To support intellectual
development, Freire suggested that people should be taught how to help
themselves or educate themselves about their reality” ( 42)
I dug the overview feel the book
has so far, as I noticed others did not. The book does have a 17 page reference
section that will help out with the further examination of critical theory. A whole
school could be developed around CRT, CT, CWT, and critical theory with all of
its complexities and contributors, so I greatly appreciate this book finding
its way into my life.
I took the quote above because I
been trying to find alternative ways to educate myself besides public / private
institutions. I have been unsatisfied this whole semester with a number of
things concerning my education and have been re-examining how I ended up at
Texas State going for a technical communication degree. Some of the ideas and theories mentioned in
this book helped in my re-examination. When the book mentions how Stovall offers
a counterstory to “mainstream notions of urban education that perpetuate stereotypes
of academic disinterest among children of color” it reminded me of myself and my disinterest in school. I remember
being disinterested in elementary school, disinterested in middle school, in
high school and in bits and pieces of my schooling in higher education. Often
times when I realize how disinterested in school I was I felt guilty and stupid.
And lazy. As I recognize now, I was disinterested in most of my education because
it was eradicating my culture, as it had already done, for the most part, to my
parents. Ironically my disinterest from whitestream education perpetuated the
stereotype Stovall mentioned. Education was installing certain ideologies and
practices that remained invisible to me until recently.
“When you control a man’s
thinking you do not have to worry about his actions. You do not have to tell
him to stand here or go yonder. He will find his ‘proper place’ and will stay in
it . . . His education makes it necessary” (25)
This realization has caused me a
lot of chaos and confusion. I used to tell myself that I didn’t care how poor I
ended up, that I was going to be something I loved, regardless of the financial
sacrifices it might call for. And yet, I went to school, in the end, for a job,
for money. I find it hard to work within the confines of a system you are
trying to change but in a weird way, now that I have a better hold on where I
am, how I got here, and where I stand in the system, I am a little more excited
than scared.
I liked the overview too Monica. I felt like that was the point--to give a context to the more narrowed discussions on Critical Theory.
ReplyDeleteI had a kind of revelation too, about my education and a lot of the practices and ideologies, that I'd never critically thought about before. And also how difficult it can be to recognize them, but how its even more difficult to break from them.
I think if you really want to work to change the system, you can, even if that means having to negotiate your place.
Reading Freire’s quote reminds me of his efforts to humanize education and the IA training in August. During IA training we were specifically told not to try to help students if they had any troubles outside the classroom. They told us to refer them to the student health services to get professional help. I still wonder why we are told to do this. I know there are probably some legal issues at hand, but that seems to contradict what Freire is going for in attempting to create an education that considers the individual as a person not an object to pour facts into.
ReplyDeleteAt what point did talking to a person get so difficult that we need professionals? The IA obviously doesn’t want to get in any sort of trouble in dealing with a student, but that completely undermines the student that actively goes out looking for help and ends up asking an IA. I’d feel terrible if I felt the courage to confide in a person and then was told to seek professional help because the matters were to grave or I simply couldn’t give any sort of advice because it’s not in my job description.