James D. Kirylo

Issues in Education: Critical Pedagogy: An Overview

Critical pedagogy gained significant momentum with the translation of Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1970), along with Freire’s subsequent exile from Brazil, which included time spent first in Bolivia and Chile, and then throughout the world. Broadly speaking, critical pedagogy is an approach to understanding and engaging the political and economic realities of everyday life. Distinct from critical thinking (a term that has been hijacked by many anti-critical teachers and textbook publishing companies), critical pedagogy calls for an active engagement with oppressed and exploited groups (DuncanAndrade & Morrell, 2008). Critical pedagogy challenges the social, environmental, and economic structures and social relations that shape the conditions in which people live, and in which schools operate. Such an approach includes different dimensions, of which only a few will be discussed here. It must be said that any attempt to define or categorize critical pedagogy is usually counterproductive to the development of radical agency, for to do so risks limiting its constant evolution and re-invention by numerous communities and collective struggles worldwide. Critical pedagogy demands that people repeatedly question their roles in society as either agents of social and economic transformation, or as those who participate in the asymmetrical relations of power and privilege and the reproduction of neoliberal ideology. Critical pedagogy lies in direct opposition to the current educational landscape in the United States. Jaramillo and McLaren (2009) argue that

The Dyslexia Simulation: Impact and Implications

Many students with reading difficulties have a specific learning disability called dyslexia, which is neurobiological in origin and characterized by problems with spelling, decoding, and accurate/fluent word identification, negatively impacting vocabulary growth and comprehension. Consequently, the role of the insightful teacher is critical in working with students with dyslexia. Often, however, well-meaning teachers do not recognize dyslexia and have limited understanding of its symptoms. In an effort to facilitate awareness for teachers and teacher candidates, the authors regularly conduct a dyslexia simulation based on Put Yourself in the Shoes of a Dyslexic (Northern California Branch of the International Dyslexia Association, 1989) for university students. Collecting three years of surveys administered to both undergraduate and graduate education students, this article explores the themes that overwhelmingly indicate the positive impact the dyslexia simulation has on the participants.

Preferential Option for the Poor. Making a Pedagogical Choice

I t was around four o’clock on a crisp fall afternoon when Marcus Thornton was on his way over to his best friend Jimmy’s house. Marcus loved autumn and especially liked hearing the crackling and crunching sounds as the wheels of his bike split the freshly fallen leaves into several parts. A fleeting, but delightful, peek at the multicolored leaves below diverted Marcus’s attention, and he was unaware that he was veering toward the middle of Pine Street. The driver of a green mini-van coming from the opposite direction of Pine was caught off-guard. He was not able to negotiate a complete change of direction to avoid colliding with Marcus. Everything happened so fast. Marcus did not know what hit him-suddenly he was flying four feet into the air and then came crashing down in the middle of Pine. There he lay, helpless and utterly frightened. Hazily hearing a cacophony of screams, yells, and cries for help, Marcus could scarcely sense what appeared to be the entire block of neighbors descending on him. Through all the noisy confusion, one voice deeply penetrated his consciousness. Marcus‘s mother was weeping and saying, “My baby, my baby,“ as she lunged toward her boy. Although it seemed like hours, within minutes an ambulance arrived at the scene. Once at Memorial Hospital, emergency surgery was performed. In the meantime, Marcus’s mother, father, and his sister Monica anxiously comforted each other. After two and a half hours, the doctor came from surgery and stated that Marcus was lucky to be alive, was in critical condition, and had a fifty-fifty chance for survival. Obviously, the Thorntons were deeply worried, and they spent the next 6 weeks in and out of the hospital. They called on relatives, friends, classmates, and clergy alike to pray for their child. Over the course of weeks and months, Marcus’s mother and father sought the advice of other doctors for additional expertise and insight. They were making what may be called a preferential option to tend to Marcus’s needs. In other words, because of the urgency and gravity of the circumstance, the Thorntons were making a natural, deliberate choice to take every means possible and devote their concentrated attention to getting Marcus the right and best help. The above scenario is fictional, but regrettably a very real portrayal for families all over the world. When children are sick, hurt, or in desperate need, parentdcaregivers naturally make preferential options for them. It is the natural thing to do. Yet, as it relates to social justice, particularly when working with students from marginalized and poverty situations, the concept of making a preferential option in a school setting is not as clear. However, a school setting is a place where educators are in a natural position to make preferential option decisions when working with youngsters whose lives are affected by poverty. “What the best and

Issues in Education: Social Justice and Multiculturalism: Implications for School Counselors and Counselor Educators

T h e notion ofsocial justice in the counseling profession has had a varied and uneven history. Since counseling is linked to the development of the individual, it is understandable that the perspective of viewing theperson-incontext is an important one to consider. Thus, the topic of social justice/crosscultural counseling is critical, not only in terms of the individual, but also in relation to the conditions of society and the consequent response of the counseling profession (McAuliffe, Danner, Grothaus, & Doyle, 2008). This significance is growing in light of the diversified and complex cultural and social milieus of today (D’Andrea & Heckman, 2008; Lee, 2009; McAuliffe et al., 2008). Furthermore, with so many and varied ways to communicate, given technological developments, the world has become more accessible and interrelationships among countries are more involved. The counseling profession is dedicated to helping people; consequently, its structures and professionals must aspire to provide the guidance for understanding the often perplexing contexts in which people function. This new perspective and challenge is especially germane to counseling in the school setting. The April 2009 edition of the American Counseling Association’s Counseling Today was devoted to multicultural counseling. More extensively, 7he Journal of Counseling and Development (2008) dedicated an issue to updating the thrust of multicultural counseling, including counseling in the school setting. In the latter issue, the guest editors comment that multicultural counseling has taken “center stage in the counseling profession” (D’Andrea & Heckman, 2008, p. 259). They state that this focus in the profession has altered the way in which counselors have traditionally been trained and has affected the way that persons of diverse cultural groups and backgrounds are counseled. D’Andrea and Heckman (2008) further make the point that while issues of multicultural/social justice are at the root of counseling and the counseling profession, they have often been ignored.

A Historical Overview of Liberation Theology Some Implications for the Christian Educator

What is it about the language of liberation theology that can inform and enrich our understanding of curriculum, leading to a pedagogical practice of hope and liberation? To understand that question, we must have an appreciation and realization of the historical roots of how liberation theology unfolded in the course of history in Latin America. To that end, this article gives a historical overview of the circumstances that led to the language and action of liberation theology. The article discusses how the theological praxis of liberation theology can inform the Christian educator, particularly when working with the poor.

Introduction: Teacher Education Programs in the Midst of Change

(2011). Introduction: Teacher Education Programs in the Midst of Change. Childhood Education: Vol. 87, Teacher Education Programs: In the Midst of Change, pp. 315-317.

The Seduction of Being Entrenched in the Circuit of Our Own Truth and the Antidote of Humility

The seduction of getting trapped in our own truth is a powerfully addictive opiate that can ensnare us into narcissistic thinking. It is the type of thinking that may lead to uncritical verbiage, which is easily reduced to convenient and expedient catch phrases such as “unAmerican” or “unpatriotic” when other voices of conscious challenge. It is a thinking that can effortlessly and confidently claim a one size fits all mentality, particularly in education. Through the increased movement toward standardization, it is a thinking that suggests that the process of schooling is simply a formulistic ritual that can be followed. Bewilderingly, and at times disturbingly almost unchallenged, this thinking is slowly creeping into the university level in an effort to standardize programs so that, presumably, all students will be on the same page and ensured to grasp the material. In the end, specifically as it relates to education, it is a thinking that is obviously politically motivated and which is simply entrenched in a collective parochial truth. To loosely paraphrase the theologian Karl Rahner, only one thing can provide unity in education: the respect which allows another to be different, even when he is not understood. And that is the point. The

Proyecto Kuatiahe'e: Saving a Language for Children

N early 20 years ago, the powerful motion picture The Mission, starring Robert De Niro and Jeremy Irons, was released, bringing worldwide exposure to the Guarani aboriginal people. Based on historical events from the 1700s and set in Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina, the film was simultaneously moving and inspiring, yet also a disturbing presentation of how the Guarani Indians found themselves at the epicenter of a geo-political, religious conflict between the Crown of Portugal, Spain, and the missionary Jesuits. The picture ultimately ends with a spellbinding scene in which three naked, surviving Guarani children board a small canoe to start a new life elsewhere after their community is completely destroyed by European troops. For several centuries, the Guarani, whose language formed the cultural foundation of Paraguay, have significantly decreased in numbers and there is a real danger of their culture and language being completely lost. Indeed, the Ava Guarani aboriginal group numbers approximately 2,000.’ In order to raise more awareness of the important cultural contributions made by the Guarani and to help preserve their unique identity and heritage, the authors highlight the vital work that is being accomplished through Facultad de Lenguas Vivas / Institute of Guarani Linguistics in Asuncih, Paraguay.

Hate won, but love will have the final word: Critical pedagogy, liberation theology, and the moral imperative of resistance:

In the context of the recent presidential election in the United States, this article examines the place of critical pedagogy and liberation theology and its positionality in impacting the moral imperative of resisting a climate of hate and intolerance. Particularly drawing from the work of Peter McLaren, Gustavo Gutiérrez, Paulo Freire and others, the fundamental lens that drives this piece is one’s commitment to truth, one which brings together the various strands of critical pedagogy and thusly can be characterized as what McLaren calls a revolutionary critical pedagogy. Within that frame, McLaren argues that a revolutionary critical pedagogy must be open to turn to the spiritual in informing its praxis, providing a foundational base of active resistance.

The Looting of the American Dream

Thomas Jefferson’s dream that all citizens be appropriately educated so that a democracy could flourish and to prevent tyranny by the elite against the general population has been tested by the post-Katrina reality in Louisiana’s public PreK-12 education system.