marcia pereira (M.A.Pereira@sheffield.ac.uk)
Tue, 10 Aug 1999 16:56:01 +0000
From: "marcia pereira" <M.A.Pereira@sheffield.ac.uk> Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1999 16:56:01 +0000 Subject: Re: learning in the 21st Century
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The debate between Ana Liam and Crispin Weston reminded me of
reading this in one of Freire's books:
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'What did you learn in school today, dear little boy of mine?
What did you learn in school today, dear little boy of mine?
I learned that Washington never told a lie,
I learned that soldiers seldom die,
I learned that everybody's free,,
And that's what the teacher said to me.
That's what I learned in school today,
That's what I learned in school.
I learned that policemen are my friends,
I learned that justice never ends,
I learned that murders dye for their crimes
Even if we make a mistake sometimes.
I learned that our government must be strong,
It's always right and never wrong
Our leaders are the finest men
And we elect them again and again.
[...]
That's what I learned in school today,
That's what I learned in school.'
(Tom Paxton, sung by Pete Seeger)
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and then, after citing this song, Freire wrote what would probably be
the answer from university students when asked what they've learned:
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'Today at the university we learned that objectivity in science
requires neutrality on the part of the scientist; we learned today
that knowledge is pure, universal, and unconditional and that the
university is the site of this knowledge. We learned today, although
only tacitly, that the world is divided between those who know and
those who don't (that is, those who do manual work) and the university
is the home of the former. We learned today that the university is a
temple of pure knowledge and that it has to soar above earthly
preoccupations, such as mankind's liberation.
We learned today that reality is a given, that it is our scientific
impartiality that allows us to describe it as it is. Since we have
described it as it is, we don't have to investigate the principle
reasons that would explain it as it is. But if we should try to
denounce the real world as it is by proclaiming a new way of living,
we learned at the university today that we would no longer be
scientists, but ideologues.
We learned today that economic development is a purely technical
problem, that the underdeveloped peoples are incapable (sometimes
because of their mixed blood, their nature, or climatic reasons).
We were informed that blacks learn less than whites because they are
genetically inferior, even when they demonstrate unquestionable
capacities, for example, dancing, dexterity, and enduring heavy
physical labor.'
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Freire used these two texts in 1985 to criticize the dominating
education, which 'strives to domesticate consciousness,
transforming it in an empty receptacle'.
Reading this made me think that things had gone through a
considerable change recently. But when I read the debate in the list,
I realised that the change has not been so considerable after
all. There are still people who believe in the transmission model and
that the absolute truth is out there somewhere.
When I think that one day the fact that the Earth was flat was
considered to be an absolute and external truth, and women were
burned in fire for making scientific experiments... Everything
with the bless of the Church and the dominant order, of course.
I wonder which kind of ethernal truths we are taking for granted
today.
Marcia A. Pereira
School of Architectural Studies
The University of Sheffield
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