The Path Towards Democracy: Holistic Education and Critical Pedagogy

Abstract

This chapter continues to outline examples of how schools oppress and what the authors believe currently prevents quality willed learning from being realized. This chapter examines the contributions made by holistic education and critical pedagogy in gaining a better understanding of what self-determined learning can mean. Holistic educators remind us that nobody reading this or anywhere else can predict anybody’s future potentials. There are alternatives out there, but many people do not hear about them. The question becomes, why don’t people know about the alternative learning approaches that are out there? In part, critical pedagogy looks at how we need to work towards transforming the world we live in to make it a better place. The authors argue for the need to make the world less racist, less sexist, less classist, less ablest, less homophobic and so on. We need to look at what are the social constraints within education.