A People’s Practice
“Without practice there’s no knowledge”
In We Make The Road By Walking, Freire poses the question, “Do the people have the right or not, in the process of taking their history into their hands, to develop another kind of language as a dimension of those who have the power?” (97). This question is in reference to marginalized groups whose histories may have been erased or inaccurately portrayed in the United States. Freire believes that in order to help these people reclaim their history it is crucial to understand the “people’s knowledge” and where they are starting from. He describes the people’s knowledge as the “fantastic importance of the way the people think, speak, act the design of it all… to understand the experience, the practice of the people” (98). Exploring these elements of a group is an ongoing, conscious process that one must explore they wish to understand and empower these group, especially as an educator. Freire calls this a practice because it is an active form of learning and engagement that, like it’s name states, must be practiced. We must begin by understanding the people, learning what the people know and how, starting teaching from what the people know, then going with the people.
“In discussing my practice with the people as an educator, I have to know something more than the people know… I have to understand better theoretically what is happening in the people’s practice,” is what Horton describes as a second key element as an educator (98). He believes that it is important to set a goal for his students’ growth because “if you don't have some vision of what ought to be or what they can become, then you have no way of contributing anything to the process” (100). He calls this one’s theory. This is a framework that explains what exactly an educator wishes to do in terms of helping people grow and determines how they can get there. So while the practice is the way of learning, the theory is the direction of learning.
I think we, as a class, have being doing a great amount of Friere’s “practice” within our classroom as well as with our community partners. Through our art and class discussions our class has worked to understand one another and the different backgrounds we come from. After establishing this trust we all started in roughly the same place delving into the class content to try and work towards our common goal of understanding the issues that make major impacts on our/our neighbors’ communities, as well as learning how we can make change. Our theory, as determined by Lynn and Julia, is outlined in the syllabus and we are using a combination of readings and service in order to reach our goals. We have slowly began to uncover the structures and systems that place some further ahead than others and have done what we can to understand their perspectives and issues. By immersing ourselves in some of these affected communities with service learning we have been able to observe these structures and systems firsthand and have tried to understand the “people’s knowledge.” This combination of working with students in affected communities and learning about the obstacles they face has given us a proper grounding so that we can empower them the right way and begin to take action.
Both men in We Make The Road By Walking take strong stances against “neutrality.” Horton explains, “As soon as I started looking at that word neutral and what it meant, it became very obvious to me there can be no such thing as neutrality. It’s a code word for the existing system. It has nothing to do with anything but agreeing to what is and will always be-that’s what neutrality is” (102). By remaining neutral one is not simply being passive and removing their opinion from the pool. They are using their lack of a stance to side with the majority because they did not side with the minority. This is why it is important to become educated on issues in order to take a side and fight for it, especially if it is a minority group fighting for necessary change.
At Venetia Valley, some children face discrimination and fall victim to structural oppression every day of their life. While on the topic of neutrality, the first thing that pops to mind is the most recent election when I heard so many people tell say “I’m not gonna vote I don’t care” or “ I didn’t vote it wouldn’t count anyway.” All I am now able to think about is how every non-vote ended up being an automatic vote supporting Donald Trump’s racist comments about Mexicans, his proposal for the wall, his repeal of DACA, his own “neutrality” about white supremacy… Trump has done nothing but fuel fires against the Hispanic community and everyone who is refusing to stand up against it is standing with it. While at Venetia Valley I must not remain neutral about the President’s words and I must not act “colorblind” in the classroom. I must choose to see the innocent years of struggle that these students are trying to thrive from and let them know I am on their side. I must recognize the underlying causes of any classroom mishaps or distractions and remember that they may be living with fear too. Remaining neutral would be a punishment for children who have done nothing wrong.
I would absolutely say that my community partner experience has deepened my choice as a nursing major as well as a community action and social change minor. When I am in the hospitals for clinical I find myself very actively thinking about the barriers that could prevent my patients from getting the best care they could get as well as the structures that can effect their diagnoses. I have found myself thinking about this even in my everyday interactions with others which is a skill I have learned and practiced best through working with Venetia Valley. I have been brainstorming all sorts of directions I could go with my skills once I have the resources to really help others such as free health screenings and clinics or something even bigger once I have a license and can use that as a power to organize. After reading a book about immigrant farmworkers two years ago I have always felt drawn to help those people and this colloquium has strengthened my desire to do so.
