'conscientization' happens and it leads to deepening of the attitude and awareness of the self and surroundings.
The author says about the divide and rule strategy of the dominants. The dominants can remain dominant only and only if the suppressed remains un-united. The dominants tries to give some ‘gifts’ and puts up a show of ‘humanitarianism’ in order to make the oppressed become contended about themselves.
The criteria of development is also been shared by the author. He says that development cannot be calculated only with the help of the per capita indices rather it should be calculated by looking into the level of self-reliance a community possesses.
He describes two types of oppressiveness both for the urban as well as the rural. In rural it is said that the oppression is a kind of ‘closed reality’ and has a face of compact center like that of the feudal system which is even contemporary. Urban face of oppression is rather having a context where which it is expanding. There the oppressive command is plural and this is a very dangerous situation where people will be more and more oppressed from a 360degree formation.
The writer proposes a ‘dialogical model of action’, a platform where the oppressed gets consciousness of themselves. Organization of people is rather a highly educational process in which leaders and people together experience true authority and freedom of thoughts and speech.