notions of education for liberation george counts paulo freire arthur schlesinger, jr

Notions of Education for Liberation

George Counts Paulo Freire Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.

George Counts (1889-1974) Influenced by John Dewey Accused of being a communist Writing during the Progressive Era

Critique of the classical curriculum Schools as mirrors of society Primary aim of schooling is to help solve

society’s problems

Paulo Freire (1921-1997) Brazilian professor

and head of the National Literacy Program

Worked with poor rural adults supporting the active exercise of democracy

Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., (1917-2007) U.S. historian and

author Described as a “lion

of liberalism” Worried about the

disuniting of America

In three groups… What is the purpose of education as your

author sees it (both individually and collectively)

What kind of society does your author envision?

What might the job of a teacher look like? What role does your author see for the teacher, and what kind of teacher training would be necessary?

Your personal reflections… What do you make of these authors’ visions

of the purpose of education? What do you think of the notion of

‘imposition’? Can you see the tensions between different

goals in schools? What are they? How should we judge if a person is

‘liberated’? How can you tell? How should schools create Americans (the

unum out of the pluribus)?

What does “American” mean to you?

Dictionary: of or relating to the United States or its people; an inhabitant

Is it also: A mindset? Commitment to a set of principles? A set of relationships? Does it demand loyalty (however defined?)

Declaration of Independence We hold these truths to be self-evident,

that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.

Preamble to the Constitution

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our prosperity, do ordain and establish this Constitution.

First Amendment Congress shall make no law respecting

an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right o the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for redress of grievances.

Early Education of Domestic ForeignersEarly Education of

Domestic ForeignersNative Americans and

Mexican Americans

Native Americans and Mexican Americans

Any idea who said…Any idea who said…

“We find ourselves threatened by hordes of immigrants who have already begun to flock into our country and whose progress we cannot arrest.”



Governor of California, Pio Pico in 1846


Governor of California, Pio Pico in 1846

Common School Reforms (1830s-1860s)Common School Reforms (1830s-1860s)◊ Demographic changes and

patriotic ambitions◊ Ideological shift with regard to the

nature of ‘God’◊ Purpose of education: the great

equalizer, assimilation, morals, and citizenship

◊ Demographic changes and patriotic ambitions

◊ Ideological shift with regard to the nature of ‘God’

◊ Purpose of education: the great equalizer, assimilation, morals, and citizenship

Progressive Era 1880s-1930sProgressive Era 1880s-1930s◊ Demographics◊ Ideology (rise of the IQ)◊ Purpose of education

• Fit schools to child’s needs• Schools help solve society’s problems• Social stability• Equal educational opportunity

◊ Demographics◊ Ideology (rise of the IQ)◊ Purpose of education

• Fit schools to child’s needs• Schools help solve society’s problems• Social stability• Equal educational opportunity

Native Americans-ConditionsNative Americans-Conditions◊ Manifest Destiny◊ Wars and diseases◊ Considered domestic foreigners◊ Bureau of Indian Affairs

◊ Manifest Destiny◊ Wars and diseases◊ Considered domestic foreigners◊ Bureau of Indian Affairs

Native Americans and EducationNative Americans and Education

◊ White ideas• Considered educable and salvageable • Ultimate goal: assimilation and

training for an industrial society

◊ White ideas• Considered educable and salvageable • Ultimate goal: assimilation and

training for an industrial society

Carlisle Indian School, 1885Carlisle Indian School, 1885

Native Americans and EducationNative Americans and Education◊ Native Ideas

• To make/enforce contracts; preserve culture

• Choctaw and Cherokee examples

◊ Native Ideas• To make/enforce contracts; preserve

culture• Choctaw and Cherokee examples

Chief Sequoyah (1776-1843)Chief Sequoyah (1776-1843)

Mexican Americans-ConditionsMexican Americans-Conditions◊ Colonization by Spain◊ Mexican Revolution◊ Relationship to the United States

shifts◊ Mexican-American War (1846-

1848); Treaty of Guadalupe Hildalgo

◊ Colonization by Spain◊ Mexican Revolution◊ Relationship to the United States

shifts◊ Mexican-American War (1846-

1848); Treaty of Guadalupe Hildalgo

LULAC founders, @1929LULAC founders, @1929

Questions for DiscussionQuestions for Discussion

◊ Is vocational education inherently bad?◊ How do LULAC and Pratt compare in

their ideas of education for liberation and assimilation?

◊ How should we judge if a person is ‘liberated’? How can you tell?

◊ How should schools create Americans (the unum out of the pluribus)?

◊ Is vocational education inherently bad?◊ How do LULAC and Pratt compare in

their ideas of education for liberation and assimilation?

◊ How should we judge if a person is ‘liberated’? How can you tell?

◊ How should schools create Americans (the unum out of the pluribus)?

Women’s Education: Gender, Class, and Racial Implications

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Three groups of thought on women’s education Conservatives Liberals Radicals

Declaration of Sentiments, Seneca Falls Convention, 1848

We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men and women are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights…Whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of those who suffer from it to refuse allegiance to it, and to insist upon the institution of a new government. The history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries toward woman, having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over her…Now, in view of this entire disfranchisement of one-half the people of this country, their social and religious degradation…and because women do feel themselves aggrieved, oppressed, and fraudulently deprived of their most scared rights, we insist that they have immediate admission to all the rights and privileges

which belong to them as citizens of these United States.

Colonial Era/Revolutionary Era Colonial Era

Educated to be better wives and mothers Elite received schools; curriculum (mostly) in the

polite arts Revolutionary Era

Worried about race-suicide Revolution brought questions of what a ‘civilized’

society was Cult of domesticity

Common School Era

Co-education catches on Women as teachers Worries about race-suicide remained

(though they were countered) Edward Clarke Anna Brackett

Women and Higher Education Oberlin Mount Holyoke (MA) 1837 Vassar (NY) 1861 Bennett (NC) 1873 Wellesley (MA) 1870 Spelman (GA) 1881

Women’s Education in the Progressive Era More girls/women in schools Gendered curriculum (and race/class

implications) 1920 (19th amendment) women get the

right to vote

Questions for Discussion (feminism v. womanism) How do we understand liberation in the

context of gender? Should girls/women be educated

differently than boys/men? What do you think of single-sex

education (for girls OR boys)?

Religion and Education: Jews and Catholics

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Colonial, Revolutionary, and Common School Era Conditions Colonial Era

Rural; Protestants outnumbered others; worried about “wilderness” of the soul

Revolutionary Era Jefferson’s bill for religious freedom

Common School Era Loosening of family ties/national loyalty; Uncle

Sam created; increased Irish immigration

Religion in Textbooks

Catholicism Catholics need the

Pope while Protestants rely on Bible as guide

A danger to the state

Sample texts

Judaism A religion or a race? Associated with

greed (contrast with Franklin)

College admissions becomes HUGE issue (progressive era)

Court cases State v. John Scopes (Monkey Trial)

(TN), 1925 Evolution v. Creationism Science in the classroom Inherit the Wind

Pierce v. Society of Sisters (OR) 1925 Compulsory education=public education Anti-Catholic intentions

http://video.google.com/videosearch?client=safari&rls=en&q=inherit+the+wind&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&resnum=4&ct=title

Questions for Discussion How do groups “get ahead?” Inside or

outside the system? Can we teach morals without religion? How do/should groups balance

uniqueness against “American-ness?” What do you think of public money for

private education?

How to Educate ‘New’ Citizens: African Americans after the Civil War





Political History 13th amendment, 1865 (abolishes slavery) 14th amendment, 1868 (equal protection)

No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

15th amendment, 1870 (franchise) Reconstruction (Hayes-Tilden Compromise) Rise of Jim Crow laws (Birth of a Nation) Plessy v. Furguson, 1896

Black Educational Conditions Black education in the

North Access to grammar

schools Access to high schools Access to college; the

creation of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)



Debate in the history of education: What to make of Booker T. Washington





Questions for Discussion How were Washington and DuBois treated in

your history classes? Separation v. segregation issues Differentiated education: how much is too

much, and when is it OK? What do you make of vocational training? Is it

inherently bad?

Language Issues: Does an American Have to Speak

English?Ingles

Englisch

英語Inglese

إنجليزي

Bilingual Education in Politics Meyer v. Nebraska, 1923 Lau v. Nichols, 1974

Question: equal or equitable treatment required by schools?

Critical mass necessary Language rights now a civil rights issue

English Only Movement/US English, 1983 Proposition 227 (CA)

Questions for Discussion Reflect on the purpose of education as we’ve

discussed it; how does bilingual education fit? How does bilingual education fit with our

discussion of integration/assimilation/ acculturation/separation/segregation?

How do we reconcile Lau with Brown?

Achieving Quality Education through Desegregation







Chinese/Chinese American Conditions Population increase during Gold Rush Likened to blacks Considered an economic threat/

proposal that they should have permanent laborer status

CA school code Chinese Exclusion Act, 1882 Tape v. Hurley, 1885

Chinese Canadians The only non-British settlers Moved north to Canada during/after

Gold Rush Built Trans-Canada railway

“Oh! Law, they are coming in their own teapots now!”



Harper’s Weekly, March 6, 1886A deliberate and determined

effort was made to expel the Chinese from the town of Seattle, Washington Territory; a mob invaded the Chinese quarter and marched them toward a steamer. The mob was thoughtful enough to provide wagons to convey the baggage of its victims. (allowed to return home, mob tried to persist but were disbanded by federal troops)

Japanese/Japanese American Conditions Treaty between US and Japan, 1854 Seen as better than Chinese (more

educated) Anti-Chinese sentiments spread to

Japanese CA school board violates treaty;

President steps in; Gentlemen’s Agreement reach in 1907

The Brown Decision, 1954 Briggs v. Elliot (SC),

1950 Belton v. Gebhart;

Bulah v. Gebhart (DE), 1951

Brown v. Board of Education (KS), 1951

Davis v. Prince Edward County SB (VA), 1951

Bowling v. Sharpe (DC), 1952



Questions for Discussion How do the courts/readings define ‘good’

education? How do you define ‘good’ education? What

does education for liberation look like with regard to the issues on the table for today?

What do you make of Bell’s claims of re-writing Plessy? Are you convinced?

Which comes first, a change of laws or attitudes?

College Students Defining Education







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Expanding Access Civil Rights Act, 1964 Higher Education Act, 1965 Campus-based affirmative action

programs Vietnam veterans and the GI Bill

Black Student Activism The rise of Black

Power Demands for Black

Studies, professors, more black students

Administrative/police response



White Student Activism Students for a Democratic

Society formed 1959 Attacked university

complicity in American social ills

Free Speech Movement, 1964

Influenced by work in MS Issue: politicking on

campus Called for a strike Administrative/police

response

Chicano/a Student Activism High school student

walk-out in Los Angeles, 1968

Created college-based organizations

Conferences organized and manifestos issued



Questions for Discussion What is the purpose of college? How is it

reflected? How do we reconcile ‘separation’ with the

mission of the common school? Can/should SNCC’s vision for education be

realized? Who is ‘qualified’ to teach Black studies?

Chicano/a studies? Women’s studies? Etc?

notions of education for liberation george counts paulo freire arthur schlesinger, jr

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