Sol Stern at City Journal fingers Paulo Freire as the source of much of what ails today’s teacher education: Pedagogy of the Oppressor.
Is education neutral? Christian educators agree with Freire and say no, however, they reject the notion that all teacher-directed education is indoctrination, which ultimately seeks to dehumanize the student. Stern too easily dismisses ‘student-centric’ approach, falling victim to a simplistic, dualist view of classroom dynamics.
One of the great things about a Truly Christian education, one I think the educator Charlotte Mason exemplified, is the ability to bridge the ‘teacher-directed’ and ‘student-centric’ divide. This is done by evoking a larger story, the grand story of God’s relationship with humanity, which united the teacher and the student in curiosity concerning the character of God. This is not indoctrination, for the Christian educator truly understands that he or she cannot convince the student of this reality. The student is born opposing this worldview, he or she is not a tabula rosa. He or she always maintains their autonomy, his or her ability to reject it explicitly. Indeed, we may understand this as a proper function of True Christian education: the explicit acceptance or rejection by the student of Christ and the Biblical Worldview. Either should come as no surprise to the Christian educator.
To deny the grand narrative of God’s relationship with humanity is to substitute another meta-narrative. We must understand that Marxism is a materialistic, immanent narratives that explains the source of the pains of reality as the oppression by some other entity, and one’s fellow human is the most logical candidate. Ultimately, the Marxist must come to hate some segment of humanity. His neighbor has committed crimes he believes himself never capable of committing. As such, he fails to love his neighbor as himself. This is indoctrination, a meta-narrative, a story that flies in the face of history, or reality: that you are better than your neighbor.
City Journal on Freire
Sol Stern at City Journal fingers Paulo Freire as the source of much of what ails today’s teacher education: Pedagogy of the Oppressor.
Is education neutral? Christian educators agree with Freire and say no, however, they reject the notion that all teacher-directed education is indoctrination, which ultimately seeks to dehumanize the student. Stern too easily dismisses ‘student-centric’ approach, falling victim to a simplistic, dualist view of classroom dynamics.
One of the great things about a Truly Christian education, one I think the educator Charlotte Mason exemplified, is the ability to bridge the ‘teacher-directed’ and ‘student-centric’ divide. This is done by evoking a larger story, the grand story of God’s relationship with humanity, which united the teacher and the student in curiosity concerning the character of God. This is not indoctrination, for the Christian educator truly understands that he or she cannot convince the student of this reality. The student is born opposing this worldview, he or she is not a tabula rosa. He or she always maintains their autonomy, his or her ability to reject it explicitly. Indeed, we may understand this as a proper function of True Christian education: the explicit acceptance or rejection by the student of Christ and the Biblical Worldview. Either should come as no surprise to the Christian educator.
To deny the grand narrative of God’s relationship with humanity is to substitute another meta-narrative. We must understand that Marxism is a materialistic, immanent narratives that explains the source of the pains of reality as the oppression by some other entity, and one’s fellow human is the most logical candidate. Ultimately, the Marxist must come to hate some segment of humanity. His neighbor has committed crimes he believes himself never capable of committing. As such, he fails to love his neighbor as himself. This is indoctrination, a meta-narrative, a story that flies in the face of history, or reality: that you are better than your neighbor.
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