Seventh Letter

“Any ten centimeters of power between us easily becomes a thousand meters of power and of arbitrary judgement.”---Paulo Freire

“Still rejected by many people in spite of its obviousness, that education is a political act. It’s non-neutrality demands from educators that they take it on as a political act and that they consistently live their progressive and democratic or authoritarian and reactionary past or also their spontaneous, uncritical choice, that they define themselves by being democratic or authoritarian. Permissiveness, which at times gives the impression of leaning towards freedom, ends up working against it.” (Freire, 63)

Which reminds me of a story of the Emperors clothes, that the obvious is often ignored, even when it is wrong, when presented by a person of authority. Only the children unmask the ideology that "clothe" the power structures and people we work and live with. A child has not learn to believe only what they hear or what is described to them. The child looks and catagorizes the event as seen. The emperor has "no clothes" because these are the factual occurences. The citizens have learned to agree with the emperor's "worldview". When the emperor says he has clothes on so beautiful you can not imagine them. The citizens believe they can not see them since they are "unimaginable". It’s amazing that we get educated to "see" the emperor's clothes with the laws that govern us, we learn to keep our voice silent.

“The very fact that we are a markedly authoritarian society, with a strong tradition of command rooted in our history, and undeniably inexperienced in democracy, can explain our ambivalence toward freedom and authority. This authoritarian ideology of command, which permeates our culture, cuts across the social classes.” (Freire, 64)

I have noted that my skills in being authoritative have been develop due to my experiences in the educational system and the military, but the military opened me up to the possibility that authority was a relinquishment of power on my part and not the system or my commanding officer. In taking a class entitled as Classroom Discipline I learned that my philosophy was constructivism but my discipline was tradition and authoritative. That was a real eye opener. Since that insight into my own personality I have remain diligent in trying to change my natural reaction to chaos in the classroom.So the question remains, how does one deal with these ingrained attitudes?

“Authoritarian educators are preoccupied with evaluating the students, with seeing whether they are following or not. If, however, educators choose to be democratic and if the distance between their discourse and their practice becomes ever smaller, then in their scholarly daily lives, which they constantly subject to critical analysis, they live the difficult but possible and pleasurable experience of speaking to and with learners. Dialogue centered not only on the content to be taught but on life itself, if it is true, prepares an open and free climate in the ambience of the classroom.”

Ideally, vigilance is a tool in change.

“No one lives democracy fully, nor do they help it grow, if, first of all, they are interrupted in their right to speak, to have voice, to say their critical discourse, or, second, if they are not engaged, in one form or another, in the fight to defend this right, which, after all, is also the right to act.” (Freire, 65)

It’s amazing that the educational similarities between the United States and Brazil are both linked to the laws that govern us.

EDU 538.002
Curriculum Development Processes-F. Mendoza, NMSU