Social Justice: Part 2

As a teacher for social justice a good book to refer to is Paulo Freire's "Pedagogy of the Oppressed". As a teacher, you should definitely read it and consider sharing it with your students as well. The text is rather advanced, so it would depend on your classroom. If you think it might be a bit much for your students, there are still useful passages/lessons to draw from the book. The book would also likely resonate more with oppressed students.

Freire discusses the banking method and its limitations, saying students shouldn't be treated as banks in which we, as teachers, deposit information into. Rather students should be taught how to think critically and take meaning from what they are learning, rather than just learning straight facts and definitions. By teaching students how to critically think about what they see and what they learn you are giving them the tools to advance in life, not only in a traditional, societal way, but also by allowing them to see the faults and wrongs within society and helping them realize not to give into the stereotype.

Freire is adamant in this book that society must become classless to truly become free and for that to happen people  in the middle and upper classes must give themselves over to the plight of the lower, poor classes, sometimes refereed to as the "peasant class" by Freire. I am not saying Freire's method to improve society is necessarily right, but the book is certainly full of possibilities and theories to improve society worth knowing and thinking about, especially since you are teaching  society's future generation.