Freedom

Today was a great day to think about the purposes of adult learning and to consider what will be of the future. I spent some time with the best minds in the world thinking about the big and small ideas that have made a real difference to people’s lives. As you can imagine when people get together the discussion changes constantly focusing mainly on the significant decisions we will make during the course of the year.

We talked of freedom gained, lost and challenged. We considered the distance traveled since Paulo Friere wrote Pedagogy of the Oppressed in the late 60’s. In his book Freire admits that the powerless in society can be frightened of freedom. He writes, "Freedom is acquired by conquest, not by gift. It must be pursued constantly and responsibly. Freedom is not an ideal located outside of man; nor is it an idea which becomes myth. It is rather the indispensable condition for the quest for human completion".

The book was banned in some countries in the 70’s and 80’s considered revolutionary, but it still managed to become one of the most significant texts achieving iconic status in the field of adult education.

In the midst of all of this intense chatter about the role adult learning plays in supporting people to act, think and speak without hindrence or restraint, my mind wandered to one of the famous lines in the film Braveheart. “There's a difference between us", say's William Wallace. "You think the people of this country exist to provide you with position. I think your position exists to provide those people with freedom. And I go to make sure that they have it”.

I hadn’t really considered William Wallace to be a supporter of critical pedagogy-but you live and learn.