How do you create a class with an oppressed group rather than for an oppressed group?
Today in class we discussed a reading by Paolo Freire from his work Pedagogy of the Oppressed. In this, he posits that the oppressors need to create classes with the oppressed in order to create a humane learning environment and facilitate the oppressed examining themselves inwardly and interacting with the course more freely than in a class that was created for them. The question that I would like to look at is how to accomplish this in the first place.
I think that this requires facilitating trust between the teacher and the student and creating a classroom environment where students do not feel afraid to disagree with the teachers/professors and can hold a discussion without feeling invalidated or invalidating others that are also in the conversation. This is a tough thing to do and I believe this requires a constant back and forth between the oppressed and the oppressors, asking questions that have no right or wrong answers and acknowledging that the person across from you is human. Mutual trust and respect in the classroom is how input to format a class should be taken, always molding as much as time allows for the things the students want to learn.
It is not only important for the teacher to see the student as human, but it is important for students to see teachers as human as well. This is the key and does not always mean that the teacher has to be completely open about things with their students, but it does require creating a relationship with students so they have confidence in what you, as the teacher, are telling them. This is, of course, just my opinion. I’d love to hear from others about what they think!
