How Poisonous Is the Pedagogy

Abstract

This chapter opens with a case study of Steven, a post-secondary student, that illustrates the toxic effects of Freire’s concept of “banking education.” This method of educating children is presented as an example of the harm perpetrated against them in the name of learning. The question of: “How do good people do harmful things to students?” is answered in the context of “poisonous pedagogies,” social psychology experiments on obedience to authority, social moral pressures, and Identity Leadership. The concept of Stockholm Syndrome is analyzed with respect to expanding the definition and application to education. This is the second call for such an expansion (Bachand & Djak in Children Australia, 1–6, 2018). Finally, the chapter closes without offering solutions, but rather even more dire analysis on how genocidal practices have been euphemized, sanitized, and preserved in education—across generations.