Pedagogy for the Children of the Oppressors

Abstract

North American and European models of higher education often claim to be committed to the nurturing of social justice. In The Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Paulo Freire described how most education shares some complicity in the maintenance of an unjust status quo of oppression. Following Freire, this article focuses on how educators among the world’s privileged can encourage students to move from postures of ignorance, guilty remorse, or paternalistic activism vis-à-vis the world’s oppressed toward a respectful, dialogical interrelationship.