How accessible is Paulo Freire's writing?

I can only speak to this in a second-hand way, but would be interested in how old your teacher friend is, what s/he is teaching and at what level.

My brother, Don Finkel, wrote several eloquent and passionate books on teaching after he had been in the field (Evergreen State U, Olympia, WA) for decades. In the preface of TEACHING WITH YOUR MOUTH SHUT (2000) In he says, ” I have…been strongly influenced by the psychoanalytic concept of transference as formulated by Freud, the vision of ‘political action’ articulated by Hannah Arendt, the literacy programs of Paulo Freire and the critique of schooling elaborated by Ivan Illich.”

This book is given to all new faculty at the U. of Syracuse, FWIW. And in an earlier book, EDUCATING FOR FREEDOM; The Paradox of Pedagogy (co-authored w. William Arney) he discusses Freire at great length, if memory holds

He felt that Freire was difficult reading and says in the bibliographical notes of TWYMS, “Readers interested in Freire would do better to start with EDUCATION FOR CRITICAL CONSCIOUSNESS or a book of Ira Shor’s; CRITICAL TEACHING AND EVERYDAY LIFE.

In the interest of full disclosure, Don was the father of one of Fluther’s founders, Ben Finkel. Sadly Don died of cancer in 1999. but his books live on.

PS. I would also add that Don said, “The Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget was my earliest and most profound influence. After him, my thinking has been guided by John Dewey, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and the figure of Socrates as depicted in Plato’s Socratic dialogues.

Gail

Why not give your friend the chance to attempt to get something out of what sounds like an interesting read?

Freire’s writing could be overly academic depending on one’s background. Some criticized him for how inaccessible the language he was using being that he was promoting “popular education.” He responds to this criticism in his book Pedagogy of Hope.

I have not read the specific text you ask about, but I would venture a guess that “Letter. . .” is probably more accessible than some of his other texts being that it is addressed directly to teachers in the format of letters, rather than academic chapters. Accessible or not, Freire should be read by all teachers (or as Gail pointed out, there are plenty of folks to read that have built off of Freire’s ideas). As cultural workers teachers should be expected to engage challenging texts that force them to look at their role through a critical lens and to improve their craft.

Thanks – intersting that nobody has read it, I guess it isn’t the most cited, but I was hoping the letters would be more accessible. Maybe I will order it and try to read through some of it before I give it away. I was also thinking Radical Equations, since I’ve read that one.

In response to your questions, Gail – he’s in his late 50’s, doing teacher training as a possible second career. Probably math, middle or high school. (And I live with Ben)

@Justin – Aha. Well, you surely know who I am by now.

And I would still suggest that your friend read both of Don’s books. “Educating for Freedom” might be a good intro to Freire’s ideas. If your friend is dealing with middle or high school kids, he might want some classroom experience to bundle with the texts about theory.