Fifty years on, Paulo Freire still sounds subversive

In 1968, the philosopher and educator Paulo Freire (1921-1997) published Pedagogy of the Oppressed, his most important work. The book is an investigation into how education can help empower those who are oppressed (in his example, working classes and poorer populations) and, at the same time, give them the tools to navigate the world.

In his book, Freire proposes that students stop being treated as the objects of the educational process and says they should be given the status of agents. Instead of imposing pedagogic structures upon the students, the author says the best education has to take into account where these people stand in the world and how they live their lives. From there on, Mr. Freire believed, teachers and facilitators could engage individuals in a learning process that is not passive, but active.

Pedagogy of the Oppressed was conceived and written during Freire’s exile in Chile. After the 1964 military coup in Brazil, the educator was forced...