In reading Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed, and Baldwin’s
A Letter to My Nephew, I found myself
thinking about the power structures of schooling and where the oppressors and
oppressed fall within this context. When Freire writes, “So often do [the
oppressed] hear that they are good for nothing, know nothing and are incapable
of learning-that they are sick, lazy, and unproductive-that in the end they
become convinced of their own unfitness,” I kept thinking about how students
are often oppressed in schools, conditioned to believe that they are failures (p.17).
With strict tracking, harsh labels, and low teacher expectations, minoritized
students in particular, are “not expected to aspire to excellence” (Baldwin).
How can we as
teachers, dismantle this oppressive system? Baldwin writes, “trust your
experience,” so how can teachers bring their students’ experiences and funds of
knowledge into the classroom? When Freire writes about the self-deprecation of
the oppressed, he explains how knowledge is solely thought of as coming from
the oppressors, where the oppressed are considered ignorant. How can teachers
shift power structures in their own classrooms? If teachers create an
environment where they are co-creators of knowledge with their students, is the
enough to stop the cycle of self-deprecation?
Baldwin also writes,
“If you know whence you came, there is really no limit to where you can go”
which I felt could be paralleled with Freire’s idea of “To surmount the situation
of oppression, people must first critically recognize its causes, so that
through transforming action, they can create a new situation” (p.47). First,
oppression needs to be recognized, by both the oppressors and the oppressed, but
in order to reach liberation there needs to be hope with the belief that
oppression, while it is a “limiting situation,” can be transformed. How can we
keep hope alive in ourselves and our students while, together, also becoming
more aware of the oppressive systems at play?
Lastly, Freire
emphasizes the importance of praxis and dialogue in the process of liberation.
What does this mean for you?
Monika, thanks for your post. One further query to think about before our class tomorrow. When Baldwin says, 'trust your experience,' how can we understand that in terms of the different locations of miseducation and experiences that people have had? What should those who benefit from institutionalized oppression 'trust' about their experiences, and the same for those who have been marginalized? one, lp.
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