Brazilian educator and philosopher Paulo Freire, born September 19, 1921, is a key figure in critical pedagogy, a teaching practice that intertwines social justice with education. Growing up in poverty taught Freire to see a connection between social class and the ability to learn—he felt he had been unable to absorb content because of constant hunger. That experience, combined with his work teaching poor and sometimes illiterate students, led to his 1968 book Pedagogy of the Oppressed, which argued that students are co-creators of knowledge and that the goal of education is to raise their political consciousness. The book has attracted a devoted following—as well as critics who argue that educators shouldn’t attempt to direct what students think about social issues. Freire held many positions in education: secondary school teacher, visiting professor at Harvard University, and secretary of education for São Paulo, Brazil, where he died in 1997. #Educator #Education #TeachersOfIns...