It is impossible to talk of respect for students for the dignity that is in the process of coming to be, for the identities that are in the process of construction, without taking into consideration the conditions in which they are living and the importance of the knowledge derived from life experience, which they bring with them to school. I can in no way underestimate such knowledge. Or what is worse, ridicule it.
Paulo FreireThe oppressors do not favor promoting the community as a whole, but rather selected leaders.
Paulo FreireI hope at least that the following will endure: my trust in the people, and my faith in men and women, and in the creation of a world in which it will be easier to love
Paulo FreireIn problem-posing education, people develop their power to perceive critically the way they exist in the world with which and in which they find themselves; they come to see the world not as a static reality, but as a reality in process, in transformation.
Paulo FreireIn order for the oppressed to be able to wage the struggle for their liberation, they must perceive the reality of oppression not as a closed world from which there is no exit , but as a limiting situation which they can transform.
Paulo FreireTeacher preparation should go beyond the technical preparation of teachers and be rooted in the ethical formation both of selves and of history.
Paulo FreireEven revolution, which transforms a concrete situation of oppression by establishing the process of liberation, must confront this phenomenon. Many of the oppressed who directly or indirectly participate in revolution intend - conditioned by the myths of the old order - to make it their private revolution. The shadow of their former oppressor is still cast over them.
Paulo Freire