A Popular Education
Center for Social Change
POPULAR EDUCATION IS A LEARNING PROCESS THAT ~
~ begins with the standpoint of the oppressed;
~ is inclusive;
~ is accessible to people of all educational levels;
~ addresses issues people face in their communities;
~ supports people moving towards action/nonviolent social change;
~ is based on the experiences of those participating in the learning; and
~ integrates non-traditional methods of learning.
~ is inclusive;
~ is accessible to people of all educational levels;
~ addresses issues people face in their communities;
~ supports people moving towards action/nonviolent social change;
~ is based on the experiences of those participating in the learning; and
~ integrates non-traditional methods of learning.
Vision: That all individuals actively engage in participatory democracy in an effort to attain a just, humane and healthy society.
Mission: Promoting and providing popular education workshops and resources to strengthen people's efforts for non-violent collective social justice.
Values and Foundation for Work:
- Paulo Freire’s pedagogy which begins with the standpoint of the oppressed; it provides a forum for people to share their experiences, embark on a process of liberation from internalized oppression and become empowered agents for change.
- Mohandas Gandhi teaches us to involve personal change and reflection, challenge violent and oppressive structures, and to create alternatives to those violent structures in our social change work.
- Non-hierarchical participatory processes promoted by the feminist movement and the Highlander Center. The Highlander Center has used popular education to foster the development of grassroots efforts by marginalized communities
- To offer popular education workshops and programs that begin with people’s lived experience and foster critical insights (conscientization) and actions directed towards non-violent collective social change.
- To produce, exchange and share practical popular education models among community organizations, their members, and the community.
- To engage people in both dominant and subordinate groups who have crucial roles to play, both individually and collectively, in dismantling all aspects of oppression.
- To seek like-minded individuals and groups to help build upon our collective vision and to engage in dialogue as how to best collaborate.
Who are our popular educators:
Freire distinguishes between banking education, where knowledge is deposited like money into student receptacles, and problem-posing education, where teachers and students cooperate in a dialogue. Our popular educators
- engage the students/participants in individual and collective awareness of their problems and conditions; stresses a collective problem solving approach;
- aim for social changes;
- explicitly address underlying structural problems or root causes;
- will incorporate various elements of social learning, behavioral, cognitive and humanist traditions of learning but is distinct in the attention to critical reflection* as a key element of learning.
* Critical reflection involves the identification and evaluation of assumptions, beliefs and values that underlie a person’s thoughts, feelings and actions. It goes beyond the subject matter knowledge because it relates learning to values, philosophy, worldview and the nature of knowledge itself.
