Partial CR Neutrality

Do the people have the right or not to know better what they already know?Another question: Do the people have the right or not to partici­ pate in the process of producing the new knowledge?

Of course, it implies a change in the way of producing economically. It im­ plies a much greater participation of the masses of the people in the process of power. Then it means to renew the understanding of power. (97)

We as popular educators begin to walk in a circle, without the possibility of going beyond the circle, without going be­ yond man’s theory of why we do not go beyond. Do you see? It has to do with a very important moment in theory of knowledge, which is knowing man’s moment of information. (98)

But ifyou’re going to start where they are and they don’t change, then there’s no point in starting because you’re not going anywhere. So while I insist on starting where people are, that’s the only place they could start. (99) …

But then 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. Your theory determines what you want to do in terms of helping people grow. So it’s extremely important that you have a theory about it that helps you decide. (100)

The educator must know in favor of whom and in favor of what he or she wants. That means to know against whom and against what we are working as edu­ cators. (100)

I cannot fight for a freer society if at the same time I don’t respect the knowledge of the people. (101)

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 agree­ ing to what is and will always be. (102)

it doesn’t make a great deal of difference what the people are; if they’re in the system, they’re going to function like the sys­ tem dictates that they function. From then on I’ve been more concerned with structural changes than I havewith changing hearts of people. (103)

The ques­ tion is to know how to build the program, how to choose the contents, who has the power to choose the program. (107)…

Who says that A, B, and C must be known? Who declares that the stu­ dents know nothing? Who says that the teachers do not have the duty to know what the students already know when they come to the classroom? (108)

If the leader discovers that he is becoming charismatic not because of his or her qualities but because mainly he or she is being able to express the expectations of a great mass of people, then he or she is much more of a translator of the aspi­ rations and dreams of the people, instead of being the creator of the dreams. In expressing the dreams, he or she is recreating these dreams. If he or she is humble, I think that the danger of power would diminish. (111)