Paulo Freire’s Politics of Education

The New Discourses Podcast with James Lindsay, Episode 71
Critical Education Theory Series, Part 7

Just as we have learned here on the New Discourses Podcast that we live in Herbert Marcuse’s world today (and that’s why it’s so messed up), we also need to understand that our children all go to Paulo Freire’s schools. Therefore, we have to spend some time getting to know Paulo Freire and his approach to education, now called Critical Pedagogy or Critical Education Theory, and we need to know it deeply. To serve that goal, the New Discourses Podcast has undertaken a long series on Critical Education Theory, filled with several miniseries. Here, it begins a miniseries exploring Paulo Freire’s book The Politics of Education: Culture, Power, and Liberation, published in 1985, in considerable depth, revealing exactly what Freirean education is about. Though the introduction to this book, by Henry Giroux, already counts for two episodes of the New Discourses Podcast in this broader series, in this episode, James Lindsay begins his deep-dive directly into Freire’s work. This book, The Politics of Education, is nothing short of revelatory, not least because it is the book that succeeded in getting Freire to be taken seriously throughout colleges of education throughout North America.

In this episode of the New Discourses Podcast, James tackles the first two chapters of this book, giving a broad overview of Freire’s general approach and beliefs about the act of study and two visions for education: one “ingenuous” and the other Critical. In the second of these, we see how Freire redefines “literacy” so that it becomes the site of a new Marxian Theory. Freire’s Marxist and Hegelian roots are clearly exposed in just these first two chapters, as are his generally religious disposition with regard to Marxism. Join James to understand how Freire, through this book and his other work, transformed our education system into Marxist Sunday School, five days a week, bearing in mind that nearly all of our kids go to Paulo Freire’s schools.

Critical Education Theory Series:
Part 1: Education’s New Marxist Commitments
Part 2: How Education Turned Critical
Part 3: Paulo Freire’s Politics of Education and a New Hope
Part 4: Paulo Freire’s Prophetic Vision for Education
Part 5: Critical Education: What Is Culturally Relevant Pedagogy?
Part 6: Critical Education: Transformative Social-Emotional Learning (SEL)

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