Transformational Realities

6 Pages 1509 Words

“The unfinished character of human beings and the transformational character of reality necessitate that education be an ongoing activity,” stated by educational writer Paulo Freire in his essay “The ‘Banking’ concept of Education”. I will infer what type of education is required by these “transformational characters of reality” through examples given by Stuart Ewen, a social historian, in his essay “Chosen People”. Ewen writes about how the Industrial Revolution has shaped the American citizens lives into a consumerist society based upon social identities.
First I will define what Freire means in this quote about transformational characters of reality. Using this definition I will show examples of these transformational realities in Ewen’s writing. Then by connecting these two ideas I will give an example from my own personal life of a transformational reality I experienced. By delving into my own experience and Freire’s examples I will conclude what forms of education Ewen would think is necessary to make society more aware of these transformations. Lastly, I will show what will be the result if we continue down this path without proper education to help balance out society from these inequalities and social identities we currently base our lives around.
In Freire’s quote he talks about a “transformational character of reality”; he is talking about how that as the environment, and influences around humans change, their perceptions of themselves conform to adjust to these changes as well. Consequently he states that “education be an ongoing activity”, this implies that learning and education continuously evolve as well, otherwise these transformational realities will destroy humanity (Freire).
Ewen tackles this idea of transformational realities that shaped modern American society with a couple different aspects of our cultural history. The overall major transformational reality was the I...