Teaching Community: A Pedagogy of Hope

Paulo Freire contends: “Whatever the perspective through which we appreciate authentic educational practice—its process implies hope.”

As teachers we believe that learning is possible, that nothing can keep an open mind from seeking after knowledge and finding a way to know. In The Outrageous Pursuit of Hope: Prophetic Dreams for the Twenty-First Century Mary Grey reminds us that we live by hope. She declares: “Hope stretches the limits of what is possible. It is linked with that basic trust in life without which we could not get from one day to the next . . . To live by hope is to believe that it is worth taking the next step: that our actions, our families, and cultures and society have meaning, are worth living and dying for. Living in hope says to us, ‘There is a way out,’ even from the most dangerous and desperate situations . . .”

One of the dangers we come across in our educational systems is the loss of a feeling of community, not just the loss of closeness among those with whom we work and with our students, but also the loss of a feeling of connection and closeness with the world beyond the classroom. Progressive education, education as the practice of freedom, enables us to confront feelings of loss and restore our sense of connection. It teaches us how to create community so as to achieve social justice.

Adapted from hooks, b. Teaching Community: A Pedagogy of Hope. London/New York: Routledge, 2003.

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