Wednesday, January 21, 2009

1c Hum. 7 / classmates

1. Tell us their name and something about them.

a. Katherine Durant goes by Katy. She is a mother of 2, an 8 month and 8 year old. She lives 1.5 miles form SRJC and this is her 3rd Hum. class. Katy used Jan. 20th to educate her 8 year old daughter about the days events.
b. Miranda Ashe is taking the class because it is required and she has taken a Humanties class before and liked it so she took this class to learn more. She lives 18.3 miles from the SRJC and has both Myspace and Facebook pages. She uses a PC and voted for B. Obama.

2. Tell us 2 things from each person you learned regarding Paulo Freire.

a. Katy quoted Freire's book several times. "Freedom is acquired by conquest not a gift. It must be pursued constantly and responsibly." He also writes about “the essence of education as the practice of freedom.”
b. Miranda pointed out that Freire believed the following. He believed in liberation theology, which brings justice to the poor and oppressed. He also believed the public education system was corrupt and not useful. He worked to reform the system so it would work better.

3. Tell us how this information will relate to our study of humanities.

We are learning about each other with these questions and then comparing differences and similarities that we have in common with classmates. It is dailogue to learn about each other.
Education is very important in Humanties and this was key in the information provided. Freire linked education and the different struggles that goes with it. The idea of justice goes with one aspect of the definition of humanity, being kind to others. Freire also explores the idea that students are empty bank accounts that teachers deposit information into, Freire rejects this way of thinking and called it “dehumanization of teacher and student” instead people must be aware of their faults to want to strive to be more human. Freire felt the education system was broken and needed to be fixed. He practiced this in Brazil by educating the poor to read and write so they could be more involved in the political process.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

1b Hum 7 P. Freire

Paulo Freire was born in Brazil in 1921 and died at the age of 75 on May 2, 1997. His experiences of living through the depression shaped his educational views for years to come. He could have practiced law but choose to teach instead. He married in 1944 and had 5 children.
Freire is considered by some to be the most important educational thinker of the 20th century. He stressed dialogue in both popular and informal in education. He also felt strongly that dialogue involves respect. If people can have dialogue and do it with respect much can be accomplished.
He also is linked with the term praxis, an action that is informed and linked to certain values. He stated that dialogue was more than just understanding, it was about making a difference in the world. This type of dialogue with respect would help improve communities. He practiced this belief in his teachings in Brazil.
He wanted his countrymen to do more than just read and write, he wanted them to understand and get involved with the political process. He felt this could help them in their day to day lives. His philosophy got the attention of the Brazilian military and the rich land owners and he had much resistance from them. He was exiled in 1964 because of his teaching and was invited back by the Brazilian government in 1979.
http://www.infed.org/thinkers/et-freir.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paulo_Freire
http://www3.nl.edu/academics/cas/ace/resources/paulofreire.cfm

1a hum 7 assignment.

1. What is your first name only (NOT last name)
Anthony
2. Why are you taking this class and what do you hope to learn
I need a Hum. Class. I like the subject matter not sure of format.
3. How far do you live from SRJC main campus (go to google, maps to get the SPECIFIC answer; for this you type in your address and 1501 Mendocino Ave, Santa Rosa, CA to find the exact mileage. EXAMPLE: 2.6 miles from campus. The goal here is to use new tools available to us. You can always come back to edit this)
I live 16.78 miles from SRJC.
4. What do you think of when you think "California"? Does this differ from what non-Californians think and if so, how?
I think of a very liberal area.
No, I think most view Ca as very liberal. Lots of jokes about people from Ca. My parents always say we are from N. California because it is viewed differently also.
5. Have you created a blog or webpage in the past?
No
6. I use a PC.
7. Today was an historical day, I got a chance to watch the swearing in and a lot of the coverage. I think the comments of most elderly black people that said they never thought they would see a black president in their lifetime is interesting and sad.