- Jul 2017
-
lti.hypothesislabs.com lti.hypothesislabs.com
-
The student records, memorizes, and repeats these phrases without perceiving what four times four really means, or realizing the true significance of "capital" in the affirmation "the capital of Para is Belem," that is, what Belem means for Pard and what Para means for Brazil.
This reminds me of Shor's views, which argues that "Education is more than facts and skills." By pointing out the ways that knowledge is viewed as static, unchangeable "facts", and able to move from the "narrative subject" to "narrative patient", Friere problematizes the current education system just as Shor does.
-
The teacher cannot think for her students, nor can she impose her thought on them.
This goes back to the idea that learning is a back-and-forth dialogue, rather than a top-down oppressive process--a thought shared by Shor and Giroux, if not all the authors for this week.
-
If men and women are searchers and their ontological vocation is humanization, sooner or later they may per-ceive the contradiction in which banking education seeks to main-tain them, and then engage themselves in the struggle for their liberation
Is this the process by which social-justice oriented citizens (the concept from last week's readings) are born?
-
Education must begin with the solution of the teacher-student contradiction, by reconciling the poles of the contradiction so that both are simultaneously teachers and students
What are practical ways that the "teacher-student contradiction" that Friere discusses could be worked out? What sort of things are necessary to create a classroom/learning culture where this is possible?
-
In the banking concept of education, knowledge is a gift bestowed by those who consider themselves knowledgeable upon those whom they consider to know nothing.
This idea of the banking system goes against Giroux's idea that education should provide students "how knowledge is related to the power of self-definition and to use the knowledge they gain both to critique the world in which they live and, when necessary, to intervene in socially responsible ways in order to change it" (Giroux 14).
-
Worse yet, it turns them into "containers," into "receptacles" to be "filled" by the teacher. The more completely she fills the receptacles, the better a teacher she is. The more meekly the receptacles permit themselves to be filled, the better students they are.
But with what are we currently filling these "containers" and "receptacles"? The "better students" are the ones who, as Wise and Bone argue, engage in a coercive system of grades.
-
-
lti.hypothesislabs.com lti.hypothesislabs.com
-
ial relationships em
social relationship of production: the dynamics (particularly of exploitation) between the owners of production and the producers themselves.
-
a surplus
Surplus: the necessary excess (of resources) that enables the creation of class distinctions and class exploitation/struggle. Without it, how might society look?
-
ideologies are systems of beliefwhich:legitimate the class-based system of production by making it appear right and just, and/orobscure the reality of its consequences for those involved
Ideologies can serve to legitimate the status quo, but can't it also serve to reveal what has been obscured? Ideologies are powerful in the ways it can conceal or reveal what is normally hidden. They serve to legitimate certain priorities and values. They are part of the superstructure.
-
Institutions
Institutions: the method by which values, ideologies, and principles are legitimated, replicated, and spread. It includes family and education as primary ways that society as we know it survives and continues on.
-
Consumerism:
consumerism: Marx suggests that consumerism is a way that exploitation is hidden. Through consumerism, people find comfort. They find their needs met in such a that makes it easy for them to stay "class unconsciousness" and unaware of their class exploitation.
-
ouched. Marx,in contrast, wanted to bring intellectual analysis and practical political action together to change socie
Justification of inequality: This goes back to the concealment of exploitation. Education and capitalism create a way of thinking that is normalized, and where personal responsibility 'conceal' inequality and injustice.
-
classconsciousness
Class consciousness: the recognition of the way that society conceals (or reveals) aspects of exploitation and power relations more generally
-
Social change
Social change: Marx suggests this begins with class consciousness and that through changes in the superstructure (ideas, philosophies, etc.), new realities can be created.
-
superstructure.
Superstructure: the ideas, beliefs, and philosophies of society. They play a large role in legitimating the current status and realities of society.
-
Class consciousness
Class consciousness as the impetus for social change, for illuminating the injustice of "teaching the justice of inequality".
-
eaches members of a capitalist society the justice of inequality.
What aspects of education teach students the 'justice of inequality'?
-
yer. Education obviously reinforces this training
What other things does education reinforce and/or discourage?
-
Itisinthefamilythatwefirstlearnthemeaningofauthority andobedience.
And this idea of authority and obedience is meant to be replicated in society.
-
. As a Ford car worker told Huw Beynon: 'I just close my eyes, stick it out, and think of the wife and kids'
This quote exemplifies the ways that diversion away from 'class' issues prevents questioning of the current 'class' situation.
-
Forfunctionalists,socializationistheway welearnideasthatweneedtoknowinordertothinkandbehavein thewaysrequiredofusbythesocialsystem.ForMarxists,itistheway welearnthoseideaswhichservestojustifytherealcharacterofaclass society.Forboththeoriesthereisaprevailingculturewhichpeopleare expectedtolearnthroughsocialization.Thedifferencebetweenthem concernsthejobthiscultureistakentoperform.Forfunctionalists,it ensuressocialintegration.ForMarxists,itisintendedtoensuresocial inequality anddomination.
Functionalism vs. Marxism
-
For example, the fragmentation of most workprocessesismirroredinthebreakingupofthecurriculumintotiny 'packages'ofknowledge,sothateachsubjectisdivorcedfromallothers; lackofcontroloverworkprocessesisreflectedinthepowerlessnessof pupilswithregardtowhattheywilllearninschoolorhowtheywilllearn it; and the necessity of working for pay when jobs seem pointless and unfulfillinginthemselvesisparalleledbytheemphasisinschoolsonlearn-MarxandMarxism39inginordertogaingoodgrades,ratherthanlearningforitsownsake. Therefore,BowlesandGintisclaimthereisacorrespondencebetweenthe natureofworkincapitalistsocieties,andthenatureofschooling.
Wow, this underscores my own concerns and issues with the current education system. What are the ways we can reimagine education? The status quo?
-
educationsystemreflectstheorganizationofpro- duction in capitalist socie
school-to-work pipeline? So then does the education system the beginning of the organization of production or is the organization the beginning of the education system? Which is the egg, the chicken?
-
How do such dominant ideas become established? Like func- tionalists,Marxistsarguethatparticularideasaretransmittedthrough various key agencies of socialization. In contemporary society, for example,bothMarxistsandfunctionalistswouldpointtotheimpor- tantroleplayedbyinstitutionslikethefamily,theeducationsystem and the mass media in promoting generally held beliefs and values.
The ways that ideas are spread (education, family, and mass media) are very powerful. Thus, the we must pay particular attention to these institutions and the agenda they (or society more generally) pushes.
-
Inother.words,whateverdegreeofcooperationorevenfriendlinessmightexist betweenindividualsfromeachclass,theirinterestsobjectivelyconflict.
Is this necessarily true? I wonder if we can't imagine an alternative.
-
Marx's strategy of making explicit the social relationships embed-dedinallaspectsofhumansocietyoffersapowerfulwayofmaking the familiar world strange and inviting us to reexami
This is the heart of critical theory. That is, to make our familiar world strange, to reexamine the embedded aspects of society (that have become the status quo).
-
'historical materialism
Historical materialism: the way that we transform and manipulate our identities and world to live. The change we make in our environment, relationships, and selves depends on the changes we've made before; and thus is historical in nature.
-
- Jun 2017
-
lti.hypothesislabs.com lti.hypothesislabs.com
-
CRRs will have specific instructions for each week. However, each one should also be completed as follows: 1.Respond to the posed questions/prompts or write your own rigorous questions and prompts that you can respond to 2.Demonstrate a clear understanding of the readings and the author’s main points.3.Use textual evidence to support these points (clear citations!)4.Synthesize texts (across the course and readings for a particular CRR) in relation to each other.5.Include your own thoughtful analysis, interpretations (supported by evidence
These are the key points to remember about CRRs. Further instruction will be given for each week.
-
On the one hand, I cannot manipulate. On the other hand, I cannot leave students by themselves. The opposite of these two possibilities is being radically democratic. That means accepting the directive nature of education. There is a directiveness to education which never allows it to be neutral. We must say to the students how we think and why. My role is not to be silent. I have to convince students of my dreams but not conquer them for my own plans. ~ Paulo Freire, 1987.
One of the responsibilities of being an educator is to teach without brainwashing. How does one walk that very thin line?
-
Say yes to life, yea to it all, and participate with joy, humility, indignation and gratitude in the adventurous struggle to remake the world each and every day.”~ Paolo Freire
Daily inspiration.
-