Comparison: Friere and hooks

In his essay “The ‘Banking’ Concept of Education,” Freire discusses traditional methods of teaching that involve a dominant teacher “filling” passive students with information. Freire believes that teachers and students should instead create a dialogue from which they each learn; it is only through this freeing mode of education that people can become aware of themselves, of the world around them, and of their own awareness. In “Toward a Revolutionary Feminist Pedagogy,” hooks applies this argument to the discussion of feminist pedagogy and minority pedagogy; hooks believes that we must teach and learn in this way in order to recognize individuality.

In class tomorrow, Ann Page will give you each a copy of my first essay from last year (yikes!) for you to peruse as you begin your own first essays. This is just to get your thoughts moving and perhaps provide you with some idea of the direction you'd like this paper to take. Your paper does not, however, have to resemble mine even a little; it is simply for you to look at if you wish (and to help demonstrate why you've been forced to write these darned 100 word summaries and comparisons). I make no claim that this is a paper worthy of your admiration; it is simply the one I wrote and am now sharing with you. (Extra points to the first person to identify the error on page 6.)

I'm happy to be a second set of eyes for you as you write your papers, but I should warn you that I will not be within reach via the internet from Thursday afternoon on... so if you want my input before Friday you'll need to contact me by Wednesday night. Good luck with these papers, and have fun! :)