Book Notes, Summary and Review: Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire

Before reading Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed, I was under the impression that it was another one of those books on education. The kind of book that victimizes the whole student population and pins the blame on the teachers and school administrators.

Well it turns out: I was right, but only to an extremely small extent.

This book is more than that. It uncovers the contradictions between the oppressors and the oppressed, the "banking" concept of education, the role of dialogue in liberating the oppressed and other seldom discussed topics in education.

Structure of Summary

This book summary will be organized as such:

1. Justification for a Pedagogy of the Oppressed
2. Oppression in the Education System
3. Dialogue Liberates
4. Pitfalls of Freeing the Oppressed

Justification for a Pedagogy of the Oppressed

Oppression is defined as any situation in which some individuals prevent others from engaging in the process of inquiry. It's not only limited to an epistemological context, it can also be found in a social or emotional context.

When someone is oppressed, he or she is alienated from their own decision-making. As a consequence, they're dehumanized and objectified. That is why oppression is always considered as an act of violence — it destroys our humanity and individuality.

An oppressed person is no different from an animal. What separates us from animals is our ability to distance ourselves from our actions, so we can reflect upon them. In turn, we can set objectives for ourselves and change the reality we live in.

Animals, on the other hand, cannot separate themselves (on a metaphysical level) from the world. Hence, they cannot expand their reality into a meaningful, symbolic world that includes culture and history.

When we're oppressed, we aren't given the choice or ability to change the reality we live. We're forced to perceive our situation as impassable boundaries where possibilities end. What the oppressors are hiding from us is that: these're in fact the real boundaries where all possibilities begin. In the process, we lose this integral part of us that makes us human — our ability to overcome the given reality — hence making us no different from other animals.

Oppression in the Education System

The traditional teaching pedagogy is referred to as the "banking model of education". Because in the current education system, knowledge is deposited into the minds of the students. The contents of a lesson, whether values or empirical dimensions of reality, is narrated to the student. Education, in Paulo's view, is suffering from narration sickness.

Schools shouldn't be following the "banking" model. Knowledge cannot be seen as a gift bestowed by those who consider themselves knowledge upon those whom they consider to know nothing. The more students blindly store the deposits of knowledge entrusted to them, the less they develop critical consciousness.

Critical consciousness is a popular education and social concept coined by Paulo. It refers to the developmental processes in which someone learns to perceive social, political and economic contradictions, before taking action against the oppressive elements of reality.

When our students fail to develop critical consciousness, they become passive spectators of the world. They adapt to the world as it is and to the incomplete view of reality deposited in them. They aren't a conscious being. They're just the possessor of a consciousness: an empty mind that's passively receptive of deposits of reality from the outside world.

As long as most individuals perceive the world as a static reality, instead of a reality in transformation, the "banking" model of education will remain. Because they'll stay impotent in the face of oppressive reality. This suits the purposes of the oppressors whose power rests on how well people adapt to the world they've created, and how little they question it. The status quo, however oppressive, will stay unchallenged.

On the other end of the spectrum stands the problem-posing education model. Problem-posing education affirms students as beings in the process of becoming — as unfinished beings in an unfinished reality. And exactly because we as individuals and reality are incomplete, we can always enact authentic change around us. The status quo can change for the better for everyone.

Dialogue Liberates

The pedagogy of the oppressed consists of two stages.

In the first, the oppressed discover the world of oppression and through their critical consciousness, commit themselves to its transformation. In the second stage, the oppressed and oppressors have been liberated and are now involved in the process of permanent liberation.

Both stages of the pedagogy of the oppressed involves dialogue, which is communicated through true words.

True words consists of two dimensions: reflection and action. Sacrificing either element leads to the suffering of the other element. When a word is deprived of its dimension of action, it turns into idle chatter, into an empty word. On the contrary, if action is emphasized exclusively, the word is converted into activism.

Dialogue that lack either element cannot engender wide-scale change that subverts the oppressive reality we live in. Because one cannot denounce oppression without a commitment to transform, which can only take place with action and reflection.

Problem-posing education uses dialogue to achieve its educational objectives, because it encourages students to develop critical consciousness and to act on their gained insight. Dialogue creates a horizontal relationship between educators and students. It encourages us to think with people, rather than think about people as objects. This helps to clarify and illuminate the kind of action needed that can help students transform their current way of learning.

Pitfalls of Freeing the Oppressed

1. Leading the Charge

The oppressed need to be the ones leading the charge of liberating themselves and their oppressors.

It's the responsibility of the oppressed, not the oppressed or their leadership, to unveil the world by themselves. The conviction of the oppressed to liberate themselves from their state of oppression comes from their own critical consciousness.

No one else has the strength to liberate the oppressed, but themselves. Their leaders may initiate the process of this unveiling, but they can't deposit or mythicize the masses into freeing themselves. Else, they'll just be replacing one oppressive reality with another.

The oppressors, similarly, can't liberate everyone from this old, oppressive order, because they've lost their humanity and strength to tear it down. Besides, they'll never understand the terrible significance and suffering of being oppressed, as much as the oppressed do.

The oppressed are the only ones who can subvert the oppressive reality they live in.

2. Demolish and Rebuild

Any attempt to weaken the power of the oppressor out of respect to the weakness of the oppressed is almost always a form of false generosity. The attempt never goes beyond this.

To continually express their false generosity, the oppressors must perpetuate injustice to its victims. This is also how they increase their leverage over the oppressed and justify their wickedness in the future.

The only real way forward is: to aim for liberation, where man or woman are no longer oppressor or oppressed, but human in the process of achieving freedom.

Wrapping Up

I spent a lot of time reading this book. Because some parts of the book felt repetitive, other parts were convoluted and tedious to get through.

Nonetheless, I still insisted on finishing it. Not out of stubbornness, but because I felt that each page would contain a new, peculiar insight on how I look at human relationships. Throughout these pages, Paulo shares a unique way of looking at the power dynamics that underpins many of our relationships.

I don't think the majority of people will enjoy reading this book. That doesn't mean it's a bad book, it's a brilliant book. I read it and enjoyed it. But unless you're particularly interested in critical pedagogy, this might not be a suitable book for you.