The main point that I gathered from this chapter was that
the oppressed (either an individual or a group) have the ability to eliminate
oppression and become more “fully human.” The oppressors do not have this
ability because they are not seeking reformation, and their attempts at
balancing power are merely “false generosity.” I found this to be an
interesting conclusion, although I have to question whether the ability of
oppressors to engage in liberation of the oppressed is merely improbable and
not impossible, as the chapter would suggest. To me, it would seem feasible that
an enlightenment of the situation between and oppressor and oppressed on behalf
of the oppressors could eventually cause oppressors to reevaluate their position
and strive for equality and not simply offer “false generosity.” The
probability of this could be questionable, although I do not see where it would
be wholly impossible. Freire indicates that once the oppressed overcome their
former oppressors, the former oppressors feel that they are the new oppressed,
even if they are not, because of the new position they find themselves in. To
me, this deduction of Freire’s seems plausible. Freire also indicates that some
of the oppressors will change sides to the oppressed side in order to advocate
for a better humanity, but that such converts often do not have full trust in
their new allies. Therefore, to me, it would seem that advocating for equality
by the converts would help the oppressors to view the oppressed more as people,
and not “objects,” as they are often viewed as, and could come to change the
relationship between the two parties.
Anyways, I’m not fully certain that I grasped Freire’s
connection between education (teachers and students) and his main argument
(unless it was simply that teachers and students need to work together as
humans in order to examine and critique knowledge), but it was an interesting
read, nonetheless.
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