Unpacking Freire

“Money is the measure of all things, and profit the primary goal. For the oppressors, what is worthwhile is to have more – always more – even at the cost of the oppressed having less or having nothing. For them,  to be is to have and to be the class of the “haves”.

When reading through Freire, I couldn’t help but agree with so many of the ideas he was presenting. I found myself underlining like mad and sharing some awesome quotes with my roommate as soon as I would come across them. He’s got a lot of amazing ideas with many possibilities within them but these possibilities are something I want to attempt to unpack some more, whether it be as a class or on an individual basis. When it comes to these types of readings (so much going on at the same time with so much possibility), I feel like I lose myself in the ideas rather than finding anything concrete.  With Freire,  unpacking brings up more interpretations and possibilities. For this reason, I find Freire so helpful and insightful in so many areas which also leads to my sense of confusion.  

But when I came across the quote above, I couldn’t help but find some concrete to relate it to; lack of funding in many schools.  In my praxis last semester, the principal was very optimistic about her school’s programs but not so much when it came to the funding. With Special Education, it feels like more teachers and programs are needed but the funding just doesn’t allow it.  In this quote, I cannot help but think of the students as the oppressed but I have a hard time pinpointing an oppressor.

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