BECOMING A CRITICAL EDUCATOR Stephen Brookfield University of
BECOMING A CRITICAL EDUCATOR Stephen Brookfield University of St. Thomas, Minneapolis-St. Paul, USA www. stephenbrookfield. com Open Access Website – Please Steal, No Permission Needed
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Being Critical as Contested • Core Processes that Cross Different Conceptualizations are: • Assumption hunting – uncovering & checking the assumptions that frame & inform our actions, decisions & practices • Exploring alternative perspectives – we become adult as we cease to universalize our own experience (Habermas) • Criticality as employability skill – problem solving & thinking out of the box to generate innovative solutions. Yet problem solving can be done uncritically - the instrumentalization of reason (Horkheimer & Adorno) • Criticality as uncovering how we internalize dominant ideologies (capitalism, patriarchy, white supremacy)
Being Critical as Eminently Practical • Depression – why did I refuse professional help or medication for so many years? Because I was suffering from patriarchy • Collapses – why have I been rushed to the emergency room 3 times in the last 20 years? Because I am suffering from hegemony (Gramsci) – the enthusiastic embrace of my own oppression as I internalize institutional notions of vocation • Constructive Dismissal – why have I been told I’m not an Endowed Chair & my teaching load tripled? Because of repressive tolerance: the process whereby institutions deflect challenges to their legitimacy (eg. accusations of racism) by appearing to change whilst keeping structures intact (Marcuse)
What Does Critical Education Look, Sound, Feel Like? • CHALK TALK (Hilton Smith) • Question is written in centre of a blank space • Everyone comes to the board • For 5 minutes no talking is allowed • People respond to the question using images & words • Everyone looks for connections & differences & draws lines connecting those posts, adding words along the line to indicate connection • People write questions, extend postings, respond to comments • Ends with a conversation regarding the graphic representation of group thinking – clusters & outliers
Traditions of Criticality • European Critical Theory – criticality as the unearthing of dominant ideologies (capitalism, white supremacy, patriarchy) leading to revolutionary action for democratic socialism, working class hegemony • North American Pragmatism – criticality as the constant examination of experience in the experimental pursuit of beautiful consequences. We craft & recalibrate our practice based on the analysis of experience • Latin American Popular Education – criticality as engaging the most dispossessed & marginalized to problematize everyday experience to unearth their real problems & solutions. Catholic social teaching & Methodism’s preferential option for the poor • African Ubuntu – because individual identity is irretrievably collective criticality must be collectively developed & practiced
How do you teach criticality to colleagues, friends, students? • Circle of Voices • People begin by thinking silently for 1 -2 minutes about a question posed by the group & make notes on their response • Group members go round the circle in order - each person has up to 1 minute of uninterrupted air time to give their response to the question. No interruptions allowed. • Participants then move into open conversation with the ground rule that members can only talk about a comment made by someone else in the opening circle of voices. This need NOT be agreement - it can be a disagreement, a question, an illustration, an extension, etc.
TOUCHSTONES FOR CRITICAL DISCUSSIONS • Brave Space (Pawlowski, 2019): ‘safe space’ as avoiding necessary discomfort, thinking structurally, focus on action not personhood https: //www. stthomas. edu/fdc/events/eventarchive/brave-spaceworkshop-jan-22. html • “Bourgeois Decorum” (bell hooks, 1993): let’s stay calm, let’s not lose control, let’s not get emotional – class based notions of what counts as articulate speech (community discussions in the aftermath of police shootings: “Be Respectful”) http: //www. bellhooksinstitute. com/ • Color of Fear “What it Means to be an American” https: //video. search. yahoo. com/yhs/search? fr=yhs-Lkry. SF 01&hsimp=yhs. SF 01&hspart=Lkry&p=what+it+means+to+be+american+color+of+fear #id=1&vid=eb 1 feb 5654 b 4 b 90 f 7935183994505194&action=click
How Do You Practice Criticality in Your Life? • Circular Response (Eduard Lindeman) • A question emerges for discussion • Someone responds – up to a minute, no interruptions • Person to left of 1 st speaker - up to a minute, no interruptions. • However, 2 nd speaker must begin by somehow addressing the 1 st speaker’s comments – this can be an extension, disagreement, illustration, expression of confusion etc. Some sort of reference to the 1 st speaker’s comments must be incorporated at the start of the 2 nd speaker’s remarks. • Process continues leftward around the circle • Once everyone has made an initial contribution open discussion ensues with no ground rules
Enduring Questions • How do we stop people universalizing their own experience? • How can we become aware of our internalization of dominant ideology? • What constitutes an ethical use of power? • When does aggregate democracy legitimize a repressive status quo? • What’s the difference between authoritarian & authoritative pedagogy?
Distinctive Dynamics • Organizing – fast mobilization, outwitting the enemy, manipulating systems, building momentum, recruiting allies. Sometimes events move so quickly there is no time for intentional education, reflection, critique • Education – entails long term building of trust, scaffolding as we move from simple to complex, need for extensive modeling, constant critique & reflection • http: //writingcities. com/2016/08/03/myles-horton-saulalinsky-popular-education-and-organising/
Brookfield References • The Power of Critical Theory for Liberating Adult Learning and Teaching (Open University Press, 2005) • Radicalizing Learning: Adult Education for a Just World (Jossey-Bass/Wiley, 2010) Co-authored with John Holst • The Discussion Book: 50 Great Ways to Get People Talking (Jossey-Bass/Wiley, 2015) Co-authored with Stephen Preskill • Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher (Jossey. Bass/Wiley, 2017, 2 nd. Ed. ) • www. stephenbrookfield. com
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