Oppresive Learning

“Education either functions as an instrument which is used to facilitate integration of the younger generation into the logic of the present system and bring about conformity or it becomes the practice of freedom, the means by which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world,” wrote Paulo Freire in his critically acclaimed book, “Pedagogy of The Oppressed.” Written in 1968, it was apt for a very turbulent and transformational period in the West. 

The period of “flower power”, George Harrison, Timothy Leary and later Steve Jobs found themselves immersed in Indian philosophy. An egoistic material perspective was challenged for the very first time post WW2 in the West. Fundamentally the education system was found to be boxed in with self-serving propaganda, with no room for self-discovery. Thus the education philosophy post WW2, in most colonized countries, was re-written to align with a new political horizon. Most of these countries needed conformity to establish political stability and continuity. Therefore the learner became a victim by default. The entire thinking and nurturing process got muddled and was replaced by a mind that acted as a vessel to be filled. Social scientists like Bloom with his theory of “Mastery Learning” further added credibility to this process.

Freire commented further that, “liberating education consists in acts of cognition, not transferals of information.”  Critical and Creative thinking which is fundamental in a knowledge based society, cannot be achieved if the learner is merely seen as an empty vessel that needed to be filled in. 

    

In Pedagogy of The Oppressed, Freire expounds, “For apart from inquiry, apart from the praxis, individuals cannot be truly human. Knowledge emerges only through invention and re-invention, through the restless, impatient, continuing, hopeful inquiry human beings pursue in the world, with the world, and with each other.”  Freire’s concluding statement clearly explains the role expected of the learner and its consequences.  Being a Vedantist  himself I am not surprised his perspective in “teacher-learner relationship” goes beyond “imparter-receiver of knowledge” and  to a “facilitator of thinking-constructor of knowledge” paradigm. 

Extrapolate this thought towards the creation of a knowledge based society which would eventually lead to a civil society. May seem very Utopian but I believe it is very much possible.

The current specialized and compartmentalized approach to education stifles a holistic thinking process. It does not allow the beholder to go beyond the pre-conditioned box which ultimately establishes a comfort zone, from which the beholder finds it difficult to step out. 

Establishment of “critical literacy” would be in the right direction as suggested by Marx, where a literature should not be read merely for syntax understanding but going beyond to decipher both its content and contextual cause and consequences within multiple frames.  Hagel’s concept of “Political Consciousness” thus very much influenced Marx’s perspective.

Interestingly this principle is very much based on the Advaita Philosophy a branch of Vedanta Philosophy established by Adi Shankarachariyar (788CE – 820CE) in India. The basis of this philosophy hinges on the principle of “non-duality”, whereby the seeker and the sought are one and the same, merely separated by a veil of ignorance. So either as seeker or knowledge acquirer, one is expected to embark on self-knowledge with the guide of a “Guru” (or teacher). Thus the role of the Guru is to facilitate thinking rather than an imparter of knowledge. Eventually the seeker is expected to detach himself/herself from the Guru to journey on alone.

Thus a parallel can be drawn here with Freire’s contention in “We make the Road By Walking”, that “The teacher is of course an artist, but being an artist does not mean that he or she can make the profile, can shape the students. What the educator does in teaching is to make it possible for the students to become themselves.”

Teachers play an important role in shaping the future of a society and nation building. If learning becomes oppressive than the nation faces the brunt of becoming an enslaved entity.