Name: Pedagogy of the Oppressed
ISBN: 9781501314131

Pedagogy of the Oppressed

"First published in Portuguese in 1968, [this book] was translated and published in English in 1970. Paulo Freire's work has helped to empower countless people throughout the world and continues to possess a special urgency as the creation of a permanent underclass among the underprivileged and minorities in urban centers around the world continues. The 50th anniversary edition includes a new introduction by Donaldo Macedo, an afterword by Ira Shor, and interviews with Marina Aparicio Barber'an, Noam Chomsky, Gustavo E. Fischman, Ram'on Flecha, Ronald David Glass, Valerie Kinloch, peter Mayo, Peter McLaren, and Margo Okazawa-Rey to inspire a new generation of educators, students, and general readers for years to come."--Page [4] of cover.

What Hacker News says

seuJun 2026

I'm skeptical about efforts to discuss changing schools (not even "revolutionizing" them) without even mentioning Ivan Illich or Paulo Freire.

Here some links for the lazy ones: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deschooling_Society https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedagogy_of_the_Oppressed

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blurbleblurbleJun 2026

I absolutely agree. You might be interested in Paulo Freire who wrote a whole book on something like what you're arguing, "the pedagogy of the oppressed".

That said, the crimes of "the cabal of wealth" are still on those responsible.

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rexpopApr 2026

The fatalistic view that "platform holders have all the cards" and that "programming as a skill has a future valuation that's heading to zero" is a common psychological barrier in labor struggles. Oppressed or subordinate groups often suffer from a "diffuse, magical belief in the invulnerability and power of the oppressor"[0].

However, theories of political and social power argue the exact opposite: the power of any ruling class or corporation is actually quite fragile because it depends entirely on the cooperation, obedience, and skills of its subordinates. If highly skilled individuals like blue-collar technologists and programmers collectively withdraw our human resources, skills, and knowledge, we can severely disrupt or paralyze the systems that enrich the platform holders.

0. Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Paulo Freire

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OhMeadhbhSep 2025

For my part of the conversation, I think what I'm implying is we might get better outcomes if we paid teachers more.

That being said... there's a critique that keeps coming up that the structure of public education is largely unchanged since Victorian times. I've heard people say that the reason you get kids up in the morning and have them move from class to class every hour is to prepare them for life in the mines and mills. Certainly there is some validity to this observation. If we're trying to prepare students for the world of modern work, maybe they should be in front of a computer monitor for 8 hours a day and run to a local gym in 1 hour shifts in an effort to ensure their lives are not completely sedentary.

There's an "unschooling movement" that has made some interesting points, but still gets some of the details wrong (in my opinion.) "Pedagogy of the Oppressed" is a great read, even if you disagree with Freire's politics or semiotics.

When I say "high school is nothing more than child-care" I should probably say "I fear high school is nothing more than child-care" or "Some high schools are nothing more than child-care." I don't think low academic achievement is universal, but I also think there's a correlation between per-capita spending and academic achievement.

Most (many?) public schools in the US were set up in the post-war period to be funded with property taxes. But since the 60s / 70s many (most?) states have policies similar to California's Prop 13 that limited property taxes. [Don't have the data on this handy, point me at the data if I'm wrong.] So it seems like it's a perfect storm of decreasing teacher salaries, deferred maintenance for school district property and low academic achievement.

As a society, we can have as good a school system as we're willing to pay for.

At this point, if there's any way to supplement public school budgets with money from the football stadium... I'm all for it. I would just prefer that the money goes from the profitable football program to the general academic fund and not the other way around.

[Edit: I'm informed out of band that there's a correlation between a state's median income and public school educational achievement. This is a small, but important update on the assertion above saying there's a correlation between per-capita spending and academic achievement.]

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BillyTheMageApr 2025

Pedagogy of the Oppressed would unironically be a better suggestion than half the books on the list.

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rbanffyFeb 2025

- The Paul Street Boys (Ferenc Molnár)

- The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas (Machado de Assis)

- Cousin Bazilio (Eça de Queirós)

- Pedagogy of the Oppressed (Paulo Freire)

All these as a teen. I don't think my moral compass had much plasticity after that.

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