THE CHALLENGE TO CREATE A HUMANIZING CRiTICAL PEDAGOGY IN THE HIGH SCHOOL CLASSROOM Nancy E. Garapick Mount Saint Vincent University Novem ber 1995 A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Educational Psychology and Measurement Q Nancy E. Garapick, 1995 National Library Bibliothèque nationale 1+1 of Canada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395. rue Wellington OtîawaON KiAON4 OnawaON KlAON4 Canada Canada Your tI& Votre refemce Our fi& Nom refdrgnca The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant à la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or seil reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la fome de microfiche/film, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts fiom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or othemise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author' s ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. To the children who live outside love's embrace Based on the current literature, "critical pedagogy" can be defined as an approach to teaching and leaming that includes the notions of dialogue, voice, critical reflection, and empowement as constitutive of a form of "liberatory" pedagogy that may lead to personal and social transformation. Such an approach values rather than tolerates the socio-cul tural differences that frame society and, ultimately, the school cultures within which educators work. In the context of a criticai pedagogy, the students and the tacher work together to name, confront, deconstruct, and (re)shape the social injustices that work to oppress and exploit marginalized people. As a result, their shared classmorn space evolves into a humanized and humanizing comrnunity that is firmly grounded in egalitarian democratic pnnciples and practices. Implicit within the discourse on critical pedagogy is the hope that the women and men wtio constitute such a classroom comrnunity will develop an interest in and commitment to practicing a personal form of critical pedagogy, one that is (re)shaped by democratic and humanizing intentions, both within and without their classroom space. In the context of this thesis project, 1 have purposely engaged in my own form of critical pedagogy. In order to critically reflect on the nature of the current discourse on critical pedagogy in relation to the theories that fi-arne my own pedagogical practices, 1 have i ntentionall y chosen a cri tically reflective research approach, one that enables me to assume a critical positionality in relation to my own and other subjective knowledges. Even though such an approach implicitly values experience as constitutive of knowledge, it does not do so unproblematically, for the "critical" in critical pedagogy rnakes explicit that the knowledges that evolve from subjective theorizings must be repeatedIy problematized. Throughout this thesis project, 1 have intentionally problematized the experiences, languages, and powers that constitute and are constitutive of my own and other subjective theories that frame context-specific forms of critical pedagogy. As a result, this critically reflective work includes the following chapters: 1) Introduction; 2) A Humanizing Critical Pedagogy: A Subjectively Defined Framework; 3) A Critique; 4) Criticai Pedagogical Challenges; and 5) Passion and Compassion. (A Postscript is also included in order to frarne a recognizable conclusion.) The notion of a humanizing critical pedagogy that evolves in the context of this critically reflective research project is one that best fi& the form of the pedagogy that 1 name as my own: a pedagogy that values differences, critical knowtedge construction, justice, and social change; and makes explicit that passion, compassion, care, trust, and respect belong in the classroom. A NOTE OF ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I have been given gifts of knowledge, affirmation, joy, compassion, and care from a number of people during this past year of mgaduatestudies at Mount Saint Vincent University. And it is to these people that 1 wish to extend my own gifts of thanks and appreciation. To Ann Vibert and John Portelli: Thank you for your caring and compassionate ways. 1 felt safe within your pedagogical spaces, safe and validated as a woman, an inteliectual, and a capable human being. And because my voice was heard and my being was validated, I was able to freely write my personal experiences and critical reflections into this theoretical work. John spent a great deal of time acting as the chair of my thesis committee, a position from which he (re)read, edited, and criticized my evolving drafts. To John: Thank you for your critical approach, for it was one of care and sincere support. And to Ann Vibert, John Portelli, and Blye Frank: Thank you for agreeing to be rnembers of my thesis committee, for taking the time to (re)read my thesis, and for supporting my criticalIy reflective travels. 1 feel immensely fortunate to have been able to work with such caring, intelligent, wise, and compassionate people. Ann, John, and Blye, traces of your ideas and words of encouragement Iive among these pages . thank you very much. TABLE OF CONTENTS SIGNED APPROVAL PAGE DEDICATION ABSTRACT A NOTE OF ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION Space Travels Carry-On . Writing Connections Why Teach? Why Teach This Way? Classroom Contexts My Voice A HUMANIZING CRITICAL PEDAGOGY Radical (Re)constmctions "Criticai" Pedagogies The Discourse Radical Fra,ments Feminist Pedagogy Cntical Pedagogy A Theoretical Framework Dialogue Compassionate Authority Positionality Shifts Epistemological Shifts Moral Shifts Categori cal Knowl edges Spaces, Connections, and Possibilities Care in the Classroom Critical Theones vii A CRITIQUE Cri ti cal Reflecti ons Why "Critical"? The Nature of a "Critical?' Pedagogy Why "Critical" of Critical Pedagogy? The Limiting Space of Ratiooal Thought The Discourses on Criticai Pedagogy Peter McLaren and Henry A. Giroux's Shared Discourse The Mythical Classroom Paulo Freire and Ira Shor's Shared Discourse Paulo Freire's "Liberatory" Cumculum Overpowenng Epistemologies The Most Valued View Language as Power Where are the Voices of Women? Educationai Academe's Sexist Borders Emotional Omissions Considerable Challenges CRITICAL PEDAGOGICAL CHALLENGES ldeologicd Al terations Wiiy ? Human Agency and Change Undentandhg the Nature of Student Resistance Moments of Student Resistance Stilled Voices Interrupting Power Relations Native Silences Consciousness Raising . and Praxis Surroundings Silence Interventions Katharine and Ian Working Below the Surface Morality Plays Kyle's Context Kyle Space Travels 1 have ken standing dl my life in the direct path of a battery of sibdnals the most accurately transmitted most untranslatable language in the universe 1 am a galactic cloud so deep so invo- luted that a light wave could take 15 years to travel through me And has taken 1 am an instrument in the shape of a woman trying to translate pulsations into images for the relief of the body and the reconstruction of the mind. (From Adne~eRich's poem, Planetanum, 197 1) 1 Life lives as a joumey through time, its nature constantly moving and forever changing. Even though time exists as a constant, as a predictable and familiar flow of seconds. it does not limit or define life's joumey. It simply exists to measure its pace. to record when life was "there" or in "that" place. "1 have been standing ail my life" in the midst of intersections of time and knowledge, intersections that frame the nature of my being as a "constantly moving [and constantly learning] subjectivity (Patti Lather, 1991, xix). It is time, now, to look around and explore the spaces that surround my gendered being. And it is time to critically reflect on the nature of the "pulsations" that "have [traveiled] through me" because 1 wish to understand where 1 have been, where I am. and where 1 might be going. 1 feel my fate in what 1 cannot fear. 1 leam by going where 1 have to go. (From Theodore Roethke's poem, The Wakina 195312 1 In Ronald Gottesman, Laurence B. Holland, David Kalstonc. Francis Murphy. Hershel Parker, & William H. Pritchard. (Eds.). (1979). The Norton Anthologv of American Litenture (Vol. 3,p. 322). 2 In Ronald Gottesman, Laurencc B. Holland, David Wstone, Francis Murphy. Hershel Parker, & William H. Pritchard. (Eds.). (1979).The Norton Anthofoav of Amcrican Literature (Vol. 3,p. 3267). To understand the stories that evolved as part of my past, as part of my life, 1 need to momentarily reflect on the places through which 1 have travelied. Images of these places live as memones within my being, as storied vignettes whose pages are illustrated with scenes from my past. 1 do not know how many pages exist within my personal narrative and it does not matter. For there are no page nurnbers, no table of contents, no beginning and end that implicitly dictate the order in which I must read what 1 have tived. Simply put. there are no limits to Iimit my reflections on that which has shaped the nature of my being. So 1 can freely search through narratecl and illustrated pages, freely search through my history to find what 1 am (un)consciously looking for at a particular moment in tirne. It is an anachronistic reading, this present reflection on past experiences, but only in relation to time. In relation to knowtedge this reading elusts as an unfolding, an expansion, a reconstruction of that which currently lives as rny relevant known. In a sense, this "relevant known" evohes over time into a form of knowledge known as wisdom, a form that constitutes and is constitutive of the morality that guides my relational interactions.