Critical Pedagogy

Freire | Lowenfeld | Reviving Ophelia | Mickey Mouse Monopoly 

“The sharp edge of a razor is difficult to pass over; thus the wise say the path to Salvation is hard.” – Katha-Upanishad

After rereading Chapter 2 of Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed, I came to the realization that being a teacher requires a certain amount of balance in many different forms.  It puts me in mind of W. Somerset Maugham’s The Razor’s Edge (1943), which starts with the quote:

“The sharp edge of a razor is difficult to pass over; thus the wise say the path to Salvation is hard.” – Katha-Upanishad

The book is about a man’s journey towards enlightenment after becoming disenchanted with his Western culture.  It combines Eastern and Western philosophies to tell a story about leaving behind what is unimportant and frivolous and knowing your true self. This balance is echoed in Freire’s philosophy of the “student-teacher” and “teacher-student” (Freire, 1970).  He states:

“Through dialogue, the teacher-of-the-students and the students-of-the-teacher cease to exist and a new term emerges: teacher-student with students-teachers. The teacher is no longer merely the-one-who-teaches, but one who is himself taught in dialogue with the students, who in turn while being taught also teach. They become jointly responsible for a process in which all grow.” (p. 80).

This balancing act between learning and educating is something that is constant and ongoing, and I have attempted to represent this narrative through my art piece, entitled “Balancing Act.”  The image combines seemingly disparate elements that when combined, create a harmony that symbolically represents growth.  The image is done in two media – a traditional one, watercolor, and a new media, digital illustration with Adobe Illustrator.  I first created the watercolor background using two colors that are directly harmonious on the color wheel.  Purple traditionally represents wisdom, dignity, independence, and creativity and green, which is known to represent growth and harmony (Color Wheel Pro).  The purple is emerging from the green in the middle of the image, suggesting that the characteristics of the former are influenced and cultivated by the latter, and the two intermingle and balance each other. 

Layered on top of the image is a digital illustration of a woman and child holding hands, with their arms outreached as if balancing.  They are a silhouette, which represents how they have a universal identity and could be any teacher and student, non-specific.  They are perched on the edge of a razor, which is an homage to Maughams’ book as well as a symbol for the difficult balance teachers must make between imparting knowledge and gaining it.  It also represents the balance between a teachers’ passion for art education and the endless struggle with bureaucracy.  It also implies the balance that must be maintained between modernist and post-modernist ideals, skills and concepts, native culture and multiculturalism, personal and professional connections, among others.

Characteristics of Drawing During the Gang Age 

In Creative and Mental Growth: A Textbook on Art Education

Reviving Ophelia

After watching the film Reviving Ophelia, I found it interesting that most of these issues are still relevant today, and with the advent of technology, cell phones and social media, many more issues have arisen in the lives of adolescents.  One of the things I think is most important as educators is to foster a sense of self confidence.  The video mentioned that kids between 12-13 and beyond start to reject their parents in favor of their social groups. As teachers, I think that we can have an even greater influence at this time in their lives, and being on top of popular culture of the current time is crucial.  It was interesting to watch this video because it was made at the same time I was going through these things, so all of the popular culture references were relevant to me, and made me remember how I felt at that age - incredibly awkward, shy and longing to be liked by anyone.  I did not have the best home life nor did I have the best set of teachers, however, I found that being in small school where everyone knew each other, made the students feel we were all on the same team.  

Being art educators, I think that middle school is a great time to allow students to explore their new feelings and emotions, and allow them to work collaboratively to get that confidence that comes from being a part of a team, or something bigger than themselves.  Realizing this as an educator can help students interact on a level that allows them to feel accepted, give them more confidence and help them navigate one of the most difficult times in their lives.

Mickey Mouse Monopoly

Mickey Mouse Monopoly sheds light on how the Walt Disney company, although a huge part of American culture, has helped perpetuate many stereotypes through influencing children behind the spectacle of innocence. The classic story of how females must be rescued, the negative trope of the female villian, and the stereotypical voice acting, behavior and look of non-caucasian characters are just some of the recurring themes throughout their movies. As a large powerhouse company that owns a lot of what we see every day in our visual culture, it is easy to be afraid of repercussions that could come by critically examining Disney’s imagery. However, as philosopher Henry Giroux (Kershner, 2015) has said, “Power is never so overwhelming that there’s no room for resistance.” Questioning narrative, power, historical inaccuracies and the appropriation of other cultures changes the way society thinks and feels about what is taken as “truth,” and brings forward more independent, forward thinking and empathetic citizens of the world.

As an art educator, it is important to teach students to take the things they enjoy and not just accept them blindly as truthful. That is not to say that entertainment can not be enjoyed without saying what is wrong with it, but just that students must have open eyes to the world and demand that the narratives being told are not just from one side. There have been some slight improvements with Disney’s representations in recent years, however, they are still far from perfect. Keeping the dialogue going about how not just Disney but society can improve as a whole can help change the narrative and reconstruct cultural norms and visual culture in profound ways.

References

• Belenky, M., Clinchy, B., Goldberger, M., & Tarule, J. (1997). Women’s Ways of Knowing. New York, NY: Basic Books.

• Color Wheel Pro – Color Meaning, (n.d.). Retrieved from: http://www.color-wheel-pro.com/color-meaning.html

• Dewey, J. (1897). My pedagogic creed. The School Journal, Volume LIV, Number 3, pp. 77-80. Retrieved from: http://la.utexas.edu/users/hcleaver/330T/350kPEEDeweyPedagogicCreedTable.pdf

• Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the Oppressed.   New York, NY: Continuum

• Kershner, S. (2015, June 02). Henry Giroux on the Militarization of Public Pedagogy. Retrieved from https://www.counterpunch.org/2013/09/27/teaching-and-learning-with-henry-giroux/

• Maugham, W.S. (1943). The razor’s edge. New York, New York: Doubleday, Doran and Co., Inc.

• Mickey Mouse Monopoly documentary - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DT4TBoKQ0Ig

• Pipher, M. (2008). Reviving Ophelia Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls. Paw Prints.