A discussion on a chapter from Myles Horton and Paulo Freire’s We Make the Road by Walking

By ratriewahyu@yahoo.com

• Co-founder of Highlander Folk School (1932) then now become Highlander Research and Education Center in Tennessee. The school was formerly aimed to educate and empower adults for social change

• American Educator and activist who is widely known through his role in Civil Rights Movement

• Brazilian educator and philosopher who plays important role in critical pedagogy

• Very well known for his book, “Pedagogy of the Oppressed”.

• His book is considered as one of the fundamental texts of critical pedagogy movement

• Idea to reform education• Working inside the system >> to influence the

system• It didn’t change the system but make it more

humane and intelligent

• Recognized as non-educators • Completely free to do according to goals set• Opportunities to conduct experiment on social

education with more validity

• It comes from the word ‘bootleg’ which means illegal

• Horton works with people who bootlegged education

• He runs Highlander which is not considered as education

• Citizenship School >> teaching people to read and write

• Highlander >> considered as not education, outside the system

• The ideal is to fight against the system from internal and external schooling system

• Education could affect political change (Freire’s case)

• History of society plays role in educational changes

• People listen to Gospel and learn to read Gospels themselves

• People have study circle • People realize that they need to change the

country• People undergo historical and political

consciousness of the reality

• Working class recognize political and social change

• It is the beginning of the struggle of the working class

• Institute of Cajamar contributes to the working class movement and struggle of the people

• In the process of struggle, workers have to express their suffering because they struggle to survive

• Progress shown by the presence of workers party in Brazil being lead by intellectuals

• The struggle does not stop when the revolution is in power, yet it will start a new kind of struggle and fighting that society knew. Then the role of education undergoes changing in this new period

• People begin to get their history into their hands and then the role of education changes

• Revolutionary groups and progressive groups worked in education to clarify the official role of education

• Education is not becoming a kind of indoctrination. The struggle is to create an education devoted to freedom

• The revolution didn’t automatically change the schooling system, yet it opened up the possibility of change

• Things can be taught inside of history, not before time but in time

• Just like what is seen in civil rights movement, a movement can change people

• Educators fear of experiencing new things• Educators fear of making mistakes• Educators fear of taking risks

• School is social and historical institution• School can be changed• WHO? By new generation of teachers who must

be prepared, trained and formed• There is a need to form groups of supervisor who

must know more than the teachers in order to challenge them about what they are doing

• Reading opens the opportunity to learn and know more about anything

• Group study will produce literate people who are aware of changes in any aspect

• Literate society who are aware of changes will lead the action of movement of changes

• The important thing is to get the attention of young people to be progressive

• Progressive means to be brave to make some decisions and take the risk of the preservation of the revolution

• Progressive means making the connection with people deeper, respect other people’s beliefs, consult the people

• Progressive also means to start from letters and words which the people are starting the process of education