Paulo Freire

Paulo Freire was born into a middle class family. in 1921.  In 1929 Freire and his family were going through a depression in Brazil.  As a witness of poverty at a young age, Freire, began to sympathize with the poor population.  In 1943, Freire decided to enroll in the Faculty of Law at University of Recife. He studied philosophy while there.

In 1961, he started a job as Director of the Department of Education and Culture in the state of Pernambuco. As the director he taught 300 sugar cane workers to read and write in 45 days. Freire published his first book, Education as the Practice of Freedom, in 1967. He next published his most famous book, Pedagogy of the Oppressed.  Freire received a lot of praise for his two novels.  Impressed by his ideas and writings, Harvard University offered him a visiting professorship.  Why were people so amazed over Paulo Freire?

Freire's philosophy of education was the guideline's by which he believed all schools should follow.  He developed the "banking concept" of education.   This reffered to the thought that a child is an empty bank account needing to be by the teacher.  Freire would later die on May 3, 1997.  Freire not only enocouraged San Paulo and its citizens to join in his ideas, but he became their leader and helped educate many of them.  He is also a leader for everyone around the world who seeks education.  His work can be seen at UCLA, where Dr. Carlos Torres preaches his methods. 

Works Cited:

"Pablo Friere." Wikipedia. 2008. 8 Sep 2008
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paulo_Freire