Reconstruction Vol. 14, No. 4
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Paulo Freire in the 21st Century: Education, Dialogue, and Transformation. Peter Roberts. Boulder and London: Paradigm Publishers, 2013. Pp.192. PB: $42.95, HB: $137. ISBN: 978-159451681-8 / Review by Elias Schwieler
<1> Paulo Freire's philosophy of education has many similarities with modern theories of teaching and learning. Comparisons can, for example, be made between Freire's concept of banking education and Marton and Säljö's theory of deep and surface learning, and Marton's variation theory has similar characteristics as Freire's idea about how to achieve critical literacy.[1] Moreover, the turn in modern theories of teaching and learning toward student centered learning and a focus on what the student does has equivalence in Freire's view of how education should be structured and developed.
<2> However, as Peter Roberts shows in his book Paulo Freire in the 21st Century: Education, Dialogue, and Transformation there is more to Freire's thoughts on education than what is often found in theories of teaching and learning. The difference between theories of teaching and learning and Freire's philosophy of education is exactly that Freire presents a philosophy of education, not only theories of how to practice education. That is, Freire presents a system of thought that goes beyond teaching and learning effectiveness to include and emphasize social, political, ontological, and epistemological contexts as crucial for how he conceives of education.
<3> Peter Roberts' book consists of eight chapters, each presenting a different but complimentary perspective on Freire's philosophy of education, especially as expressed in Freire's later works, and how it can provide a relevant basis for reflection on education in the 21st century. The book continues and develops Roberts' earlier work on Freire, Education, Literacy, and Humanization: Exploring the Work of Paulo Freire (2000). Chapter one, entitled "Pedagogy, Politics, and Intellectual Life: Freire in the 21st Century," is an investigation into how Freire conceived of intellectual responsibility, and how this is related to developing a critical mind. Roberts compares Freire's view of the intellectual to Foucault's notion of the specific intellectual, that is, the insight that an intellectual can be of any profession and not only writers and other professions usually associated with intellectuals. And as Roberts states, regarding the intellectual and education: "In a world where intellectuals, at least in a university environment, are encouraged to 'market' not only their work but themselves, one of the most important contributions Freire makes is to remind us of the importance of humility" (29). Intellectuals as teachers thus, according to Roberts' reading of Freire, have a purpose beyond the commoditization of education, and that purpose is to act and teach with humility and courage.
<4> Building on the key terms humility and courage from chapter one, chapter two, "Reason and Emotion in Freire's Work," explores two additional terms important to Freire namely, as the chapter title suggests, reason and emotion. These terms, according to Roberts, are often viewed to be contradictory; however, in Freire's philosophy of education, they must be thought of as interdependent. As Robert argues: "Freire's project, which remained incomplete at the time of his death in 1997, was to develop a critical ideal in which reason, emotion, and political commitment would be dynamically intertwined" (10). In analyzing the Freirean educational ideal Roberts also suggests the importance of love and solidarity, two terms that in Freire's philosophy have their roots in religion and politics. However, in practical terms for education "reason and emotion" also have to do with the fact that Freire views human beings as fundamentally social and dependent on each other not only to survive, but also to develop and learn. As social beings, then, humans develop a critical mind built on reason and emotion. Roberts gives the example of what it means, for Freire, to be a critical reader, which involves utilizing rational thinking. At the same time Freire stresses the importance of emotions and the body to engage authentically with a text. As Roberts puts it: "Freire advocates a stance of loving the text while fighting with it" (42).
<5> What Roberts does not mention are the phenomenological nuances in Freire's thought. These nuances are evident in Freire's view of rationality in relation to physical and emotional aspects of knowledge and understanding. Peters cites Freire's late book Pedagogy of the Heart:
Consciousness of , an intentionality of consciousness does not end with rationality. Consciousness about the world, which implies consciousness about myself in the world, with it and with others, which also implies our ability to realize the world, to understand it, is not limited to a rationalistic experience. This consciousness is a totality - reason, feelings, emotions, desires; my body, conscious of the world and myself, seizes the world toward which it has an intention. (Roberts, 36; Freire, 94)
Freire shares with phenomenological approaches the emphasis on intentionality as more that a positivistic rationality that has no room for bodily experiences and emotions. To be conscious of something necessarily, for both Freire and many instances of phenomenology, includes taking into account the body of the one who is conscious of something, their emotions and desires, in addition to reason and rationality. Nevertheless, in chapter two Roberts lucidly explicates both the strengths and weaknesses of Freire's ideas about critical reflection and being a critical reader.
<6> In chapter three Roberts deals with the question of definition. He outlines a framework for how different types of definition can be conceived based on the educational philosopher Israel Scheffer. Roberts is specifically interested in types definitions related to literacy, and he identifies three types: stipulative, essentialist, and prescriptive. For him, the reason for engaging these types of definitions is to be able to analyze Freire's complex, and sometimes contradictory, statements about literacy.
<7> Political correctness is the theme of chapter four. Roberts convincingly shows how the concept of political correctness is far from straight forward, and how it has been used to serve arguments of both left and rightwing scholars and politicians. For Freire, Roberts argues, there is no place for the narrow-mindedness and intellectual shallowness that comes with political correctness. What Freire advocates and views as necessary in education as well as life is serious engagement and critical reflection, coupled with intellectual humility and the capacity for listening, even to views opposed to one's own.
<8> Developing core curricula and the problem of depth and breadth in reading is the focus of chapter five. Here Roberts applies Freirean thoughts on critical literacy and his ideas about reading to develop a suggestion for how to tackle the problem of breadth and depth when planning core courses at university. The crucial variable in planning such courses is, as Roberts shows, time. Roberts then develops a suggestion for planning core courses that would let the students develop into critical readers built on Freire's thoughts on reading.
<9> In chapters six and seven Roberts attempts to relate Freire's philosophy of education to literary works; something Roberts identifies as underdeveloped in Freirean scholarship. The attempt to relate education and literature is part of a wider project Roberts is working on, which has profoundly helped in making the connection between literature and education into a fruitful research field for educationalists and literary scholars. In chapter six Roberts investigates how Dostoevsky's work can be read from a Freirean perspective. Even though there are obvious and acute differences between Freire and Dostoevsky, Roberts persuasively shows how some of the main themes in Dostoevsky's works, such as uncertainty, dialogue, love and struggle, have much to offer when developing these themes as part of the educational process at all levels of education. Chapter seven turns to the work of Hermann Hesse, and especially his educational novel The Glass Bead Game. Joseph Knecht, the protagonist of Hesse's novel, "undergoes a complex process of conscientization," (11) Roberts argues, and so relates one of Freire's most well-known concepts to Hesse's novel. As Roberts' states: "Dialogue plays a key role in the development of Knecht's critical consciousness. Freirean theory is seen to provide a robust framework for the analysis of key themes in Hesse's novel" (11). Roberts' comparative analysis of Freire and The Glass Bead Game shows the value literature can have to develop crucial themes shared by both education and literature. What is most important is that in Roberts' analysis literature and education mutually imply each other, which means there is no simplistic application of, for example, conscientization onto Hesse's main character. Instead Roberts performs a careful reading of Freire and Hesse pointing to how they can problematize as well as deepen understandings each offer.
<10> In the eighth and final chapter, Roberts' introduces the reader to a somewhat odd couple, namely Taoist philosophy and Freire's philosophy of education. However, Roberts' convincingly shows that despite the obvious differences between the two lines of thought there are similarities worth taking into account that could prove fruitful for developing our understanding of Freire's philosophy of education.
<11> With his book Paulo Freire in the 21st Century: Education, Dialogue, and Transformation, Peter Roberts has provided us with a work that makes it possible to understand Freire's philosophy of education from new perspectives. Not only does Roberts reconceptualize the ways in which Freire's philosophy can be read and interpreted, he also deepens our knowledge and understanding of how educational institutions can and should overcome the instrumentalism and social efficiency paradigms that currently govern education at all levels. Taking Freire into the 21 st century means changing the focus to let intellectual honesty and humility, coupled with providing opportunities for our students and pupils to develop critical literacy, into our schools and institutions of higher education.
Note
[1] Freire's notion of banking education can be compared to Marton and Säljö's idea about surface learning, i.e. the student uses strategies for learning such as memorization in order to achieve short term goals, for example, doing well on a test, instead of using strategies that engage the subject to be learned out of interest and motivation to learn (i.e. deep learning strategies). Deep learning strategies can be achieved by engaging the students in developing, for example, critical literacy. Marton's notion of variation in learning goes hand in hand with this, since it focuses on the differences within a subject matter to be learned, and even the differences or variations within and/or between disciplines. On deep and surface learning see, for example, Marton, F. and Säljö, R. "On Qualitative Differences in Learning - 2: Outcome as a function of the learner's conception of the task" British Journal of Educational Psychology, 46, 1976, 115-27. On variation theory see, for example, Marton, F. "Towards a pedagogical theory of learning". In: Entwistle, N. and Tomlinson, P. (eds.) Student Learning and University Teaching , Monograph Series II: Psychological Aspects of Education - Current Trends, British Journal of Educational Psychology, 4, 19-30, 2007. On banking education see, for example, Freire, P. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Continuum, 2007.
Works cited
Roberts, Peter. Paulo Freire in the 21st Century: Education, Dialogue, and Transformation. Boulder and London: Paradigm Publishers, 2013.
Freire, Paulo. Pedagogy of the Heart. New York: Continuum, 1997.
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