I found the article, When Schools Become Dead Zones of the Imagination: A Critical Pedagogy Manifesto by Henry Giroux.
The first big point that Giroux makes is that the current pedagogy in schools is harmful to students. He makes several different points on this matter explaining the different ways that it negatively affects youth who are subjected to it. Giroux even compares our schools to prisons in his article. He also continues to say how schools prepare students for the life of prison or strict work, instead of teaching critical thought and morals. He compares the time regiment and the discipline methods of schools to prisons. Giroux makes several connections between schools and prisons. The second point that Giroux makes is how the current schooling is deskilling teachers. This is a common theme when discussing a product based pedagogy.
The third and final point that Giroux makes is regarding the 1% of wealthiest people in America or in the world as a whole. He believes that these people are the reason behind this negative product based pedagogy. Giroux says in his article that these people have the majority of power in the world and they purposefully create this pedagogy and encourage it in all aspects of life. Prisons and schools are a good example. These people want to create a work force, not morally educated critical thinkers. He shows a great dislike for these wealthy people and ultimately blames them for the short comings in the public school system and, in part, the failings of society as a whole.
Going forward I’ll have to develop my summary some more. I’ll probably spend time refining these points. Next, I will definitely expand on all the points here. The summary will go from two paragraphs to at least three larger paragraphs in the summary. I’ll have to find the couple of extra sources that were asked of us for the assignment. These articles will be relevant to the topic and either prove Giroux’s arguments or disprove them, depending on what side I take as the one doing the critical summary. I’ll continue to do research and most likely re-read the article by Giroux a couple of times.
shaynesblog