The Art of Critical Pedagogy... Challenges

Society perpetuates the belief that someone has to fail academically. We buy into the “largely unchallenged pedagogical system of grading and testing that by its very design guarantees failure for some” (Andrade & Morrell, 2008, p. 2). Academic failure and success hinge on culture and as Andrade and Morrell (2008) noted, schools are where the socio-economic sorting begins because of deemed economic failure. “To a large degree, the public discourse recognizes but leaves unchallenged the fact that wealthier communities have better educational opportunities… The few exceptional students who… succeed play an important role in this myth making.. publicizing rags-to-riches stories” (Andrade & Morrell, 2008, p. 3). If these stories exist, than opportunity exists, and the lie of equal opportunity can continue. Schools are systems of “inequality by design” (Andrade and Morrell, 2008), “academic apartheid” (Akom, 2003), and a “crisis of civil rights” (Harvard Civil Rights Project, 2005). Essentially, our school systems perpetuate the false narrative of opportunity for all.




References:

Andrade, D. A., and Morrell, E. (2008) The Art of Critical Pedagogy: Possibilities for Moving from Theory to Practice in Urban Schools. New York, N.Y.: Peter Lang Publishers.