Traditional education, as defined by Ira Shor in The Art of Critical Pedagogy (2008)
suppresses student skills and intellectual interests, while a more critical
approach develops these skills and interests. Traditional education puts the
students in positions of powerlessness and the teacher in a position of
authority. This approach hampers the student’s development as a critical
thinker. Above all else, the role of the public school is to help the next
generation of voters to approach media and information as critical thinkers.
Paulo Freire advocated for developing the capacity in
students to confront real-world problems related to them and their community.
At the core of his critical pedagogy was the concept of praxis, which is not
unlike the more recent concept of problem-based learning. This approach leads
teachers and students to action and reflection upon that action. Through this
approach, students (1) identify a problem, (2) analyze the problem, (3) create a
plan of action, (4) implement the plan, and (5) analyze and evaluate the
action. By addressing real-world, community-based problems, students are able
to become their own change agents, which prepares for an active civic
adulthood.
The public school system plays the most integral role in
developing the next generation of citizens, and this is not accomplished
through traditional approaches of filling empty receptacles. This is
accomplished by fostering dialogue, inquiry, critical reading/viewing of the
world, and a partnership and exchange of ideas between students and teachers.
Duncan-Andrade,
J. M. R., & Morrell, E. (2008). The art of critical pedagogy, possibilities for moving from
theory to practice in urban schools.
New York, NY: Peter Lang Pub Inc.
