FROM FORMER LEARNERS
Evan, like many other former students, have been visiting us through
the years after graduating. Evan only took our program during his
Evergreen experience and it may be interesting to you to find out what
he has been doing since graduating in 2003. It is quite a remarkable
young life developing to his full potential.
From: Evan Hastings [mailto:evan.hastings@gmail.com]
Sent: Tue 3/15/2011 12:06
To: Peterson, Yvonne; Peterson, Gary; Nakasone, Raul
Subject: Follow-up
Raul, Yvonne and Gary,
Nice to see you last week! Here are the links for what I'm upto:
- Gender Shadow- http://gendershadow.blogspot.com/
- Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed Conference-
http://www.ptoweb.org/
- My blog- http://evanhastings.blogspot.com/
- Teacher training in Boston-
http://gapclosing.blogspot.com/
I'm looking forward to returning to Olympia to present Gender Shadow
again
for Sexual Assault Awareness Month.
I'll be presenting 4pm-6pm on Friday April 1st (room yet to be
determined).
--
Evan Hastings
phone: 617-319-9372
evan.hastings@gmail.com
http://www.evanhastings.com
From: Emily Johnson [mailto:emily_elena88@msn.com]
Sent: Fri 10/1/2010 4:11
To: Nakasone, Raul
Subject: Hi Raul!
Hi Raul,
Sorry I didn't email you before, I've been traveling around a lot. i'm
in Spain and have been for the past month. Everything is going really
well, but the contrast of Spanish culture makes me miss Peru a lot;
being elsewhere has really made me realize just how magical Guadalupe
and the people really are. Though I am still staying open minded about
my experience here and learning many different things.
It's been really interesting and a little upsetting... It seems that
many of the Spaniards with whom I've had conversations, still
feel proud of spain's victory in the conquering and colonization of
south america, and many people I've spoken with don't see anything
wrong with colonization and the way in which the spaniards conquered
south america. Of course I haven't been going around and asserting my
opinion and telling them they're wrong, but I guess I was just a little
shocked to find out that some are still proud of that history and don't
recognize the dehumanization involved in it. But maybe thats just my
own judgement. And I know that the English were just as brutal in
conquering north america, they used different tactics but still were
just as dehumanizing. And I know there are people in the U.S. who don't
recognize that 'America' originally was, and in my opinion still is,
native land. So I guess there isn't a reason to be surprised about
Spain since the same unconsciousness happens in my own country. But
another factor that has really bothered me is the way some people in
Spain view the people from "the colonies of Spain" (-I actually heard
someone use that terminology to refer to south and central america).
The comment that bothered me the most came from the Spanish woman,
Maria, who I've stayed with for three weeks of my trip. At lunch one
day, her friend was talking to me and told me I speak Spanish well, and
Maria, who knows I learned Spanish in Peru, interrupted to say "No she
doesn't speak Spanish she speaks Peruvian." And she said it with such
disgust, so I said back to her "Wait, you didn't know they speak
Spanish in Peru too?" And I only finally said that because I had
listened to her constantly criticize the Spanish from South America for
two weeks.
Anyways, thats what I'm puzzling my way through at the moment. Have any
suggestions on how I could expand the way I think about this?
I was wondering is you could recommend a book about Spanish history for
me, or any other books relevant to Spain.
If you want to read my blog, I've written a lot about my travels. Go
to:
www.emilyelenajohnson.wordpress.com
How are you doing? How's everybody in the house?
Talk to you soon,
Emily
Carolyn
June
8, 2010
Senior
Synthesis
Senior Synthesis – The Three Evergreens
My mindset before I started college was to
“get my paper” and get out. I didn’t realize I was starting a journey
that would be so life-changing at the Evergreen State College. I was
referred to Evergreen by my English teacher at Seattle Central
Community College who said “you could think for yourself there”. I was
able to experience three different college experiences within Evergreen
– the Olympia campus, the Tacoma campus, and the Spirituality Program
with Native American Studies. I started with the Olympia campus,
focusing on sociology and psychology. My experience there was in
general very negative. I realized quickly I had chosen the wrong school
and immediately made plans to leave. I went directly to the University
of Washington Tacoma campus but did not have the extra funds for
application fees, so realized I was to stay in Olympia. At that time I
wasn’t aware there was a Tacoma campus.
It was a culture shock moving from the city to
a small country campus. I felt at the Olympia campus that I was in a
school that was like some kind of private, exclusive club for the
privileged. For me the school represented the status quo, everything I
had stood against my whole life. If I had known what the school was
like I would never have chosen to go there. I found the classes to be
very oppressive, surrounded by very entitled elitist students, and
professors that were equally patronizing. Prior to Evergreen, my
community college experience was very exciting, representing the world
and all it’s diversity of people, nationalities, ages…I felt stifled
and cut off from humanity at Evergreen. Academically I liked what I was
learning but I felt overwhelmed with the course load as many of my 4
credit classes were equivalent to 8 or 16 credit programs. I felt like
I had to do a lot of cramming to keep up, which to me takes away from
the learning. College there felt soul-killing; “all head, no
heart”. I had some good professors but I felt they were all
dehumanizing as they tended to be belittling and objectifying towards
students. I came to Evergreen because I thought it was a place you
could express yourself and your mind freely to learn, but I found the
classes to be the opposite of this. If I challenged or disagreed with
the text, I was negated by the instructor and entire class, as most
students do not think for themselves and accept whatever is told by the
authority or text. I realized it was not ok to express yourself unless
the language used was entirely formal, scholarly, and academic, or one
would be set up for attacks from the entire community. I found this
atmosphere to be oppressive, as many students stayed silent. I felt
myself changing to adapt, and feeling much less human in the process. I
find the Evergreen State College to be a horrible and dehumanizing
institution.
My perceptions were shared by a student I met
at the Tacoma campus who had also gone to the Olympia campus, who
stated that the Olympia campus had a “bad spirit”. This is true. Many
of the classes had a very racist atmosphere, so it would be
particularly dehumanizing for students of color. My last class at
Olympia was a social work skills class, where there were many racists.
I tried to speak up for the people of color in class, and because of
this was attacked for the rest of the quarter by the class community,
via public hate mail, and verbally on campus, and by the teacher and
students throughout the class. I am not writing about this looking for
acknowledgment, but only to shed light on the reality of the
destructive negativity of the Olympia campus. The African American girl
in this class dropped out of the class because of the perpetual racism
there (she explained this to me), and the teacher did nothing to
address this. I do feel the Evergreen State College is a horrible
learning place, and I would absolutely never recommend this school to
anyone I respected. My theme song for this time was Hole’s punk rock
song, “When I went to school, in Olympia…they talk the same, they look
the same…they are the same…” It is a very disturbing and chilling
experience to be surrounded by only soulless empty people, with no
other kinds of people - another student stated the Olympia campus is
like being surrounded by “zombie people”. At any rate, I realized I
could not stay at the Olympia campus in such a horrible, miserable,
oppressive, negative place. I met other, wonderful students that also
left to go to a different college for the exact same reasons. (I did
not experience racism towards myself at Olympia, I am not a person of
color, but it is negative to be around a community of white elitists
for any kind of learning environment – there is a very clear message
being given at the Olympia campus - that white, middle class students
are the “norm” and working class, people of color, disabled, gays are
“othered”/seen as the “other” which creates institutional bias and
oppression.) The Evergreen State College is not a healthy learning
environment with its narrow-minded, dogmatic view of the world.
I transferred to the Tacoma campus the
next quarter and was much happier and very much satisfied with my
education there. I remained there for the next year. I found the Tacoma
campus to be very enlivening and exciting, I was meeting peers my age
that had lived a lot of life experience and were engaged in learning
and excited to be there. Many peer students I met there were actively
and passionately setting goals to change the world and change the
community, and were very inspiring to me. It was like bringing my soul
back to life after feeling so dead inside from a year of study at the
Olympia campus. I was back in humanity again. I felt I could freely
express myself in classes, and my professors were brilliant, inspiring,
and encouraging. It was liberating to be back in the city in a healthy,
diverse environment, where there was not the basis of institutionalized
racism that I had seen at the Olympia campus. (Again, as I am not a
person of color the racism was not towards me at Olympia, but it is
still a negative learning environment for any student.)
At the Tacoma campus I was pushed academically
and creatively more than I ever had been in my life. My focus was still
sociology and psychology. Many of the class assignments combined
creative projects which I loved. I was challenged with teamwork and
creative collaborations. I was amazed and empowered to be learning how
to do films, photography, make posters, flyers, t-shirts, theatre, and
community presentations. I worked hard and am proud of the work I did
there. I struggled through some of the teamwork, but learned how to do
teamwork much more effectively. The weekly Lyceum speakers were a great
gift to the community. I did feel the coursework was too heavy and
overwhelming at times, since the campus is geared towards working
adults, and at first I felt like the stress and cramming did take away
from the learning process. I learned how to manage this towards the
end, but the Tacoma campus does use some of the same military,
cramming, formal education style of Olympia and most colleges. However,
overall I found joy, passion and humanity that I never felt at the
Olympia campus. It was difficult at times but I have very positive
memories from my education at Evergreen State College Tacoma, and am
very glad I transferred there.
I decided to extend my education after Tacoma,
with two extra quarters with the Native American independent studies
program in Olympia. The program is held at the Longhouse and is like a
completely separate school than the main institution. After spending
two years in a more traditional institution (the machine of empire and
capitalism), the Spirituality program was mind-blowing to me, like a
lightning bolt to set me free. It is here that I really found myself
again, and was able to completely be myself and take charge of my own
education. I loved my experience in Tacoma, but I did still feel
somewhat “institutionalized” from the heavy course load, and was very
glad to find the Spirituality Program where I could learn at my own
natural pace. The program is based on the Native American
philosophies that the student is on their own quest to find their own
passion, instead of being told by the institution what and how to
learn. (I believe this is how the Evergreen College originally started
in the 70’s). It was incredibly liberating for me. I learned that
education and learning does not have to be painful or high stress, but
that it can be a joy, a natural process.
I studied Genealogy for two quarters and
immersed myself in learning about my ancestors and myself, at my own
pace. My learning process was from within, not from outside sources or
pressures. Here I could really think for myself. I found I had
become stronger and more disciplined from the heavy course load in
Tacoma, and was able to stay self-motivated. I loved seminaring with my
instructors, and always learned a lot about life from great
conversations, and never felt dehumanized, patronized, or negated. I
felt treated as an equal and a human being. I felt encouraged and
supported not only in my learning process, but in liberating my life to
not limit myself to being “in the box”. I applied the great liberation
I gained from the program to many areas in my life. I felt my heart
starting to open after the negative Olympia experience, and feeling
stifled by too much academia, and started to feel like myself
again. I greatly appreciate this program.
I am very grateful for learning about
Native American culture from the Saturday school of the Spirituality
program. I learned about Native American history from films and
lectures, and was able to learn basket-weaving. My learning of Native
American culture helped change my way of thinking as well, that there
are ways to live more harmoniously. I also gained in awareness
and a deeper appreciation for the first people of America’s culture and
values, and for the earth-based cultures that we all have in our
pre-colonial ancestry. Overall I found the Spirituality Program greatly
liberating to help save my soul from the institution. After
spending two years squeezed into the machine, I was felt myself begin
to relax, and feel my soul begin to come back into my body. The
liberation and grounding I found in the Spirituality program is
something that will stay with me for the rest of my life. It was like I
found a center inside of me – society may have its own agenda – we are
surrounded by this noise - but I will listen to myself and live my life
for me, how I choose. I am very glad it was my exit route in my college
experience, to become “de-institutionalized”. I learned that I have to
live life on my own terms, and that I don’t want to ever set foot on a
college campus again for the rest of my life, but to always learn on my
own. I learned that so much of our society and institutions are
oppressive brainwashing, but it is possible to become free. I do not
have to live up to “society’s expectations” or let others define
myself, only I define my life. I am becoming free.
This is my senior synthesis and this was my
experience in the “Three Evergreens”. It was a journey of leaving
“home” (my body, mind and soul), losing myself, and then coming full
circle and finding myself again.
When I read the program description for
Persistence, I knew it was the program that I wanted to take.
Having
attended the academic fair and talked with students taking last year's
program,
I knew it was the program of my dreams. But, I thought it was all
too good to be true. Every couple of weeks I'd log onto the last year's
program
website, reviewing the information provided there. The
information didn't change, so I starting planning what I'd study.
During the summer months, I carefully plotted all the academic
knowledge that I should cram into my head in the next year.
However, my strategic plan of study began to unravel the moment I
walked into the Cedar Room on the first day of class.
The aroma of the wood surrounded me, enveloping me in memories of my
last week of summer. I'd travelled to New Denver, British
Columbia in order to live in cedar domes, while creating culinary
delights for ten women on a Yoga retreat. While there, I also
found time to luxuriate in saunas, hot tubs, long lake walks, and
scenic mountain voyages (spotting much flora and fauna). The week
before the Yoga retreat, I'd helped straighten and roof a shed for a
wheelwright in Northern Idaho. Suddenly, I realized that I didn't want
to be in class. After the past two weeks of creative activity employing
multiple intelligences; I wanted to be out doing, being, living.
I expected my three professors to walk in, hand out a syllabus, and
drill me with all their expectations for the coming year. In
other words, I expected there to be a grid of strings, restricting
acedemic movement within certain areas. Essentially, I expected
that my summer "syllabus", which drew primarily from my logical and
linguistic intelligences (standard acedemic fare), would be the typical
style of study expected. Instead, I was shocked to find that this
wasn't so. I learned that I had total freedom. I left the second day of
class inspired to develop a new plan of study, one that would be
deeper, incorporating my multiple intelligences.
My first three weeks followed a cycle. I'd think of a brilliant
possiblity of study, I'd research it, and then my enthusiasm would
fizzle out. I couldn't imagine spending a whole year studying it. Then,
another idea would pop into my head, and I'd repeat the process.
Massage, human resources, counseling, cooking, writing, dancing,
researching world mythology, and reading women's literature were just a
few of the topics I obsessed on then disgarded. I had so
many thoughts of what I could do. I explored these ideas on the
internet and at the library--looking through books, tapes, movies,
magazines, newspapers, and websites. I participated in many
inspiring discusssions in class, on the bus, in the library, through
email, and over the phone.
The world was my classroom, and my head was spinning with ideas. And
yet, in that third week, while my boyfriend had a 100 pages of notes,
assignments, and calculations I had nothing concrete. I seemingly had
nothing. Aside from a few concrete webx responses, all I had were
unrecorded conversations, untracked books, and unprovable
research. I panicked. What had I been doing? Had I become paralyzed by
the possibilities? What had I been thinking? How was I going to prove
to my professors that I had been learning, studying, growing?
I felt overwhelmed, my academic history the antithesis of the freedom
inherent in the Persistence program. I went to a highschool that was
based
upon a medieval curriculum structure (trivium and quadrivium).
All academic studies were intensely rigorous, and intensely
monitored. My studies at the University of Idaho were easier yet
still contained the same structure of student-teacher interaction and
expectations--likewise, my two quarters spent at Whatcom Community
College. I had choosen Persistence because of it's freedom. But
now,
that very freedom felt too free.
I felt I needed structure. Thus, the weekend before week four, I sat
down and once again asked myself the four questions I'd been repeating
to myself over and over and over: (1)What do I want to learn? (2)How do
I want to learn it? (3)What do I plan to do with what I learn? and
(4)What difference will this make? Only this time, I wrote out a
tentative plan for my quarter. Once I had something down, I
started to calm. I started to realize that all that research had paid
off, that somehow in the process of all the chaos I'd figured out what
I wanted to do. Essentially, I want to live out a multiple intelligence
education. In the next year, I hope to employ as many
intelligences as possible.
Thus, here it is, the first of my many revised and tentative plans:
Persistence-Fall
Educating the Mind, Body, and Spirit
(Employing Multiple Intelligences in the World)
Literature of Persistence: 4 credits
Writing/Personal Exploratory: 4 credits
Individual Project Work: 8 credits
Writing
Response papers: Week 5, Week 7, Week 8
Website (blog) interaction
Research (practice?) on how to write Evaluations
As this is my first quarter at Evergreen, this aspect of my studies is
primarily structured to prepare me for the evaluation process. My
response papers will draw either from ideas I encounter from my
reading, from the website (blog), from the learning tool prompts, or
from
requests by you. Applying myself in this area will give me the
necessary practice to confidently complete my evaluations.
Literature
Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire-0826412769
Intelligence Reframed by Martin Gardner-0465026117
A People's History of the U S by Howard Zinn- 0060528370
The Art of Changing the Brain by James E. Zull-1579220541
Native American Testimony-Peter Nabokov- 0140281592
Teaching to Transgress by Bell Hooks-0415908086
Choice Theory by William Glasser- 0060930144
Decolonizing Methodologies by Linda Tuhiwai Smith-1856496244
Natives and Academics by Devon Mihesuah- 0803282435
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy by Steven C. Hayes-1572309555
Methodology of the Oppressed by Chela Sandoval-0816627371
This is a valuable body of literature. Through encountering the ideas
within these books, I hope to learn more education, choice, and
freedom. This knowledge base will then propel me, allowing me to
directly apply this knowledge in my next two quarters.
Individual Project Work
1. Yoga: 1-2x/wk
2. Aerobic/Strength/Stretch Exercise: 3-5x/wk
3. Meditation:
-Exposing myself to various religious/philosophical
viewpoints on reality/life/being (derived from I Ching, Bible (NIV),
Bhagvagita,
Astrology, etc.)
-Attending 2-day Yoga Meditation seminar in Seattle
mid-November
4. Volunteer: Conversation partner
I've applied to be an EF Conversation partner. I'm
waiting for a response. If this falls through, I'll look into
non-profit agencies.
5. Travel:
-San Fransisco: Kasey Chambers concert, tour of
city/museums, meeting a newborn (exploration of the experience of
motherhood)
6. Counseling:
-I will be seeing a counselor every week for
cognitive strategies in improving life/emotional conditions.
7. Nutrition/Cooking
-Continued research and practice in cooking,
nutritional values, healthy diets, etc.
Through my individual project work, I hope to suppliment my academic
work, making it more applicable to the intelligences of my mind, body,
and spirit. Typically, when I am in school I sacrifice my body for my
mind. Essentially, I am more unhappy and unhealthy. I tend to have more
migraines, and more colds. Through my project work (which
strongly ties in with my kinesthetic, interpersonal, and existential
intelligences) I hope to live a more balanced lifestyle. This
balance will be the foundation on which I hope to build on in the next
two quarters.
Tentative Winter quarter plans:
-Read remaining Persistence books: The Dancing Wu Li Masters by Gary
Zukav, Ceremony by Silko, Broad and Alien is the World by Ciro Alegria
(travellers toPeru),Genocide of the Mind by Marijo
Moore
-Read additional books on mythology, religion, gender, and sexuality
-Learn Dreamweaver in order to build a webpage for my winter and spring
experiences
-Travel to Portland.
-Possibly attend the Art of Living course, a six day
meditation/yoga/spiritual training
-Start developing some photography techniques
-Enroll in a dance class (Orissi, or other)
Tentative Spring quarter plans:
-Travel in Hawaii: visit each island, experience my cultural heritage
-Native Hawaiian studies: history, mythology, and language
-Learn hula: two halau's are a possiblity, or study with sister-in-law
-Practice photography
-Continue website
-Help plan and facilitate a Yoga retreat in Hawaii (with Yoga
instructor worked with in New Denver)
RETURN
Mostly Freire, a little Buddha
by jesse m
I.
Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed is a handbook for revolution.
Freire analyzes oppression and the steps that occur in the transition
to a more egalitarian situation. The book is dense and juicy, no words
used unnecessarily, which makes the reading slow but rewarding. I feel
like I could read it ten more times and get something new each time.
The below is what seemed important to me on this first journey through
Freire. The oppressor is living a lie. He is not free because his
existance is materialistic--to him, "to be is to have," and in his
eyes, everything is an object, something to be taken and used for his
benefit. The oppressor exists only through his possessions, and thus he
has no authentic existance. Since possessions know no love, he
experiences no love. Since the oppressor is obviously suffering within
his suffocating cage of materialism, it becomes clear that revolution
is actually an act of love for the oppressor as well as the oppressed.
But before revolution can occur, we must understand the plight of the
oppressed. After a person is constantly treated as worthless and
stupid, he begins to believe it. When oppression becomes a person's
reality, then the oppression becomes internalized within, and she
begins to buy into the lie that she is intrinsically less valuable than
the oppressor. Once people believe in the oppressive system, they begin
to enforce the system on each other, taking on the role of
sub-oppressor. "Submerged in reality...and chafing under the
restrictions of this order, they often manifest a type of horizontal
violence, striking out at their own comrades for the pettiest reasons."
People who are deeply submerged in a system of oppression often long to
become oppressors themselves, seeing this as the path out of their own
oppression. The Internalization of oppression keeps the oppressive
cycle going. People who have internalized oppression cannot work for
liberation because they do not recognize the oppressor as seperate from
themselves and they are afraid of freedom. Before change can occur, the
oppressed must realise that they are oppressed. Thus, revolutionary
leaders must bust out the pedagogy, also known as mad dialogue about
the existential situation of the oppressed folks. Carrying out this
dialogue requires faith in the oppressed. Without this faith, it the
would-be leader will fall into monologue, addressing the people as
objects, which would accomplish nothing but more dehumanization of the
oppressed. In order to understand why open authentic dialogue is so
essential to the process of liberation, we must analyze traditional
educational methodology. The traditional teacher-student relationship
denies the humanity of all involved parties. Students are treated as
receptacles for information and the teacher's role is fill them with
knowledge. Reality is presented to the students as a cold, motionless
set of facts. In Freire's words, "Education thus becomes an act of
depositing...in stead of communicating, the teacher issues communiques
and makes deposits which the students patiently receive, memorize, and
repeat. This the 'banking' concept of education..." This system is
based on the assumption that the students are completely ignorant; this
projection of absolute ignorance onto the masses is a recurring theme
within systems of oppression and is used by the oppressors to justify
their domination. Besides the oppression inherent in the banking method
of teaching, the presented facts themselves are often propaganda which
deny the reality of the oppressed students. An example of this in the
present would be a white professor teaching black kids about African
History from a Eurocentric perspective and then discounting their
opinions. Revolutionary thought does not develop in a classroom where
the oppressor's ideas are taught--it develops from the bottom up,
through the oppressed discussing their existential situation. Thus,
liberated education is free from hierarchy; it is people communicating
with each other on a common plane. Liberated education occurs when the
teachers and students step back from their distinct roles and realise
that both parties will learn and grow through the dialogical process of
education; for this to happen, the teacher must have faith in the
students and their ability. Liberated Education, by posing problems in
a context of reality, leads to cognition and critical thinking--not
just the transfer of facts and the banking perspective of a motionless,
disconnected reality, which further alienates the students. In
revolutionary work, the idea of "winning people over" for the cause of
the revolution is fundamentally flawed because authentic revolutionary
work begins by identifying the needs of the people, and "winning people
over" means telling people what they need. Since many revolutionary
leaders come from a background in the dominating class and have been
educated with banking methods, it is all too easy for them to fall back
into banking-style dictation, which will, if anything, work against
their purposes. This is a crucial point. Revolutionary leaders must be
aware of this.
"The People must be authors of their own liberation;" revolutionary
leaders cannot carry out the revolution for them, making them objects,
continuing the oppression. Only thorugh dialogue comes education, and
thus a transformation of reality--revolution.
II. connections
I read Osho's book Courage: the Joy of Living Dangerously at the same
time that I was reading Pedagogy of thed Oppressed and this led me to
start thinking about connections between Freire's ideas and Eastern
philosophy. The first time this occured to me was when I relised that
Freire says "revolution is love" and Osho says "love is revolution."
(Those aren't necessarily direct quotes.) Courage is a necessity for
liberating pedagogy: you have to have courage to break out of the cold,
suffocating banking system. It takes courage to open yourself to
another and communicate as two humans. There are some other basic
connections:
In both Freire's philosophy and Buddhism, no one can liberate anyone
but himself. Freire makes it clear that an effort to liberate someone
else will actually just objectify that person; real liberation occurs
through
solidarity--and each person must realise the need for liberation and
work to make it happen. In Buddhism, you must look at your own mind in
order to reach peace; no one else is in your head so no one else can do
it. Osho writes about the importence of not letting prayer become a
monoluge, a meaningless repetition of words: "Religions, organized
churches, have destroyed prayer. They have given you ready-made
prayers. Prayer is a
spontaneous feeling...Bring love into prayer. It is a beautiful thing,
a dialogue with the universe..." This is straight-up Freire, it seems
to me--institutions have removed the authenticity of our existance, and
through dialogue we can reclaim this joy. A final connection is that
Freire says that dialogue can't happen without
love, humility, hope and faith in human kind. This strikes me as
Buddhism's loving kindness, a means for transforming reality.
III. reflection
Learning about "liberating education" and systems of oppression through
Freire's work has been extremely rewarding for me. I now have language
to describe the emotions and thoughts that I could never put into
words. In high school, for example, I knew that something was horribly
wrong with the system, but since I couldn't complete my thoughts, I
half believed that maybe I was the problem...maybe I had some attention
defecit disorder, or maybe I was just stupid. The truth was, I was a
victim of an oppressive system. (An important note: I as a white male
was, comparatively, one of the least victimized people in that
incredibly racist, classist, and sexist environment.)
This class was tough for me to adjust to, especially at the beginning.
Now I don't blame myself so much for my frustrations; I realise that I
am coming out of thirteen years of indoctrination--the dark, cold world
of passive mindless loveless "education." Of course it takes some time
to reclaim my humanity and realise that I can learn without a teacher
ordering me around. At the beginning of the year, I was angry--how can
these so-called teachers not tell us what to do!? Funny that, because I
was not used to being treated respsectfully by teachers, I mistook it
at first for disrespect. I know that someday soon I will likely be back
in a classroom that is somewhat more "banking"-oriented. Now, though, I
fell like I will be better able to deal with the system...more able to
retain my humanity. I have a better understanding now of why I am at
school. I realise now that I am pursuing this education for myself, not
to impress some teacher, and I will never again waste my time
satisfying requirements when the work does not inspire passion in
me. The other big thing I got out of Freire was a better
understanding of the politics of oppression...both in my own daily life
and on the larger level of society. With a basic understanding of how
oppression works and perpetuates, I feel comfortable enough now to
begin exploring issues of racism and sexism, which obviously involves
sometimes-uncomfortable introspection--something that I was afraid to
deal with before now.
RETURN