Education: Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire

The process of moving toward and creating a more just and humane would have to begin with education. However, it also seems that creating a just future would also necessitate the creation of many different systems of government throughout the world. If just one system existed, anyone who would not choose that system for themselves may begin to feel or actually be oppressed for a lack of conformity. Furthermore, some people just have such vastly different ideas of ‘just’ and ‘justice’ that they cannot be combined into one system. Thus, through a sort of dialogical education system, people can discover which system they most support and why before choosing where to live.

Theorists, like Iris Marion Young, want political systems to accept differences while maintaining equality between various groups. This could work within political systems but there would be problems. The main problem I notice is that there are occasionally irreconcilable differences between groups. If a group of people firmly believe the only just political system in the world is communism as described by Marx and Engels than those who disagree with them will not be heard if they are not in power. Similarly, if a group of people believes that a single monarch is needed to run a government they will not listen to those who argue for a pure democracy. These discrepancies will only lead to the oppression of a group or groups if one argues for a single, man-made political system. This is why I believe more than one would be needed in conjunction with different forms of economies. Internationally, these nations would be able to negotiate with one another and they could each work to ensure no one within their nation is oppressed. Each would need to be attuned to the p...

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...ucation would continue to be important for children to formulate their own ideas about the most just system and it might even expand to include time where students go to different nations to experience a different system so that they can better inform their opinion.

References

Freire, Paulo. 2012. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Continuum International.

Locke, John. 2009. “The Second Treatise of Government.” In Morality and Moral Controversies: Readings in Moral, Social, and Political Philosophy, 8th Edition, edited by Steven Scalet and John Arthur, 369-75. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, Inc.

Marx, Karl and Friedrich Engels. 2009. “The Communist Manifesto.” In Morality and Moral Controversies: Readings in Moral, Social, and Political Philosophy, 8th Edition, edited by Steven Scalet and John Arthur, 465-73. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, Inc.