Category: Week 9 – Critical Pedagogy

Amos Kalua

Ziyad Alhamdan

Zellie Hackett

Diana Devine

Abram Diaz-Strandberg

Remy Wehbe

When I was reading chapter 2 of Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire, it was more like I was reading the applications of ‘Mindfulness’.  One of the issues brought up in this article was about power dynamics in a class setting and how certain actions of the student could make them disrespectful to the teachers. It actually happened with me and my friends in one of our history classes in high school. I remember some of us (students) questioning on the events that our history teacher was discussing, and which we did not agree to but were stopped in between and were seen as bad students who did not respect teachers and consider themselves knowing more than the teacher in the class. Us questioning was seen as disrespectful to the teacher which was never our intention (of course).

In theory and for discussion purposes, critical pedagogy seems to be so ideal and so important but it is hard to implement. The onus is on the teacher to take charge of what is been taught, why is it being taught and how it is being taught. But, it is difficult to implement it in the class. And it is difficult because it is not easy to take criticism from students. Teachers are considered to be the ones who deliver knowledge to the students and the preconceived notion is that teachers cannot be questioned. It is time to change the stereotype and make the class, an environment to be a two-way process for both teachers and students.

 

Being a student in higher education, I often find myself thinking about grades—am I getting what I need to? Will I mess up my GPA? Will I make the requirements? I want to make a disclaimer before I get into this blogpost, I am a complete hypocrite—there it is, I am putting it out there. When working with students and they are stressing about maintaining their high GPA’s or getting a B+ instead of an A, I find myself trying to get them to step back and realize that the grade isn’t everything, what counts is if you learned. As well as I do truly believe that what matters is if you left the class having learned something and hopefully can apply the knowledge somewhere.

However, as an undergraduate student, I was that student that would obsess about grades and messing up my GPA. I did not want anything less than an A and dear sweet lord if I got a C. Even now, I can sometimes find myself slipping back into old habits of caring about the grade more than I care about what I am learning. This is not good and for the most part, I feel as though I have been more learning centered and not grade centered during my graduate school career thus far. However, I still get pained when a student confides in me about grades and needing to get a certain GPA—whether they learn something or not is inconsequential.

This has made me ponder about our grading system and the pros and cons that come along with it. I read the article “Could Grades Be Counterproductive” by Beckie Supiano, as I am interesting in learning about more perspectives about this area—as I am no expert. I think Beckie made some really interesting points throughout her article.

The first point I enjoyed was the fact that the article made the point that students need to learn how to evaluate their own work and be able assess where they are at. Grades assigned by the teacher or professor can diminish this.  David Boud in the article talks about how when they leave the institution, they need this skill to be able to succeed in their future endeavors. If you are not providing students an opportunity to assess themselves, “we have failed them” (David Boud, 2017).

A second point I enjoyed from this article was the fact that they discussed how grades don’t really articulate the learning that took place in the classroom. The article states that they don’t “tell you the why” (Supiano, 2017). Supiano further makes the point that this is bad for learning as it doesn’t let them know how to improve or accurately show what went on with learning.

A third point I really enjoyed was the fact that the author discussed how when you are assigning a grade to an assignment, and you do leave feedback, the first thing to be ignored or glanced over is the feedback. They have found that when students are given written feedback, they only care about the grade they are given for the assignment. Therefore, showing that the grade is what matters to them not the learning or the feedback.

A third point I enjoyed in this article was that they referenced some institutions that do not use grading—they only provide descriptive feedback. Growing up around St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland. I have heard of this concept before, but I was interested to hear about other colleges doing this. I think that it focuses more on the learning that took place and the skills the student has and not how they benchmarked on an assignment. Though, I will note, I am realistic that grades keep students doing assignments. I really liked how that the article shared that the institutions that do not use the norm grading method, how they are being more student centered. The article shared Rachel Rubinstein, said that “the grade locates all the authority in the faculty member, and makes the student a passive recipient”. This reminding me of what we have talked about with the banking method and Paulo Friere with the concept of “doing it with them and not for them”. I am a big fan of the view that the educational experience should be both a learning experience for the student and the professor. As well as the fact that the students should have agency in what they are doing/learning.

A last point I really enjoyed about this article was the fact that it noted by having grades with the societal importance of GPA, it makes students not want to step out of their comfort zones in their educational journey. By taking classes they don’t know much about or classes they don’t feel as confident in, they could hurt their GPA and some students will avoid that at all costs. If we place less importance of letter grades, we could perhaps get more students taking classes that would push them out of their comfort zones and expose them to new ideas/things. I know that in my undergrad, I specifically went out of my way to avoid a class that had high level math and science because I knew if I took it I would not get a “good” grade (probably a C) and I didn’t want to hurt my GPA like that. I look back and I regret not taking it because I was so afraid to hurt my GPA, it feels like such a bad reason in retrospect (eye roll at myself).

Critical pedagogy refers to a deliberate tendency to construct a special situation in which teachers and students can critically think about knowledge. Critical pedagogy was developed in Central and South America and North America. It was deeply influenced by the adult literacy education conducted by Paulo Freire in Brazil. Paulo Freire redefined the concept of literacy education and gave politicized meaning, treating education as a way of liberating humanity.

Freire’s educational thought is based on between radicalism and tradition. On the one hand, a language of critique reflects the characteristics of new educational sociology. On the other hand, a language of possibility which is originated from the tradition of liberating theology and further developed to the philosophy of hope and struggle.

Critical pedagogy emphasizes that human existence is a process of “becoming” people. Humanity should be full and complete, not distorted and one-sided. Its purpose is to let the oppressed to reflect on oppression and its roots. Through this reflection to guide them to fight for liberation. Therefore, critical pedagogy has never taken everything that exists in education as a matter of course, but constantly examines and criticizes the various realities in the educational process in order to establish a more rational educational process.

Critical pedagogy raises questions like

• What is the purpose of the school?
• Is the school the preparation for the future work profession, or the driving ground for democratic life?
• Whose knowledge is taught to students?
• What is the role of the teacher?

Critical pedagogy advocates that schools need to use a public philosophy to clarify how to establish the foundation of ideology and institutions so that students get “freedom restrictions” ( Emancipation) and “liberation” also help students “empowering” and redefine and construct the characteristics of school education.

In summary, Critical pedagogy aims to promote the needs of human existence, not only emphasizing the potential for action and creativity, but also ongoing dialogue and reflection on fairness, justice, freedom, and liberation. It also imagines the possibility of living in a democratic society. Through education to teach people to learn various forms of knowledge and understand the world, change the world, pursue a beautiful and happy life, and towards a better future.