Peter McLaren's "Critical Pedagogy: A Look at the Major Concepts"

I am able to understand this reading better than Paulo Freire's "Pedagogy of the Oppressed." I also agree with more of what Peter McLaren is saying rather than Freire. Freier was presenting his ideas in a very extreme way and McLaren presents his idea in more of a relaxed tone or at least in comparison to Freier.

I agree with McLaren when he says teachers spend too much time on classroom management procedures, efficiency, and skill based techniques and not enough time explaining to their students why something in the classroom is being taught and what purpose it serves. I like that McLaren references someone named Giroux and says that he divides classroom objectives in two categories: macro and micro. He uses a lesson taught on the Vietnam War as an example of explaining the difference between both. McLaren explains that Giroux defines Micro as remembering dates, places, events and macro is when students can make larger connections to the lesson being taught by being able to explain the political and social implications of the War.

I also love that McLaren adds in a part talking about social class and relations and the knowledge that is taught in schools about it. He says: "why do we spend so much time learning about the "great" men in history and not more about the contributions of women and minorities?" I think that is very important question to bring up and I agree with his criticism on what is being taught in schools today. As a future history teacher I take what he says into very serious consideration on educating our youth not only about the "great" men in history but also about the struggles of minorities and females and their contributions.

I also agree with his section on the dominant class in society focusing on their positives and not their negatives. He talks about how most Americans reflect on the fact that they practice freedom for all, justice, and equality and rarely do they reflect on the fact that their economy is lacking industrially behind other countries or that their government isn't more generous to it's citizens(providing health care).

Overall, I liked this reading and I appreciated what McLaren had to say. I look forward to hearing everyone else's responses and the class discussion tomorrow.