Pedagogy is a funny word / I am a geek.

Super geek alert!

Little sis sent me out some things this week, I have never been as happy, although she did send me the wrong top ( :-( ) She also sent me chocolate (always appreciated) a weird Panda thing to make and one of my uni books, Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Frier.

I was supposed to read it at the start of last term, so I'm a little late in discovering the really interesting (but hard to read) work of Mr Frier, I'd heard of his theories from lecture so bits of it ring familiar to me. The thing is, once you have read (and reread) a chapter its like 'DING!' ohhh yeah!

I think it's the first chapter which is about the oppressed beating oppression and their oppressors and it talks about violence. So I start thinking about Libya and Egypt and their uprising and Iraq and things, the book says that the oppressed never start violence, that it all comes from the oppressors somewhere down the line. It also says that to be Unoppressed, the oppressed must not oppress their oppressors (see why its a bit hard to follow, this isnt just the way i speak) and other people who aren't oppressed cant facilitate/lead their freedom (that make sense?) so for instance, you could say, Iraq, the argument that the army was going in the help the people who were being oppressed and shat on by their 'Government' is bull, and that the people in Iraq just became oppressed by us rather that Saddam Hussain and his cronies.

And another chapter, his one on education and oppression, It's like, exactly how I think! He compares two methods of teaching, Banking and Dialogical (may have the titles wrong there) basically that most school and teaching is like churning out kids from a sausage factory, you fill them up with facts with no meaning or discovery behind them, Dialogue is more about enquiry and two way learning between class and teacher and learning things because they interest you.

What a frikkin geek I am, I'm so glad she sent it out though, Kudos to you sis. you know when you start to feel like your brain is starting to melt a little bit from not exercising it enough? well I've woken it up.

x