Pleasure of Words

Once,  in an attempt to  allow children to give space to children’s questions, I told to ask whatever questions they have in mind. I was bombarded with  a number of  questions and one that stands out in my mind: If humans came from monkeys, why haven’t all monkeys changed to humans? A simple question on evolution, it may seem, but it is the manifestation of the children’s natural willingness to learn. When we studied electricity, students brought the igniting part of the gas-stove lighter which on pressing could light up a small LED bulb; I had thought for years, that the lighter used friction to generate spark, and it was a revelation to see that it was electricity that generated spark.  They not only build boats and rockets using  paper but  create d  a myriad of shapes and structures using paper.  This spirit of enquiry and exploration – using the body and mind – forms an essential part of the learning process and is naturally p...

The use of preposition ‘of’ instead of ‘for’, and th e   use  of definite article ‘The’ ,  symbolizes the pedagogy –its  dialoging nature – and qualifies the oppressed as unique . In the first chapter, Freire delves into the dynamics of oppression and what constitutes true liberation. In the second chapter, the focus is on how education operates in the banking mode while blunting the ability to think and hence perpetuating and sustaining oppression. In the third chapter, the nature of problem posing education, through dialoging on themes generated by the oppressed, is explained. In the last chapter, how dialogism leads to liberation and anti-dialogism leads to oppression is detailed   1. In support o f  the Pedagogy of the Oppressed    A commonplace argument is that there is no oppression, but one is oppressed because he is lazy and lacks any m otivation to work his way out.  Some attribute oppression to fate, but ...