Education at the service of alienation: bills that threaten Paulo Freire’s dream of transformative education

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5902/1984644424721

Keywords:

Paulo Freire, Education, Neoliberalism

Abstract

This paper seeks to analyse recent bills which were drafted with a view to repressing critical thinking in Brazilian schools, thus forcing these schools to fully abide to neoliberal premises and demands. There are different ways in which the liberty and autonomy of pupils and educators alike can be put in risk. These range from the abolishment of subjects which are essential for shaping citizens, such as Sociology and Philosophy, to the criminalisation of Humanities teachers, including the fomentation of a more productivist approach to education whereby only grades matter. These different measures officially introduce an option for something which was greatly condemned by Paulo Freire, Brazil’s greatest educator: an alienating education at the exclusive service of big business.

Author Biography

Rodrigo do Prado Bittencourt, Universidade de Coimbra

Possui Graduação em Ciências Sociais pela Universidade de São Paulo (2007) e Mestrado em Teoria e História Literária pela Universidade de Campinas. Cursa o Doutoramento em Literatura de Língua Portuguesa, no Centro de Literarura Portuguesa da Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Coimbra, com bolsa da CAPES para doutorado pleno no exterior.

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Published

2018-03-29

How to Cite

Bittencourt, R. do P. (2018). Education at the service of alienation: bills that threaten Paulo Freire’s dream of transformative education. Education, 43(1), 41–54. https://doi.org/10.5902/1984644424721

Issue

Educação, v. 43, n. 1, jan./mar. 2018

Section

Continuous Demand

License

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