The adult part of my reflection (cos if I don't get round to this then Rachael will either tell me off or be disappointed which I can't have.) on triggers for an activist outlook and hopefully both a history and future of activist action, is rather random. I'm thinking spiral learning rather than linear.
I was introduced to Paulo Friere in 1998 by John Gourley, himself an influential thinker and activist in my opinion. Friere's key gift to me was his passion for education as empowerment. Not as empowerment through the gaining of certificates and degrees, but as a means of articulating ones own reality, of giving voice to the dispossessed. He achieved great things in terms of literacy amongst Brazil's poor people. More on him here.
Education is not just how I live, it's also how I earn money, as a high school teacher. I've also had the very great pleasure of getting to know people in the UK and in New Zealand who have taken the proactive choice to home educate their children and also those who have taken on significant commitments to supporting their local school. That has been a most fruitful encounter for me. As our family adjusts to new commitments this year (Fionn starting primary school, me returning to high school teaching), reflecting on what education offers and means is a frequent theme.
Gardening is very much my self-education project. Armed with the support of books and other tips, I choose my own seeds, plan my garden and own my own success and steep learning curves.
I was introduced to Paulo Friere in 1998 by John Gourley, himself an influential thinker and activist in my opinion. Friere's key gift to me was his passion for education as empowerment. Not as empowerment through the gaining of certificates and degrees, but as a means of articulating ones own reality, of giving voice to the dispossessed. He achieved great things in terms of literacy amongst Brazil's poor people. More on him here.
Education is not just how I live, it's also how I earn money, as a high school teacher. I've also had the very great pleasure of getting to know people in the UK and in New Zealand who have taken the proactive choice to home educate their children and also those who have taken on significant commitments to supporting their local school. That has been a most fruitful encounter for me. As our family adjusts to new commitments this year (Fionn starting primary school, me returning to high school teaching), reflecting on what education offers and means is a frequent theme.
Gardening is very much my self-education project. Armed with the support of books and other tips, I choose my own seeds, plan my garden and own my own success and steep learning curves.
2 comments:
I read Freire in back in 1990 as part of a paper with Ranginui Walker (who some consider an "activist"). Must hunt it down again to see if it can inform some of what we do around here.
Gardening is very much my self-education project.
I think I wrote that exact sentence somewhere near the beginning of my first blog. OK not *exactly*, but the sentiment was the same. I was comparing gardening with learning and linked the two for myself.
Loving our spiral journies.
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