Conversations on Education and Social Change
Hardcover, 256 pages
English language
Published Dec. 28, 1990 by Temple Univ Pr.
This dialogue between two of the most prominent thinkers on social change in the twentieth century was certainly a meeting of giants. Throughout their highly personal conversations recorded here, Horton and Freire discuss the nature of social change and empowerment and their individual literacy campaigns. The ideas of these men developed through two very different channels: Horton's, from the Highlander Center, a small, independent residential education center situated outside the formal schooling system and the state; Freire's, from within university and state-sponsored programs.
Myles Horton, who died in January 1990, was a major figure in the civil rights movement and founder of the Highlander Folk School, later the highlander Research and Education Center. Paulo Freire, author of Pedagogy of the Oppressed, established the Popular Culture Movement in Recife, Brazil's poorest region, and later was named head of the New National Literacy Campaign until a military coup forced his exile from …
This dialogue between two of the most prominent thinkers on social change in the twentieth century was certainly a meeting of giants. Throughout their highly personal conversations recorded here, Horton and Freire discuss the nature of social change and empowerment and their individual literacy campaigns. The ideas of these men developed through two very different channels: Horton's, from the Highlander Center, a small, independent residential education center situated outside the formal schooling system and the state; Freire's, from within university and state-sponsored programs.
Myles Horton, who died in January 1990, was a major figure in the civil rights movement and founder of the Highlander Folk School, later the highlander Research and Education Center. Paulo Freire, author of Pedagogy of the Oppressed, established the Popular Culture Movement in Recife, Brazil's poorest region, and later was named head of the New National Literacy Campaign until a military coup forced his exile from Brazil. He has been active in educational development programs worldwide.
For both men, real liberation is achieved through popular participation. The themes they discuss illuminate problems faced by educators and activists around the world who are concerned with linking participatory education to the practice of liberation and social change. How could two men, working in such different social spaces and times, arrive at similar ideas and methods? These conversations answer that question in rich detail and engaging anecdotes, and show that, underlying the philosophy of both, is the idea that theory emanates from practice and that knowledge grows from and is a reflection of social experience.
Excellent dialog reflecting on lifetimes pursuing radical education, seeking non-authoritarian ways of developing freedom for students to participate in knowledge production, to be respected as capable humans who bring knowledge and common sense to the classroom. To not be neutral as a teacher, teaching with an objective of structural change through education for all.
This is at least my second reading of this book and I still love it. I see new things in it each time. This time, I see how much Paulo Freire prompted Myles Horton with questions about his work. According to the introduction, Freire wanted to introduce Horton to thinkers in Latin America. And Horton wanted to do the same with Freire, but either the editors were siding with Freire's prompting or he did more to ask the questions, because I do feel like Horton is a bit more primary in terms of representation in this dialogue. As always before, I find Horton's starting every response with a story and sticking to stories is so compelling and so clear that he lived what he practiced. I don't know that a reader walks away getting any clear sense of what Freire or Horton were up to in specifics from this book, …
This is at least my second reading of this book and I still love it. I see new things in it each time. This time, I see how much Paulo Freire prompted Myles Horton with questions about his work. According to the introduction, Freire wanted to introduce Horton to thinkers in Latin America. And Horton wanted to do the same with Freire, but either the editors were siding with Freire's prompting or he did more to ask the questions, because I do feel like Horton is a bit more primary in terms of representation in this dialogue. As always before, I find Horton's starting every response with a story and sticking to stories is so compelling and so clear that he lived what he practiced. I don't know that a reader walks away getting any clear sense of what Freire or Horton were up to in specifics from this book, but I do think they get a sense of some of the overall influences and important ideas that the two held more or less in common when it came to popular education. Horton is also very careful to highlight the influences and work of Bernice Robinson, Esau Jenkins, Septima Clark, and others that were involved at Highlander and in Highlander's work. It's a quick read - and maybe would make a nice introduction to the two authors. I still love The Long Haul, written about the work of Highlander and a sort of biography of Myles Horton. It leans on his signature storytelling style and gets much more into the specifics of the kinds of work and practices they were doing and using at Highlander.
