al viewpoints in this discussion has been provided by the late Paulo Freire (1921-1997). An educator and philosopher who first began his work in his native Brazil, Freire is best known for the development of what he came to call a "pedagogy of the oppressed," a critique of educational systems that perpetuate oppression and prevent individual freedom. He came to be the champion for what he termed "liberatory education," an approach that he first applied to teaching illiterate adults in oppressed Third World states as the means of allowing them to attain empowerment as they rebelled against their oppressors.
Jailed for his teaching and then exiled from Brazil in 1964, Freire brought his theories to the United States, at a time when the political climate was especially open to new ideas and fresh discussions about the nature of education. The initial ESEA was passed by Congress in 1965, providing the first comprehensive, national statement about academic goals for schools across the country. At this time, Freire's ideas were still too new to influence the di
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