The Freire Project

Does having a philosophy make one a philosopher?  This is an interesting question to ponder.
 
It can easily be said that many people have philosophies, for instance a philosophy on how to lead a happy life or a philosophy in regards to child rearing, yet, we would be hard pressed to say that people with such philosophies are indeed philosophers.
 

 
 “And you’re a bourgeoisie. And you’re a proletariat. And you’ll never escape base-super structure relations. And you’re a product of class-determined capital-labor binaries.  And you’re an oppressor.  And you run a frogurt stand”

            - Karl Marx (Reader’s Digest novelization of Das Kapital)
 

Surfing the internet for sources of Critical Pedagogy, Critical Spiritual Pedagogy, Transdisciplinary Studies and Sawaraj Education that I came across the following article with the title:
 
"From a Pedagogy for Liberation  to Liberation from Pedagogy"
 

Hope everyone has had a relaxing and invigorating summer.  As you saw last week, our site went down, and is not being upgraded.  David Smith is back as our webmaster, and Giuliana Cucinelli and Jon Austin will be still working on the site and assisting David.  As you may, or may not know, David is the original designer of this website and we have missed him.
We are being hit with harsh realities, that of keeping the project going.  We are going to seek advertisers for books and journals, in hopes of generating some income.

 A teacher in Western Australia has apparently set an assignment for her 15-year-old students wherein they had to plan a lethal terrorist attack.  Further details, as reported through the mass media, are available here  

Hi all,
We're back! Our server host did some upgrades this weekend and took the site off-line, but all is resolved.
Best,
David

I have been trying to find an outlet for this discussion, and have placed a piece addressing the misleading pursuit of "miracle" charter schools. . .Rethinking Education "Miracles"
I also recently discussed the failure of the western commitment to rugged individualism. . .
I am alsways eager to receive feedback from this community. . .paul thomas

Urban Education is a puzzling field. It has been weighted down for decades with glaring roadblocks that choke change efforts but yet change is always in progress. There are new and revised education policies that continue to hinder student progress, burned out teachers who cannot count on the system for replenishment, students who have lost the motivation to learn, antiquated teaching techniques and/or teaching materials, lack of parental support at times, and the list of negatives go on. 

The link:  http://libcom.org/library/change-world-without-taking-power-john-holloway
refers to the whole book of John Holloway with the title "Change the World without Taking Power". The very first statement simply reveals the content of the book:
 
"When we write or when we read, it is easy to forget that the beginning is not the word, but the scream."
 
I like to share some other similarly hot statements put forth by Holloway:
 
"Our anger is constantly fired by experience, but any attempt to express that anger is met by a wall of absorbent cotton wool."
 

A blog devoted to the promotion of peace.
Objectives of Engaging Peace
1. Promote optimism concerning the possibility of peace
2. Explore how people in power and the mainstream media persuade citizens that various forms of government-sponsored aggression, such as war and torture, are justifiable
3. Present examples of serious conflicts that have been resolved without warfare
4. Demonstrate that a major pathway to peace is through responsible activism

Jessie Lemicsh writes a great REBUTTAL to a book written by Andrew Hacker and Claudia Dreifus' entitled "Higher Education? How Colleges are Wasting Our Money and Failing our Kids - and What We Can Do About It," (Times Books/Henry Holt, published August 3). I haven't read it, but if his recantation is acurate, then we have another, terrible case of two self-professed "liberals" pushing the neoliberal policy of privitization and quantification in the school system.  Boy, do I love a good rebuttal these days!  I know it's hard work, but it's so worth it!  Read it online, folks!  It will NOT be coming to a television or newspaper near you.
Please read it here:  http://www.truth-out.org/professors-welfare-queens61981
 

 
 
 An excerpt from the article by an educator and journalist who uses Zinn's A People's History of the United States to teach American history to prison inmates: