Paulo Freire

Pedagogy of Freedom

Foreword: Donaldo Macedo
"A study that concludes that African-American students perform way below white mainstream students in reading is correct, but such a conclusion tells us very little aout the material conditions with which African-American students work in the struggle against racisim, educational tracking, and the systematic negation and devaluation of thier histories."

“What empirical studies often neglect to point out is how easily statistics can be manipulated to take away the human face of the subjects of study through a process that not only dehumanizes but also distorts and falsifies the reality.”

“The issue is not to give up or not give up a job. The real issue is to understand one’s privileged position in the process of helping so as not to, on one hand, turn help into a type of missionary paternalism and, on the other hand, limit the possibilities for the creation of structures that lead to real empowerment.”

If the “at risk” educators do not acknowledge the colonial legacy that informs their relationship with the oppressive conditions of the “at risk” reality, they will became at best paternalistic missionaries or, at worst, literacy and poverty pimps who make a living from the human misery with which they are in ideological complicity.”

Paulo Freire Chapter 1 Introductory Reflections
“I am not impartial or objective; not a fixed observer of facts and happenings. I never was able to be an adherent of the traits that falsely claim impartiality or objectivity. That did not prevent me however, from holding always a rigorously ethical position. Whoever really observes, does so from a given point of view and this does not necessarily mean that te observers position is erroneous. It is an error when one becomes dogmatic about ones point of view, it does not mean that one’s position is always ethically grounded.” 22

“It is not only of interest to students but also extremely important to students to perceive the differences that exist among teachers over the comprehension, interpretation, and appreciation, sometimes widely differing, of problems and questions that arise in day-to-day learning situations in the classroom.” 24

Paulo Freire Chapter 2 There is no Teaching without Learning
“There is, in fact, no teaching without learning.”31

“. . .teaching that does not emerge from the experience of learning cannot be learned by anyone.” 31

“Really reading involves a kind of relationship with the text.” 34

“One of the necessary requirements for correct thinking is a capacity for not being overly convinced of one’s own certitudes.” 34

“I teach because I search, because I question, and because I submit myself to questioning.” 35

“Why not discuss with students the concrete reality of their lives?” 36

“. . .to transform the experience of educating into a matter of simple technique is to impoverish what is fundamentally human in this experience: namely, its capacity to form the human person.” 39

“. . .in the process of the ongoing education of teachers, the essential moment is that of critical reflection on
one’s practice.” 43

“Sometimes a simple, almost insignificant gesture on the part of a teacher can have a profound formative effect on the life of a student.” 46

“What is important in teaching is not the mechanical repetition of this or that gesture but a comprehension of the value of sentiments, emotions, and desires. Of the insecurity that can only be overcome by inspiring confidence. Of the fear than can only be abated to the degree that courage takes its place.” 48

Paulo Freire Chapter 3 Teaching is not Just Transferring Knowledge
“ When I enter a classroom, I should be someone who is open to new ideas, open to questions, and open to the curiosities if the students as well as their inhibitions.” 49

“We are not always sufficiently balanced to prevent legitimate anger from degenerating into the kind of rage that breeds false and erroneous thinking.” 51

“Wherever there is life, there is unfinishedness.” 52

“I like being human because I know that my passing through the world is not predetermined, reestablished. That my destiny is not a given but something that needs to be constructed and for which I must assume responsibility.” 54

“Education does not make us educable. It is our awareness of being unfinished that makes us educable.” 58

“All discrimination is immoral, and to struggle against it is a duty whatever the conditionings that have to be confronted.” 60

“How can I respect the curiosity of the students if . . . I am afraid of revealing my own ignorance? How can I consider myself to be an educator . . . if I cannot learn to live . . . with what is different? How can I be an educator if I do not develop in myself a caring and loving attitude toward the student, which is indispensable on the part of one who is committed to teaching and to the education process itself.” 65

“It is important that I said what I thought and that he heard from me that what I thought was right and should be said.” 68

“Reality however, is not inexorable or unchangeable. It happens to be this just as it could well be something else. And if we so-called progressive thinkers want it to be something else, we have to struggle.” 71

“The good teacher is one who manages to draw the student into the intimacy of his or her thought process while speaking. . . . In the environment of challenge, the students become tired but they do not fall asleep.” 81

Paulo Freire Chapter 4 Teaching is a Human Act
“Teachers who do not take their own education seriously, who do not study, who make little effort to keep abreast of events have no moral authority to coordinate the activities of the classroom.” 85

“There are two tasks I have never dichotomized. One is to make it always obvious to the students that respect for them is fundamental. The other is to respect myself.” 87

“I cannot be a teacher without exposing who I am.” 87

“Education . . .is a form of intervention in the world.” 91

“Freedom is not the absence of limits.” 99

“I prefer rebelliousness because it affirms my status as a person who has never given in to manipulation and strategies designed to reduce the human person to nothing.” 103

“Only the person who listens patiently and critically is able to speak with the other, even if at times is should be necessary to speak to him or her.” 110

“If it is impossible to have development without profit, then profit of its own accord cannot be the sole object of development in such a way that it justifies and sanctifies the immoral gain of the investor.” 117

“There are some things I know and some I do not know. With this conviction it is more likely that I may come to know better what I already know and better learn what I do not yet know.” 120

We cannot hand ourselves over to the television ready to accept whatever comes. The more we sit in front of it, the more we risk being confused about the real nature of the facts.” 124

Pedagogy of the Oppressed

"The educated individual is the adapted person, because she or he is better "fit" for the world. Translated into pratice, this concept is well suited to the purposes of the oppressors, whose tranquility rests on how well people fit the world the oppressors have created, and how little they question it."


"Liberating education consists in acts of cognition, not transferrals of information."

"Problem posing education bases itself on creativity and stimulates true reflection and action upon reality, thereby responding to the vocationof persons as beings who are authentic only when engeged in inquiry and creative transformation."

"No one can be authentically human while he prevents others from being so."

From: Pedagogy of the Oppressed