Rhetorical Pedagogy as an Answer to Critical Problems

Anne George brings valid flaws of Critical Pedagogy to the table when she explains the difficulty of characterizing students as the oppresses and society as the oppressor, resulting in the notion of the oppressor as vague and unintelligible. How does one comprehend the nature of the beast, whatever form the beast may come in; it could be a capitalist/economic oppressor or consist of elite group of ideological educators. Moreover, each student may have a different impression of the beast, and may be affected by it in different ways. How does a teacher adhering to the notions of critical pedagogy account for such diversity among students and for the ambiguity inherent in this pedagogy; George coins this as the “bamboozlement” problem. Ultimately, she outlines some of its drawbacks and concludes that critical pedagogy is a product of insolvable paradoxes.

One of the goals of this pedagogy is to create better citizens of a democratic society. The example George mentions, of John Hardcastle’s class consisting of students from disadvantaged communities, is a case that has somewhat successful outcomes. The class is required to give an account of their economic and social struggles, an activity that empowers minority voice. Is this approach universal and can it work for a fairly homogenous group of students, who may not be able to provide a personal account of class oppression through reflection and experience. In order to be active, democratic citizens do students need to be able to empathize with an oppressive law, for instance - do they need to personally connect to it by experiencing its effects. George states, “Hardcastle’s class of disruptive students, many of whom spoke nonstandard dialects or had serious difficulties writing, reportedly produced remarkably improved writing on topics such as the Falkland’s War, Nigerian history and culture, and the myth of objective media coverage.” I wonder if a group of white high middle class students will be inspired by these topics as well.

It is true that some students do not understand the power of the written word. For some, a paper is something they need to complete for a particular grade, to ultimately get a particular job. They view the classroom as an environment that trains them to become professional practitioners and not as a political arena empowering them to become catalyst of progress and change. The question of how teachers need to make students aware of the power of their thoughts and ideas is a challenging one. You can’t simply arouse debate by bringing issues of healthcare, foreign policy, or crime to the table, and in the end, hope to expect papers that are moving and effective. For students to become active citizens, it might be wise to illustrate the power of expression through an analyses the western rhetorical tradition. Instead of assuming that students have never been given the freedom to express and transferring complete authority over to them, isn’t it better to provide a rhetorical foundation that teaches them how to analyze the best models of the past?