Skip to main content

Abstract

This chapter includes historical criticisms of critical pedagogy and how to begin to consider the issues. The criticisms have begun to change but have to move further. Three major criticisms of critical pedagogy dominated the field during its infancy. These included the fact that dead white, Western men wrote much of the literature on critical pedagogy. However, the great majority of those who worked and still work with children in poverty are women, many of them women of color. Another criticism was critical pedagogy was long on criticism but short on answers or practical solutions to the problems described. Finally, critical pedagogy as a field sought to eliminate discrimination and inequities, but the body of work that appeared in print had its own esoteric language that was in accessible to the general population. The chapter concludes with a discussion of how this is changing and how educators can participate in this change.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Aldridge, J. (2009a). Another woman gets robbed? What Jung, Freud, Piaget, and Vygotsky took from Sabina Spielrein. Childhood Education, 85(5), 318–319.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aldridge, J. (2009b). Four women of Chicago: Mothers of progressive education and developers of John Dewey’s ideas. Social Studies Research and Practice, 4(3), 111–117.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aldridge, J., Christensen, L. M., Cowles, M., & Kohler, M. (2009). Where are the women? Integrating female voices into the historical and psychological foundations of education. Southeastern Teacher Education Journal, 2(3), 139–146.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aldridge, J., Christensen, L. M., & Kirkland, L. (2007). Issues related to transformation. In J. Aldridge & R. Goldman (Eds.), Moving toward transformation: Teaching and learning in inclusive classrooms (pp. 33–36). Birmingham, AL: Seacoast.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aldridge, J., & Goldman, R. (2007). Current issues and trends in education (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aldridge, J., Kilgo, J., & Emfinger, K. (2010). The marginalization of women educators: A consequence of No Child Left Behind? Childhood Education, 87(1), 41–47.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aldridge, J., Manning, M., Christensen, L. M., & Strevy, D. (2007). Teaching for transformation. In J. Aldridge & R. Goldman (Eds.), Moving toward transformation: Teaching and learning in inclusive classrooms (pp. 27–32). Birmingham, AL: Seacoast.

    Google Scholar 

  • Apple, M. (1999). Power, meaning and identity: Essays in critical educational studies. New York: Peter Lang.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cannella, G. S. (1997). Deconstructing early childhood education: Social justice and revolution. New York: Peter Lang.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cannella, G. S., & Diaz Soto, L. (Eds.). (2010). Childhoods: A handbook. New York: Peter Lang.

    Google Scholar 

  • Christensen, L. M., Kohler, M., & Aldridge, J. (2012). Lest we forget: Foundational women for historically and socially responsive women. Generos: A Multidisciplinary Journal of Gender Studies, 1(1), 28–47.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cremin, L. (1964). The transformation of the school. New York: Vantage Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Darder, A., Baltodano, M. P., & Torres, R. D. (2009). The critical pedagogy reader (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Delpit, L. (1995). Other people’s children: Cultural conflict in the classroom. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fee, E. (1986). Critiques of modern science: The relationship of feminism to other radical Epistemologies. In R. Bleier (Ed.), Feminist approaches to science. Oxford: Pergamon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Franzen, J. (2001). The corrections. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freire, P. (1994). The pedagogy of hope: Reliving pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Continuum Publishing Group.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freire, P. (1998). The pedagogy of freedom: Ethics, democracy and civic courage. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goodman, K. (1998). In defense of good teaching: What teachers need to know about the “reading wars”. York, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greene, M. (1988). Dialectic of freedom. New York: Teachers College Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greene, M. (1995). Releasing the imagination. San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grey, C., & Antonacopoulou, E. (Eds.). (2004). Essential readings in management learning. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hicks, M. A., Berger, J. G., & Generett, G. (2005). From hope to action: Creating spaces to sustain transformative habits of mind and heart. Journal of Transformative Education, 3(1), 57–75.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hooks, B. (2000). Feminism is for everybody: Passionate politics. Cambridge, MA: South End Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jung, C. G. (1954). The development of personality: Papers on child psychology, education, and related subjects. New York: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kohl, H. (1998). The discipline of hope: Learning from a lifetime of teaching. New York: Simon & Shuster.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kohn, A. (2002). The 500-pound gorilla. Phi Delta Kappan, 84(2), 112–119.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krashen, S. (2003). Explorations in language acquisition and use. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

    Google Scholar 

  • McLaren, P. (2006). Life in schools: An introduction to critical pedagogy in the foundations of Education (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

    Google Scholar 

  • North, C. (2006). More than words? Delving into the substantive meaning(s) of “social justice” in education. Review of Educational Research, 76(4), 507–535.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Popkewitz, T., & Fendler, L. (Eds.). (1999). Critical theories in education: Changing terrains of knowledge and politics. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stone, L. (Ed.). (1994). The education feminism reader. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Christensen, L.M., Aldridge, J. (2013). Being Critical of Critical Pedagogy. In: Critical Pedagogy for Early Childhood and Elementary Educators. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5395-2_3

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics