Assignment 3C

Matthew MacDonald:
Although Paulo Freire’s teaching remain excluded by mainstream teaching models, some of the fundamentals of his ambitions remain a very strong component of what is a free society. For example, Paulo implemented his theories by teaching 300 sugarcane workers to read and write. The impact of this is that these workers who previously could not vote where thereby allowed to vote and impact society by electing officials that had their better interest at heart.

Paul Hopkins:
Paulo Freire` was an educated and influential theorist of the 20th century. Instead of pursuing riches, he instead sought to educate the oppressed and put them in a position of empowerment by means of knowledge. One of his most famous quotes (and my favorite) was: “I never accepted that educational practice should be limited just to the reading of text, the reading of words, but that it should include the reading of context, the reading of the world.” This quote is of interest to me because in this modern world, so much is put into what someone says, and very little is put into the context of those words. What they mean in the intended context is of more significance that what the definition is.

Class Relevance:
I believe that Paulo Friere’s theories and teachings have a substantial relevance to our class. In addition to being a prominent member of Latin American culture/history, his theories remains a cornerstone of what I believe is a truly free society. Knowledge, even in its most basic form such as reading and writing is truly power. The more we know, the more we learn, the less room we have for ignorant differences such as racism and the less inclined we should be to want to hurt one another.