Dear Bertie,

I agree with your description of Freire. Reading
really changes one permanently. Someone I worked with
said, it was as if she was really seeing for the first
time and that she did not know that world was so full
of letters. Another point this woman made was that she
could no longer return to a world where she did not
read: it was a permanent learning, a permanent change,
there was no slipping back into what she called the
well she used to live in.

Cheers
Ujwala

--- Bertha Mo <bertiemo at yahoo.com> wrote:


> Freire is a true revolutionary because he taught

> people to read, so they could read, think and

> hopefully act om their own behalf.  I feel that my

> own education was remiss (and I went to the best

> schools) because my professors taught around Freire

> (....teach a person to fish and they'll never be

> hungry) because my MPH class in community health

> education was comprised of almost 3/4 people of

> color and perhaps they didn't think we were smart

> enough to understand Freire or perhaps they didn't

> want us to know Freire and his revolutionary work. 

> I was lucky enough to continue my education and also

> be involved with people in my professional life who

> reintroduced him to me.

> 

> Participating in this listserve has helped me to

> reflect back on my entry into graduate school during

> a time when non-physicians and people of color began

> to enter Schools of Public Health. The warm support

> of fellow students and the mixed messages from our

> primarily white professors is something that I had

> forgotten.

> 

> I'm still interested in hearing examples of GED

> programs which use the Freirean model either

> consciously or unconsciously.  I say unconsciously

> because I wanted to share a bit about the Adult High

> School of Ottawa, which closed a few years ago.  A

> dear colleague rom the Carribbean was able to

> receive her GED at the school and then go on to

> College, University and is now a registered social

> worker.  She is a change agent in our community

> speaking out about structural racism in Canada and

> teaching and speaking about the need for community/

> culturally competent service.  My husband who helped

> to start a new meals on wheels programs for

> immigrant seniors was able to continue his education

> by doing two years of classes at the Adult High

> School before entering college. The vice principal

> of the Adult High School encouraged student

> leadership and my husband gave many motivational

> speeches as well as coached students in public

> speaking.  Isn't this peer learning, which is one of

>  Freire's approaches.

> 

> Bertie Mo

> 

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> Today's Topics:

> 

>    1. [PovertyRaceWomen 232] Re: GED programs with a

>       populareducationapproach (Ujwala Samant)

>    2. [PovertyRaceWomen 233] Re: GED

>       programswithapopulareducationapproach

> (andreawilder at comcast.net)

>    3. [PovertyRaceWomen 234] Re: GED programs with a

>       populareducationapproach (Andrea Wilder)

>    4. [PovertyRaceWomen 235] Re: GED

>       programswithapopulareducationapproach (Andrea

> Wilder)

> 

> 

>

----------------------------------------------------------------------

> 

> Message: 1

> Date: Tue, 9 Jan 2007 15:22:59 -0800 (PST)

> From: Ujwala Samant 

> Subject: [PovertyRaceWomen 232] Re: GED programs

> with a

>  populareducationapproach

> To: "The Poverty, Race, Women and Literacy

> Discussion List"

>  

> 

> Message-ID:

>

<20070109232259.60372.qmail at web55102.mail.re4.yahoo.com>

> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1

> 

> Andrea,

>  

> > You asked me what marxism is, and I replied.  Did

> I

> > say that Freire 

> > followed the tenets that I described as Marxist?

> No

> > I did not say that.<<

> 

> You said Freire succumbed to Marxism and then

> proceeded to define it in terms that brought up

> image

> of what Marxism was to you. By virtue of that you

> implied that is what you felt Freire fell for. 

> 

> > There was a lot of discussion about marxism  after

> > the USSR broke up.  

> > I remember one guy on a radio talk show saying

> > something like this:  

> > "But marxism has never been tried!"  (Others were

> > calling the USSR a 

> > marxist-leninist state.)  He was right,   So what

> > are we to do with the 

> >   contradiction?  I  listed the elements  of

> marxism

> > as it has been 

> > called, and as it has generally been agreed upon

> in

> > talk, newspapers, 

> > etc.<<

> 

> That does not relate to the discussion right now.

> Let's stick to what you said Marxism was and implied

> that that was what Freire fell victim to.

>  

> > "Socialism" has an allied problem of definitional

> > incoherence. <<

> In your interpretation I take it?

> 

> >>The 

> > media often misapply the term "socialism" to mean

> a

> > top down 

> > government.   It's a scare word.<<

> 

> Not where I come from. Sounds suspiciously like

> capitalism to me.

> 

> > I have not, except in one point, denied the

> > usefulness of Freire's 

> > content.  I think Freire's linguistic  devices are

> > unfortunate.<<

> 

> As are Kant's, Hegel's, Piaget's, and we could go

> on...

>  

> > And I must ask, why aren't you writing examples of

> > Freire's work, 

> > translated into your own idiom, in this

> discussion?<<

> 

> For me it is because I am amazed that one needs

> examples. I work in a domain where I see this

> popular

> education/community development happen. All one has

> to

> do is search the net and search the NGO world. When

> I

> see communities in Andhra Pradesh ravaged by

> HIV/AIDS

> organising, and working with NGOS and government

> agencies to make changes in their environment for

> themselves, that is an excellent example of Freire

> in

> action. When 5-year olds are taught to resolve

> conflicts and articulate their demands, I see the

> seeds of power being sown. In SIDH when the

> organisation is in seamless praxis with communities,

> well.. I could go on. Listen, look beyond yourself

> and

> your world and you will find...

> 

> > If you think that  

> > we need to be talking about Freire's content, why

> > don't you do this 

> > yourself?  That  would be useful, I think. and 

> lots

> > better than 

> > criticizing me for things I didn't say.  It would

> be

> > good for readers 

> > of this list serv to  have concrete  examples at

> > hand for demystifying 

> > Freire.  I would like that immensely. I crave

> plain

> > talk.<<

> 

> So, what you are saying that it is plain talk as

> defined by you... Plain talk or talk of any kind

> varies within the context. My personal example is

> having to learn how to address an American audience

> and write papers for American professors and accept

> that one can get 100% on qualitative exams. How

> about

> 

=== message truncated ===>
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