It is absolutely essential that the oppressed participate in the revolutionary process with an increasingly critical awareness of their role as subjects of the transformation.

An unauthentic word, one which is unable to transform reality, results when dichotomy is imposed upon its constitutive elements. When a word is deprived of its dimension of action, reflection automatically suffers as well; and the word is changed into idle chatter, into verbalism, into an alienated and alienating “blah.” It becomes an empty word, one which cannot denounce the world, for denunciation is impossible without a commitment to transform, and there is no transformation without action.

The former oppressors do not feel liberated. On the contrary, they genuinely consider themselves to be oppressed.

The oppressors do not favor promoting the community as a whole, but rather selected leaders.

If the structure does not permit dialogue the structure must be changed

The unfinished character of human beings and the transformational character of reality necessitate that education be an ongoing activity.

Educators need to know what happens in the world of the children with whom they work. They need to know the universe of their dreams, the language with which they skillfully defend themselves from the aggressiveness of their world, what they know independently of the school, and how they know it.