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mschoyer's picture

Friere response

"On the other hand, it would be a false premise to believe that activism (which is not true action) is the road to revolution" (125). This quote, from the beginning of Chapter 4, reminds me a lot of the conversation we had during the last class- the idea of giving to charity because it looks good/benefits yourself and how you feel, as opposed to actually wanting to help others. While I don't think this is exactly what Friere was getting at through this quote, it made me think about how the same action can be very different from person to person depending on their intentions. There is a huge difference between doing something for the purpose of serving yourself, as opposed to doing something to help others.

I have now been thinking a lot about that concept in regards to teaching. How many people get into education because they consider it a fall back or just a temporary job before moving on to something else? As a college student who is planning on working for a teaching residency, I have seen many programs marketed to students looking to, for lack of a better phrase, "kill time" before moving onto another career. While in no way do I think teaching needs to be the final career path for anyone who ever teaches, it is important to keep in mind that as a teacher, you are directly influencing the lives of others. Good teachers are those who are acting with their students' best interest in mind, rather than their own.

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