Paulo Freire: Philosopher, educator, Humanitarian

Paulo Freire was born in northeast Brazil on September 19th, 1921. Although his family was considered lower middle-class, he lived in an area that was predominantly very poor and was no stranger to going hungry. When he was 13 years old, his father died, and he was forced to leave school to help support his family (Venkatesh). This led to him falling behind in school by four grades. Later in life, Freire reflected on this by saying: “I didn’t understand anything because of my hunger. I wasn’t dumb. It wasn’t lack of interest. My social condition didn’t allow me to have an education. Experience showed me once again the relationship between social class and knowledge” (Bentley). Friere’s own life experiences taught him what would later become his major philosophy in educational pedagogy- that education is an avenue toward freedom, but that it is always necessarily connected to social and economic status, politics and power.  

In 1946, Freire was appointed the Director of the Department of Education and Culture of the Social Service in the state of Pernambuco where worked with illiterate poor and developed his own unorthodox methods of liberation through education (Bentley). In 1961 he became the director of the Department of Cultural Extension of Recife University in 1961 and got involved in educational projects aimed at dealing with mass illiteracy. Implementing his own methods, he was able to teach 300 sugarcane workers to read and write within 45 days (Bentley). 

In 1970, was invited to Geneva to serve as Assistant Secretary of Education for the World Council of Churches in Switzerland (Coriolano). In this capacity, Freire traveled all over the world to spread his educational philosophy and help national agencies develop programs for literacy reform.

Through these experiences, Freire believed strongly that education could elevate those from lower socio-economic classes and help them to regain a better sense of one’s own humanity, and help them to overcome this condition (Bentley). He also acknowledged, though, that knowledge and power are not necessarily given freely, especially by the ones who possess that power, and that it is often necessary for traditionally oppressed people to actively fight for their right to this education and growth.

Today Paulo Freire is celebrated as one of the most influential philosophers in the field of education and as an advocate for elevating the lives of all people through knowledge, literacy, and language.