Paulo Freire
Brazilian educator and philosopher (1921 to 1997), a founder of critical pedagogy, best known for Pedagogy of the Oppressed, which treats teaching as a political act of liberation.
From the book Pedagogy of the Oppressed23 korrents
Paulo Freire did not write this page.
We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.
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Their wordsSectarianism, fed by fanaticism, is always castrating. Radicalization, nourished by a critical spirit, is always creative.
↗Pedagogy of the Oppressed (Bloomsbury, 2014 edition; tr. Myra Bergman Ramos)books.google.com All 23 from this book
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Their wordsOnly power that springs from the weakness of the oppressed will be sufficiently strong to free both.
↗Pedagogy of the Oppressed (Bloomsbury, 2014 edition; tr. Myra Bergman Ramos)books.google.com All 23 from this book
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Their wordsThis, then, is the great humanistic and historical task of the oppressed: to liberate themselves and their oppressors as well.
↗Pedagogy of the Oppressed (Bloomsbury, 2014 edition; tr. Myra Bergman Ramos)books.google.com All 23 from this book
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Their wordsTrue generosity consists precisely in fighting to destroy the causes which nourish false charity.
↗Pedagogy of the Oppressed (Bloomsbury, 2014 edition; tr. Myra Bergman Ramos)books.google.com All 23 from this book
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Their wordsThe oppressed, having internalized the image of the oppressor and adopted his guidelines, are fearful of freedom. Freedom would require them to eject this image and replace it with autonomy and responsibility.
↗Pedagogy of the Oppressed (Bloomsbury, 2014 edition; tr. Myra Bergman Ramos)books.google.com All 23 from this book
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Their wordsFreedom is acquired by conquest, not by gift. It must be pursued constantly and responsibly.
↗Pedagogy of the Oppressed (Bloomsbury, 2014 edition; tr. Myra Bergman Ramos)books.google.com All 23 from this book
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Their wordsLiberation is thus a childbirth, and a painful one. The man or woman who emerges is a new person, viable only as the oppressor-oppressed contradiction is superseded by the humanization of all people.
↗Pedagogy of the Oppressed (Bloomsbury, 2014 edition; tr. Myra Bergman Ramos)books.google.com All 23 from this book
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Their wordsNever in history has violence been initiated by the oppressed. How could they be the initiators, if they themselves are the result of violence?
↗Pedagogy of the Oppressed (Bloomsbury, 2014 edition; tr. Myra Bergman Ramos)books.google.com All 23 from this book
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Their wordsConsciously or unconsciously, the act of rebellion by the oppressed (an act which is always, or nearly always, as violent as the initial violence of the oppressors) can initiate love.
↗Pedagogy of the Oppressed (Bloomsbury, 2014 edition; tr. Myra Bergman Ramos)books.google.com All 23 from this book
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Their wordsThey talk about the people, but they do not trust them; and trusting the people is the indispensable precondition for revolutionary change.
↗Pedagogy of the Oppressed (Bloomsbury, 2014 edition; tr. Myra Bergman Ramos)books.google.com All 23 from this book
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Their wordsThis discovery cannot be purely intellectual but must involve action; nor can it be limited to mere activism, but must include serious reflection: only then will it be a praxis.
↗Pedagogy of the Oppressed (Bloomsbury, 2014 edition; tr. Myra Bergman Ramos)books.google.com All 23 from this book
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Their wordsFor apart from inquiry, apart from the praxis, individuals cannot be truly human.
↗Pedagogy of the Oppressed (Bloomsbury, 2014 edition; tr. Myra Bergman Ramos)books.google.com All 23 from this book
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Their wordsIn the banking concept of education, knowledge is a gift bestowed by those who consider themselves knowledgeable upon those whom they consider to know nothing.
↗Pedagogy of the Oppressed (Bloomsbury, 2014 edition; tr. Myra Bergman Ramos)books.google.com All 23 from this book
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Their wordsKnowledge 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.
↗Pedagogy of the Oppressed (Bloomsbury, 2014 edition; tr. Myra Bergman Ramos)books.google.com All 23 from this book
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Their wordsLiberation is a praxis: the action and reflection of men and women upon their world in order to transform it.
↗Pedagogy of the Oppressed (Bloomsbury, 2014 edition; tr. Myra Bergman Ramos)books.google.com All 23 from this book
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Our reading
Any situation in which some people prevent others from engaging in inquiry is one of violence
Their wordsAny situation in which some individuals prevent others from engaging in the process of inquiry is one of violence.
↗Pedagogy of the Oppressed (Bloomsbury, 2014 edition; tr. Myra Bergman Ramos)books.google.com All 23 from this book
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Our reading
The banking approach to adult education will never propose that students critically consider reality
Their wordsThe banking approach to adult education, for example, will never propose to students that they critically consider reality.
↗Pedagogy of the Oppressed (Bloomsbury, 2014 edition; tr. Myra Bergman Ramos)books.google.com All 23 from this book
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Their wordsTo exist, humanly, is to name the world, to change it.
↗Pedagogy of the Oppressed (Bloomsbury, 2014 edition; tr. Myra Bergman Ramos)books.google.com All 23 from this book
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Their wordsIts objective is to call the attention of true humanists to the fact that they cannot use banking educational methods in the pursuit of liberation, for they would only negate that very pursuit. Nor may a revolutionary society inherit these methods from an oppressor society.
↗Pedagogy of the Oppressed (Bloomsbury, 2014 edition; tr. Myra Bergman Ramos)books.google.com All 23 from this book
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Their wordsDialogue cannot exist, however, in the absence of a profound love for the world and for people.
↗Pedagogy of the Oppressed (Bloomsbury, 2014 edition; tr. Myra Bergman Ramos)books.google.com All 23 from this book
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Their wordsHopelessness is a form of silence, of denying the world and fleeing from it.
↗Pedagogy of the Oppressed (Bloomsbury, 2014 edition; tr. Myra Bergman Ramos)books.google.com All 23 from this book
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Their wordsWhat distinguishes revolutionary leaders from the dominant elite is not only their objectives, but their procedures.
↗Pedagogy of the Oppressed (Bloomsbury, 2014 edition; tr. Myra Bergman Ramos)books.google.com All 23 from this book
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Their wordsLeaders who do not act dialogically, but insist on imposing their decisions, do not organize the people - they manipulate them.
↗Pedagogy of the Oppressed (Bloomsbury, 2014 edition; tr. Myra Bergman Ramos)books.google.com All 23 from this book
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