Higher Ed's "Civic Engagements" Get Dumbed Down

By BRIAN McKENNA contributed by Neera

In 1964, after a military coup, Brazilian educator Paulo Freire was jailed for seventy days and later exiled from his country. He did not return for 15 years. His crime? Using a wildly creative method to teach peasants how to read and write. In 1970 Freire published what was to become a world-historic book based on his efforts, "Pedagogy of the Oppressed." The work presented his radical approach to overcome peasants' "culture of silence" as a way to teach literacy. After nearly forty years the book retains its power. read more