PAULO FREIRE: CHAPTER 1 OF PEDAGOGY OF THE OPPRESSED

This reading assignment was very difficult and after reading it a few times I still am a little confused by it. This is my best guess at what the article was saying and my reaction to it,  their are oppressors and the oppressed and neither can exist without the other. The oppressed are constantly fighting for their own liberation. Violence is sometimes the result of the oppressor but not the ones who are oppressed. When some entity or force comes along to change the status quo, of the oppressed being the oppressed and the oppressors being the oppressors, both suffer from the situation. I still didn't see where this tied in with education but I am assuming that this is a claim that teachers are oppressors and students are oppressed? In my opinion it might be because of certain requirements that are expected of students, like state wide assessments, that they're oppressed and teachers being the one's that administer these assessments can be the oppressors? Or maybe teachers are oppressed too because they have to administer these requirements.

I would like to know more of how this relates to education. I am sure that I am missing it and it probably does but I just didn't understand what I was reading to follow it correctly. From my understanding of this article, I feel as if this applied more to a larger society and not education. It seemed like they were talking about people who are oppressed by dictators or by their own government are suffering. I did think it was interesting how they applied acts of violence being destructive not only to the oppressed but also the oppressors. The chapter also talked about how the "fear" of freedom affected the oppressors which I think meant that they are afraid to challenge the status quo. They are so used to being oppressed that they have lost all confidence to challenge their oppressors.

Overall, I did not enjoy reading this article because it was very difficult to understand and I still don't see how it applied to pedagogy or education. Hopefully the in class discussion today can clear up my confusion.