Paulo Freire made a major contribution
to social justice with his Pedagogy of the Oppressed
(1970). His basic premise is "read the word,
read the world." Freire changed the lives of
hundreds of thousands of people on the planet through
his wisdom and efforts in educating the oppressed
masses and showing others how to do so also. Freire
was true to his efforts and his message: To bring
social justice to the world's oppressed peoples.
Freire's life is a monument to social justice and
his work reminds one of Matthew of the New Testament.
The Pedagogy of Live the World is the philosophy
of Freire with one notable exception. The Practitioners
of This pedagogy live with the oppressed peoples
they are representing, live in the local communities,
visit their students homes, rent or buy a house
in the same neighborhood, engage in the local culture,
learn the native language, raise their families
in these communities, and do not visit the poor
daily as the mainstay of white teachers all across
America do on a daily basis. Living the world as
a pedagogical philosophy means riding the school
buses to see where the students live, committing
to social justice in the school's community, practices
social activism, participating in community and
cultural events, and becoming a figure of trust
for the local community.
To practice the Pedagogy of Live the World, the
new teacher must read Freire and Alinski(1946, 1972),
learn community-organizing tactics from a appropriate
training school, and make a lifelong commitment
to social justice and social change. In accepting
this pedagogical approach, the new teacher will
"live the world," and in the process,
change the world for the better.
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