Subject: SD and critical pedagogy

Posted by Eric Stiens on 10/7/2008

Message:

In his recent book on Critical Pedagogy, Joe Kincheloe lists the following basic concerns of critical pedagogy:

-all education is inherently political and all pedagogy must be aware of this condition -a social and educational vision of justice and equality should ground all education -issues of race, class, gender, sexuality, religion, and physical ability are all important domains of oppression and critical anti- hegemonic action.
-the alleviation of oppression and human suffering is a key dimension of educational purpose -schools must not hurt students--good schools don't blame students for their failures or strip students of the knowledges they bring to the classroom -all positions including critical pedagogy itself must be problematized and questioned -the professionalism of teachers must be respected and part of the role of any educator involves becoming a scholar and a researcher -education must both promote emancipatory change and the cultivation of the intellect--these goals should never be in conflict, they should be synergistic -the politics of knowledge and issues of epistemology are central to understanding the way power operates in educational institutions to
perpetuate privilege and to subjugate the marginalized--"validated"
scientific knowledge can often be used as a basis of oppression as it is produced without an appreciation of how dominant power and culture shape it.
-education often reflects the interests and needs of new modes of colonialism and empire. Such dynamics must be exposed, understood, and acted upon as part of critical transformative praxis.

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I am interested in talking - either on-list or off-list - with other people interested in examining how systems thinking in general, and SD- oriented curriculum in particular, can be a critical pedagogical tool for both encouraging deep-level questioning of the institutions and structures of society and working towards their transformation. I have found in my (brief and limited) work bringing SD into an inner-city science program that the discussion very quickly and naturally becomes grounded not only in the daily life experiences of the students, but also encourages a deep and critical questioning of the social/economic/ political structures that are part of the issue being examined.

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