Regardless of what you think of Freire’s work and beliefs, this is a good read and something to think about in the current educational climate. If you believe that education should empower students (or society), then you should be uneasy about the co-opting of education by those in power.
I’m not saying that there shouldn’t be educational leaders arguing for change, but if that change leaves out the very people it is intended to serve, that is not good.
This was a great presentation and a the animation just made it that much better. Ken Robinson is on the (cutting) edge of calls for change in education. Not simple, and likely ineffective, changes like performance pay, but big picture changes. Changes that eliminate the current system and really begin to focus on the students’ needs rather than the needs of the system as a whole. These are great, long-term ideas that will likely find their way to mainstream thinking in the not-to-distant future.
Some of his ideas you will likely agree with and others not so much. Personally, I think that he is a bit to hard on ADHD given that there are genetic markers for the disease. Though, I’m also with him in thinking that it is over-diagnosed and over-medicated (though it’s just a feeling and not based on a deeper knowledge of the issue).