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Twenty years ago, Brazilian educator Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed received worldwide acclaim for the ideas about teaching and change in the Third World that he had forged in the crucible of his own work among the illiterate poor of Latin America. Now he revisits his original success, recounting the evolution of his ideas and the defining moments that led to both his insights and his subsequent exile because of them. Uncompromisingly on the side of oppressed peoples everywhere, Freire promotes his philosophically dense ideas with the fervor of a revolutionary. They make for difficult reading, partly because of his associative, rambling style but also because of a rather awkward, literal translation. Still, for those interested in the philosophy of education and in fundamental Third World issues, they're reading well worth the struggle. ~--Mary Ellen Sullivan
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Freire has written a powerful, coherent, scholarly defense of the radical liberal position and its expression in progressivist educational practice. The author restates and rethinks beliefs developed earlier in Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1971) by tracing the gestation process of this work through poignant, journalistic-style vignettes of his experiences as a progressive teacher and exiled political reformer. He views hope as an "ontological need" critical in the peasant-worker struggle to overcome exploitation by the social, political, and economic power structure of the dominant capitalist system. He argues that progressivism's focus on critical radicalism rejects sectarianism, inconsistency, and authoritarianism of intellectuals while best advancing the hope of the oppressed to remake the world. He believes that progressivism's focus on knowledge of living experience, respect for people who "learn to learn," and a teacher-student "dialogical relation" will foster a critical understanding by the oppressed of their situation, who will then engage in political struggle to realize their hope for change. This work compares favorably with quality studies (c.f. Ivan Illich, Deschooling Society, 1970) that have sought to advance socialism and progressivism as an alternative to capitalism and a conservative educational approach. All levels. F. X. Russo; University of Rhode Island
