Pedagogy of Hope by Paulo Freire

Go back and look over some of the comments from the previous post. In particular, I am thinking of Nick Kasunic's, Alex LePore's and a few others. Think about what they seem to be saying or observing.

Then read chapters 2 - 4 in Enrique's Journey. As you read, underline, highlight or mark any passage that is particularly shocking, impressionable, memorable, etc.

Next, a bit of the "so what factor" for you to reflect on. Take a minute and reflect on that question: "So what?"

Then read the passage posted below. The following excerpts are taken from Pedagogy of Hope: Reliving Pedagogy of the Oppresssed (The Continuum International Publishing Group, 1995)

The idea that hope alone will transform the world, and action undertaken in that kind of naivete, is an excellent route to hopelessness, pessimism, and fatalism. But the attempt to do without hope, in the struggle to improve the world, as if that struggle could be reduced to calculated acts alone, or a purely scientific approach, is a frivolous illusion. To attempt to do without hope, which is based on the need for truth as an ethical quality of the struggle, is tantamount to denying that struggle one of its mainstays. The essential thing, as I maintain later on, is this: hope, as an ontological need, demands an anchoring in practice in order to become historically concrete. That is why there is no hope in sheer hopefulness. The hoped-for is not attained by dint of raw hoping. Just to hope is to hope in vain.

Without a minimum of hope, we cannot so much as start the struggle. But without the struggle, hope, as an ontological need, dissipates, loses its bearings, and turns into hopelessness. And hopelessness can become tragic despair. Hence the need for a kind of education in hope. Hope as it happens, is so important for our existence, individual and social, that we must take every care not to experience it in a mistaken form, and thereby allow it to slip toward hopelessness and despair. Hopelessness and despair are both the consequence and the cause of inaction or immobilism.

In limited situations, beyond which lies "untested feasibility" alone - sometimes perceivable, sometimes not - we find the why of both positions: the hopeful one and the hopeless one.

One of the tasks of the progressive educator, through a serious, correct political analysis, is to unveil opportunities for hope, no matter what the obstacles may be. After all, without hope there is little we can do. It will be hard to struggle on, and when we fight as hopeless or despairing persons, our struggle will be suicidal. Hence the need for a kind of education in hope. Hope, as it happens, is so important for our existence, individual and social, that we must take every care not to experience it in a mistaken form, and thereby allow it to slip toward hopelessness and despair. Hopelessness and despair are both the consequence and the cause of inaction and immobilism.

What are your thoughts based on Nick, Alex and other posts, chapters 2 - 4, the "so what" pondering and the excerpt from Freire?
Impress me. Due Tuesday, 3/4.

Assignment Weds - Friday

Since there will not be class Weds., Thurs., Friday of this week, the following is the assignment:

Go to the LINKS below. Go to the "Compendium of the Social Doctrine" link.
Find Section III, part c, articles 41-44.
Read these articles closely.
Read the first chapter of Enrique's Journey.
Write a reflection on the connection between the two pieces of writing.
How does one inform the other and vice versa?
Make your entry as meaningful and intelligent as your first postings.
They were excellent!
See you on Monday.