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We Make the Road by Walking: Conversations on Education and Social Change
This dialogue between two of the most prominent thinkers on social change in the twentieth century was certainly a meeting of giants. Throughout their highly personal conversations recorded here, Horton and Freire discuss the nature of social change and empowerment and their individual literacy campaigns. The ideas of these men developed through two very different channels: Horton's, from the Highlander Center, a small, independent residential education center situated outside the formal schooling system and the state; Freire's, from within university and state-sponsored programs.
Myles Horton, who died in January 1990, was a major figure in the civil rights movement and founder of the Highlander Folk School, later the highlander Research and Education Center. Paulo Freire, author of Pedagogy of the Oppressed, established the Popular Culture Movement in Recife, Brazil's poorest region, and later was named head of the New National Literacy Campaign until a military coup forced his exile from Brazil. He has been active in educational development programs worldwide.
For both men, real liberation is achieved through popular participation. The themes they discuss illuminate problems faced by educators and activists around the world who are concerned with linking participatory education to the practice of liberation and social change. How could two men, working in such different social spaces and times, arrive at similar ideas and methods? These conversations answer that question in rich detail and engaging anecdotes, and show that, underlying the philosophy of both, is the idea that theory emanates from practice and that knowledge grows from and is a reflection of social experience.
256 pages, Paperback
First published December 28, 1990
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 96 reviews
May 8, 2007
Essential to anyone who is involved in the field of education, this book is a fountain of advice for how to teach, and ultimately how to learn. Horton and Freire's insights draw on a lifetime of work in education and political activism, and draw on sources from Marx and Gramsci to the Gospels. Motivated by a love for their "students" (discussants), justice, and the pleasure of reading, these master educators expound on the art of educating through an enlightening, book-length dialogue.
May 28, 2012
AWWWW YEAH. This is a really important dialogue. I am glad it was captured.
November 9, 2009
I've been wanting to read this for a long time. Composed from six days of conversations between Paulo Freire and Myles Horton, founder of the Highlander Center in Tennessee. The most interesting section is the discussion around the differences between education and organizing. Much recommended for folks interested in the history of the Civil Rights movement in the US, the theory and practice of radical education, and a comparison between Freire and other forms of popular education.
August 31, 2007
one of the most influential books for me....such good insight to what each of us can do to be apart of changing this world...one person at a time.
July 19, 2007
okay - this is my nerd "I love social justice and community mobilization" choice. Paulo Friere once made a comment about "making the world an easier place within which to love." - got to love that man and what ideas he has put forth in our world. He is someone who is not afraid to talk about love.
July 20, 2018
"The more people participate in the process of their own education, the more the people participate in the process of defining what kind of production to produce, and for what and why, the more people participate in the development of their selves. The more people become themselves, the better the democracy."
- Paulo Freire
- Paulo Freire
October 1, 2021
What a gift: the distilled wisdom of two practitioners in the art of supporting people in becoming more fully themselves. That is, the art of education. Of leadership. Of transformation.
For several years now I've looked with intention to examples of white men from history that I can learn from and aspire to... lamentably, they are in short supply. Lots of white men held up as leaders... not so many I'd actually like to aspire to, or encourage my children to emulate. Myles Horton and Paulo Freire broke the mold: they embody in my view what it means to be a good human, and offer in their practice a template for what it means to be a white man... to not shrink from the privilege of your birth (very different in the cases of Horton and Freire) but to use it in service of dismantling systems of oppression... to build a world where everyone belongs.
As always, I harvested so many quotes that resonated with me and my ongoing learning journey; capturing a number here for posterity:
Xvi underlying the philosophy of both is the idea that knowledge grows from and is a reflection of social experience
Xxx real liberation is achieved through popular participation. Participation in turn is realized through an educational practice that itself is both liberatory and participatory, that simultaneously creates a new society and involves the people themselves in the creation of their own knowledge
11 keeping curiosity is absolutely indispensable for us to continue to be or to become -Paulo
21 books as theory and practice as action must be constantly dialectically together, that is, as a unity between practice and theory Paulo
23 The role of the teacher is to help the student to discover that inside of the difficulties there is a moment of pleasure, of joy Paulo
37 I'm sure that one of the most tragic illnesses of our societies is the bureaucratization of the mind. Paulo
... There is no creativity without rupture, without a break from the old
44 I think the problem is that most people don't allow themselves to expand with ideas, because they assume that they have to fit into the system. They say how can I live out these things I believe in within the capitalist system... Within the confines of respectability, acceptance. Consequently, they don't allow themselves to think of any other way of doing things Myles
53 Myles you can never get going without starting
56 Paulo in order for us to create something, we need to start creating
66 Paulo One of the tasks of the educator is also to provoke the discovering of need for knowing and never to impose the knowledge whose need was not yet perceived
75 Myles We didn't want to spend time on operating a successful program. Anybody can do that. We'd try to experiment and develop something else
93 Myles the poor... have a sense that without structural changes nothing is worth getting excited about... They know reforms don't reform. They don't change anything.
94 Myles to embolden people to act, the challenge has got to be a radical challenge
98 Paulo without practice there's no knowledge... But practice in itself is not its theory. It creates knowledge but it is not its own theory
...to Be an educator.... is to understand better theoretically what is happening in people's practice
100 Myles 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
101 Paulo knowledge always is becoming
111 Paulo 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 aspirations and dreams of the people, instead of being the creator. In expressing the dreams he or she is recreating these dreams.
... Liberation and salvation are social events and not individual ones
121 Paulo it's impossible to organize without educating and being educated by the very process of organizing
125 Myles helping people develop the capacity to make decisions and take responsibility is the role of an educator
129 Myles there's a big difference in giving information and telling people how to use it
132 on cultural imperialism Paulo if it can be changed, it's not unethical to put the possibility of change on the table
138 Paulo on leadership he or she does not have to right to impose his or her voice on the people, he does not have the right to be silent
145 Paulo The more the people become themselves, the better the democracy
153 Myles if you believe in something, then you have to practice it
164 Myles people learn what they do. Not what they talk about but what they do
176 in the capitalist society there's no other place for money to come from. Money has to come from the system... We get the money where the money is and use it where the people are Myles
177 Myles I think our job is to try to figure out ways to help people take over their own lives
181 authority is necessary to the educational process as well as necessary to the freedom of the students and my own. The teacher is absolutely necessary. What is bad, what is not necessary, is authoritarianism, but not authority
What the educator does in teaching is make it possible for the students to become themselves
187 Paulo conflicts are the midwife of consciousness
196 if you're going to change a system, you have to understand it Myles
200 reform within the system reinforced the system, or was killed acted by the system. Reformers didn't change the system, they made it more palatable and justified it, made it more humane, more intelligent
228 Myles hopeless people make good fascists
235 myles all knowledge should be in the free trade zone
237 Myles in a crisis situation, you only deal with the people you can trust
241 Paulo learning how to go beyond the conflicts without denying them. That is, how to learn from the conflicts, how to learn to become ourselves in a different way... Creators of a common existence with respect for the individuality and preferences of each person
242 Paulo a loving space is indispensable for development of the children
246 Paulo we really would have to change the structures of reality, that we should become absolutely committed to a global process of transformation
For several years now I've looked with intention to examples of white men from history that I can learn from and aspire to... lamentably, they are in short supply. Lots of white men held up as leaders... not so many I'd actually like to aspire to, or encourage my children to emulate. Myles Horton and Paulo Freire broke the mold: they embody in my view what it means to be a good human, and offer in their practice a template for what it means to be a white man... to not shrink from the privilege of your birth (very different in the cases of Horton and Freire) but to use it in service of dismantling systems of oppression... to build a world where everyone belongs.
As always, I harvested so many quotes that resonated with me and my ongoing learning journey; capturing a number here for posterity:
Xvi underlying the philosophy of both is the idea that knowledge grows from and is a reflection of social experience
Xxx real liberation is achieved through popular participation. Participation in turn is realized through an educational practice that itself is both liberatory and participatory, that simultaneously creates a new society and involves the people themselves in the creation of their own knowledge
11 keeping curiosity is absolutely indispensable for us to continue to be or to become -Paulo
21 books as theory and practice as action must be constantly dialectically together, that is, as a unity between practice and theory Paulo
23 The role of the teacher is to help the student to discover that inside of the difficulties there is a moment of pleasure, of joy Paulo
37 I'm sure that one of the most tragic illnesses of our societies is the bureaucratization of the mind. Paulo
... There is no creativity without rupture, without a break from the old
44 I think the problem is that most people don't allow themselves to expand with ideas, because they assume that they have to fit into the system. They say how can I live out these things I believe in within the capitalist system... Within the confines of respectability, acceptance. Consequently, they don't allow themselves to think of any other way of doing things Myles
53 Myles you can never get going without starting
56 Paulo in order for us to create something, we need to start creating
66 Paulo One of the tasks of the educator is also to provoke the discovering of need for knowing and never to impose the knowledge whose need was not yet perceived
75 Myles We didn't want to spend time on operating a successful program. Anybody can do that. We'd try to experiment and develop something else
93 Myles the poor... have a sense that without structural changes nothing is worth getting excited about... They know reforms don't reform. They don't change anything.
94 Myles to embolden people to act, the challenge has got to be a radical challenge
98 Paulo without practice there's no knowledge... But practice in itself is not its theory. It creates knowledge but it is not its own theory
...to Be an educator.... is to understand better theoretically what is happening in people's practice
100 Myles 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
101 Paulo knowledge always is becoming
111 Paulo 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 aspirations and dreams of the people, instead of being the creator. In expressing the dreams he or she is recreating these dreams.
... Liberation and salvation are social events and not individual ones
121 Paulo it's impossible to organize without educating and being educated by the very process of organizing
125 Myles helping people develop the capacity to make decisions and take responsibility is the role of an educator
129 Myles there's a big difference in giving information and telling people how to use it
132 on cultural imperialism Paulo if it can be changed, it's not unethical to put the possibility of change on the table
138 Paulo on leadership he or she does not have to right to impose his or her voice on the people, he does not have the right to be silent
145 Paulo The more the people become themselves, the better the democracy
153 Myles if you believe in something, then you have to practice it
164 Myles people learn what they do. Not what they talk about but what they do
176 in the capitalist society there's no other place for money to come from. Money has to come from the system... We get the money where the money is and use it where the people are Myles
177 Myles I think our job is to try to figure out ways to help people take over their own lives
181 authority is necessary to the educational process as well as necessary to the freedom of the students and my own. The teacher is absolutely necessary. What is bad, what is not necessary, is authoritarianism, but not authority
What the educator does in teaching is make it possible for the students to become themselves
187 Paulo conflicts are the midwife of consciousness
196 if you're going to change a system, you have to understand it Myles
200 reform within the system reinforced the system, or was killed acted by the system. Reformers didn't change the system, they made it more palatable and justified it, made it more humane, more intelligent
228 Myles hopeless people make good fascists
235 myles all knowledge should be in the free trade zone
237 Myles in a crisis situation, you only deal with the people you can trust
241 Paulo learning how to go beyond the conflicts without denying them. That is, how to learn from the conflicts, how to learn to become ourselves in a different way... Creators of a common existence with respect for the individuality and preferences of each person
242 Paulo a loving space is indispensable for development of the children
246 Paulo we really would have to change the structures of reality, that we should become absolutely committed to a global process of transformation
January 8, 2021
Having recently read Pedagogy of the Oppressed and The Long Haul, I was excited to read a conversation between the two authors, Horton and Freire. Although the concept was great and there was without a doubt some thought-provoking and inspiring discussion, I was not enthralled by the book. I think I struggled with the conversation format and some of the more academic language. I prefer their separate works, but I’m by no means upset I read this book. Both men are pioneers in adult education and social work!
July 21, 2022
I think that it's remarkable that these two visionaries were able to share in conversation with one another about concepts they dedicated their lives to. However, I rate this 4/5 probably because I came in with too high of expectations and didn't feel like I left all too different (not to say there aren't tons of gems throughout.)
July 1, 2017
This book is talking book, in which Horton and Freire conversation was transcribed and edited. The central theme is the impact of education and the educator. The educator is considered an authority figure, but need to be prevented from becoming authoritative. Providing freedom with limits, otherwise the they loss the respect of students or become repressive.
How idea spread is also discussed, as the speakers try to elucidate how to spread ideas without intervening too much. Intervening too much is seem as taking away the freedom of speech of others. Telling other what to do takes away their ability to learn to do the task they need.
Both speakers have created communities around voting rights. Each discussed how they helped people obtain literacy skills which was the qualifier for voting. It seems that the major reason for the success of the community education programs that they created was due to the them first listened to what the community needed and what did not work, then created an educational program that helped the community. Taking the communities discomforts with certain types of speakers and places, both speakers help their nations become more democratic by giving the ability for more people to vote.
The book is not for everyone. The conversation was more based on Horton’s experience with Highlander, a program that educated people on how to be an activist. It would actually be wrong to call this book a conversation. Both speakers just shared their views on a particular issue and rarely did they go back and forth within a certain issue. No real disagreement or questioning their own or each other’s views. Just supporting each other and expressing the way they see the others view. There were a few instances that that expressed a belief that some people know more than others and the need to raise the knowledge of the others. Helping people learn and giving them the ability to handle tasks is good, but the expression of intellectual superiority over others contradicts their own methods of education.
How idea spread is also discussed, as the speakers try to elucidate how to spread ideas without intervening too much. Intervening too much is seem as taking away the freedom of speech of others. Telling other what to do takes away their ability to learn to do the task they need.
Both speakers have created communities around voting rights. Each discussed how they helped people obtain literacy skills which was the qualifier for voting. It seems that the major reason for the success of the community education programs that they created was due to the them first listened to what the community needed and what did not work, then created an educational program that helped the community. Taking the communities discomforts with certain types of speakers and places, both speakers help their nations become more democratic by giving the ability for more people to vote.
The book is not for everyone. The conversation was more based on Horton’s experience with Highlander, a program that educated people on how to be an activist. It would actually be wrong to call this book a conversation. Both speakers just shared their views on a particular issue and rarely did they go back and forth within a certain issue. No real disagreement or questioning their own or each other’s views. Just supporting each other and expressing the way they see the others view. There were a few instances that that expressed a belief that some people know more than others and the need to raise the knowledge of the others. Helping people learn and giving them the ability to handle tasks is good, but the expression of intellectual superiority over others contradicts their own methods of education.
July 7, 2017
The book will be no surprise to Frierians, but what will be a surprise - and what gives this book tremendous value - is to see Friere articulating his ideas in concert with Myles Horton, the founder of the Highlander School in Tennessee. Horton is a powerful, radical background figure in American pedagogy and the history of radicalism. I say background because there's so little written on him, and he doesn't appear in the more general histories of the US labor movement or the US Civil Rights movement. His teaching was the foundation of the transformative practices of both groups. Horton created the Freedom Schools movement as well as trained generations of AFL-CIO leaders on how to work with groups in a democratic system to accomplish goals.
This book contains a lot of valuable insights into pedagogy and how to teach. The main theme of the book is trust - something that is sorely lacking among the people who teach who I know. Horton and Friere articulate the importance of trusting the students to have knowledge when they come into the room and trusting the situtation - under the guidance and authority of the teacher - to generate a fluid knowledge that also creates a respect for what they call "reknowing." As is obvious, knowledge is a human creation, so it's constantly changing, altering, and being replaced. In our current US situation, obsessed with immutable facts as the salvation of some sort of radical political movement, this book is a necessary antidote to such narrow minded thinking.
Horton is a brilliant figure, his anecdotes and teaching philosophy are refreshing and inspiring. Friere is his typical self, but it's really good to see his familiar ideas rearticulated in conversation with Horton. The whole book is written as a transcript of a series of conversations they had just before they both passed away.
Suggested to anyone who believes that the art and act of teaching is meant to be subversive and radical.
This book contains a lot of valuable insights into pedagogy and how to teach. The main theme of the book is trust - something that is sorely lacking among the people who teach who I know. Horton and Friere articulate the importance of trusting the students to have knowledge when they come into the room and trusting the situtation - under the guidance and authority of the teacher - to generate a fluid knowledge that also creates a respect for what they call "reknowing." As is obvious, knowledge is a human creation, so it's constantly changing, altering, and being replaced. In our current US situation, obsessed with immutable facts as the salvation of some sort of radical political movement, this book is a necessary antidote to such narrow minded thinking.
Horton is a brilliant figure, his anecdotes and teaching philosophy are refreshing and inspiring. Friere is his typical self, but it's really good to see his familiar ideas rearticulated in conversation with Horton. The whole book is written as a transcript of a series of conversations they had just before they both passed away.
Suggested to anyone who believes that the art and act of teaching is meant to be subversive and radical.
February 28, 2017
Fascinating book where two rad old men talk about their rad old lives. Lots of cool stuff in here about how they think about education, social change, and living life. Totally fun, and seems like it'd be useful if you're at all interested in empowering the people around you and/or education or just how some very interesting people thought and lived their lives.
Reading this book kicked off a whole swarm of poorly-formed thoughts about how to live my life. I want to re-read this book in a few months- hopefully it will help those thoughts fall into place. If this plan works I'll come back and update to a 5.
Reading this book kicked off a whole swarm of poorly-formed thoughts about how to live my life. I want to re-read this book in a few months- hopefully it will help those thoughts fall into place. If this plan works I'll come back and update to a 5.
August 12, 2013
A brilliant concept of a book. I found myself skipping the Paulo Freire parts to read the Myles Horton ones. Horton just seems more real, less academic than Freire. It's clear I need to read The Long Haul.
- I welcomed the discussion Horton shares about this relationship with Alinsky and the details about how organizing is different than education.
- I appreciated Horton detailing how he and his colleagues had to adjust their approach after their education and shift to a posture of experimentation and humility because they had not been prepared to address people's actual problems.
- I welcomed the discussion Horton shares about this relationship with Alinsky and the details about how organizing is different than education.
- I appreciated Horton detailing how he and his colleagues had to adjust their approach after their education and shift to a posture of experimentation and humility because they had not been prepared to address people's actual problems.
May 22, 2018
I gave this five stars because I would like to return to it someday. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to learn about Myles Horton and the Highlander School (I'd already known quite a bit about Paolo Freire, who's in dialogue with him here). The deep non-attachment to the power structures of traditional education here are inspiring and challenging.
December 18, 2018
This was a good refresher of Friere and an introduction to Horton for me. I was not familiar with the Highlander project and this has inspired further readings. I enjoyed the conversational tone and content of this work.
February 22, 2019
A revealing and important conversation between two revolutionaries and their fight for education and social change. Anyone involved in grassroots movements, organizing, advocacy, education—well, any field—should read this conversation!
February 29, 2024
“knowledge has historicity. That is, knowledge never is static. It’s always in the process,” (Freire 194).
While I had never heard reference of Myles Horton and his Highlander school, learning of the radical educational project he brought to the United States & its similarities with Paulo Freire's programs with impoverished Brazilians, brought assurance to me that there is always the possibility for subversion and liberation. In doing so through a transcribed series of conversations in 1988 conveys integrity throughout.
The two describe how their upbringing and professional/interpersonal experience has shaped their epistemologies, despite the continued development which has followed them into their retirement.
Horton and Freire align in fundamental principle yet differ in implementation – Myles teaching workshops of adult organizers on how to facilitate change, Paulo teaching literacy, history, and humanities generally inaccessible to the plethora of young Brazilians. Both aim to foster critical engagement with education by emboldening the students to view education as relational to their own subjectivities: able to be molded, adapted, and subverted entirely.
“reading is also an act of beauty because it has to do with the reader rewriting the text. It’s an aesthetical event,”(Freire 27).
The nonpartisan, ‘objective’ framing of systemic education is illegitimate to both authors – abstaining from engaging with conflict implies one’s preference for the status quo, and in teaching through such disconnect from reality alienate their students. “Neutrality is just following the crowd … Neutrality, in other words, is an immoral act,”(Horton, 102). Material (primarily history and cultural/social sciences) deemed natural and finalized dissuades students from realizing their ability to change these fields for the betterment of their kin, replacing the inherent joy and wonder and resonance of knowledge with instrumentalism.
“Until they pose the question that has some relevance to them, they’re not going to pay any attention to it,”(Horton 107). In the margins I wrote ‘Epistemological Modification to coax subjects into Participation!’ which I doubt is faithful to Myles’ view of doctrine.
Allowing one directly affected by the object of study to take responsibility for the direction of the course, with guidance (not lecturing), from one aiming to lead one to their own conclusion, provides the greatest challenge for hegemonic suppression. The two radical educators depict students – who initially believed their total ignorance – finding their own answers through trusting and delving in their experience, with the help of Horton/Freire’s suggestions (based upon what has worked for others of similar aims).
“You have to know something; they know something. You have to respect their knowledge, which they don’t respect, and help them to respect their knowledge. These seeds were planted there,” (Horton 55).
It is integral for the project of education to embrace the student and their knowledge, leading them through ways of interacting with the material and eventually to conclusions invigoratingly liberatory. They are able to believe in a future shapable by students just like themselves. There is no authoritarian classroom structure, no anarchic egalitarianism, rather, education in its purest form: a process in which one may discover their placement within the development of knowledge, recognize their ability to further said knowledge in a particular direction, and embrace the satisfaction that comes from understanding abstract principles through the confidence of one’s subjectivity.
Horton and Freire demonstrate their infallible knowledge of critical pedagogy and, more broadly, knowledge-production as a whole. They humbly suggest that they have only brought revolutionary students to their own conclusions, while sharpening their distanced guidance with every workshop or session. Yet they do not entirely abandon these systems, some will for systemic reform yet many aim to change systemic education from within (Paulo deems most effective given the hidden element). Familial love is integral to embracing this radical epistemology, bringing unconditional support for those attempting to understand their placement in our historical development. Reciprocal education comes from a communal ethic as well.
“a good radical education … would be loving people first … next is respect for people’s abilities to learn and to act and to shape their lives … and that is that you value their experiences,” (Horton 177).
They convey the fulfillment of seeing one reach that potential. They encourage future generations to do the same, building upon history, not forgetting it in historicized narrative. They have led many to walk down a road where futurities arise, whereas their pupils have made the road on their own, through their motivation to understand themselves along with a resolve to play with reactionaries in the field of epistemology. Myles and Paulo merely told them to start walking. That is praxis.
“without practice there’s no knowledge … But practice in itself is not its theory. It creates knowledge, but it is not its own theory,” (Freire 98).
While I had never heard reference of Myles Horton and his Highlander school, learning of the radical educational project he brought to the United States & its similarities with Paulo Freire's programs with impoverished Brazilians, brought assurance to me that there is always the possibility for subversion and liberation. In doing so through a transcribed series of conversations in 1988 conveys integrity throughout.
The two describe how their upbringing and professional/interpersonal experience has shaped their epistemologies, despite the continued development which has followed them into their retirement.
Horton and Freire align in fundamental principle yet differ in implementation – Myles teaching workshops of adult organizers on how to facilitate change, Paulo teaching literacy, history, and humanities generally inaccessible to the plethora of young Brazilians. Both aim to foster critical engagement with education by emboldening the students to view education as relational to their own subjectivities: able to be molded, adapted, and subverted entirely.
“reading is also an act of beauty because it has to do with the reader rewriting the text. It’s an aesthetical event,”(Freire 27).
The nonpartisan, ‘objective’ framing of systemic education is illegitimate to both authors – abstaining from engaging with conflict implies one’s preference for the status quo, and in teaching through such disconnect from reality alienate their students. “Neutrality is just following the crowd … Neutrality, in other words, is an immoral act,”(Horton, 102). Material (primarily history and cultural/social sciences) deemed natural and finalized dissuades students from realizing their ability to change these fields for the betterment of their kin, replacing the inherent joy and wonder and resonance of knowledge with instrumentalism.
“Until they pose the question that has some relevance to them, they’re not going to pay any attention to it,”(Horton 107). In the margins I wrote ‘Epistemological Modification to coax subjects into Participation!’ which I doubt is faithful to Myles’ view of doctrine.
Allowing one directly affected by the object of study to take responsibility for the direction of the course, with guidance (not lecturing), from one aiming to lead one to their own conclusion, provides the greatest challenge for hegemonic suppression. The two radical educators depict students – who initially believed their total ignorance – finding their own answers through trusting and delving in their experience, with the help of Horton/Freire’s suggestions (based upon what has worked for others of similar aims).
“You have to know something; they know something. You have to respect their knowledge, which they don’t respect, and help them to respect their knowledge. These seeds were planted there,” (Horton 55).
It is integral for the project of education to embrace the student and their knowledge, leading them through ways of interacting with the material and eventually to conclusions invigoratingly liberatory. They are able to believe in a future shapable by students just like themselves. There is no authoritarian classroom structure, no anarchic egalitarianism, rather, education in its purest form: a process in which one may discover their placement within the development of knowledge, recognize their ability to further said knowledge in a particular direction, and embrace the satisfaction that comes from understanding abstract principles through the confidence of one’s subjectivity.
Horton and Freire demonstrate their infallible knowledge of critical pedagogy and, more broadly, knowledge-production as a whole. They humbly suggest that they have only brought revolutionary students to their own conclusions, while sharpening their distanced guidance with every workshop or session. Yet they do not entirely abandon these systems, some will for systemic reform yet many aim to change systemic education from within (Paulo deems most effective given the hidden element). Familial love is integral to embracing this radical epistemology, bringing unconditional support for those attempting to understand their placement in our historical development. Reciprocal education comes from a communal ethic as well.
“a good radical education … would be loving people first … next is respect for people’s abilities to learn and to act and to shape their lives … and that is that you value their experiences,” (Horton 177).
They convey the fulfillment of seeing one reach that potential. They encourage future generations to do the same, building upon history, not forgetting it in historicized narrative. They have led many to walk down a road where futurities arise, whereas their pupils have made the road on their own, through their motivation to understand themselves along with a resolve to play with reactionaries in the field of epistemology. Myles and Paulo merely told them to start walking. That is praxis.
“without practice there’s no knowledge … But practice in itself is not its theory. It creates knowledge, but it is not its own theory,” (Freire 98).
December 18, 2007
Really interesting, the conversation of these two men. They say some of the most beautiful things about their different lives, and how they came to work together. Worth picking up!
May 23, 2018
We Make the Road by Walking is a revealing insight into two minds regarding education and movements. One is a Brazilian named Paulo Freire and the other is an American named Myles Horton. This is a must-read for any teacher or aspiring teacher. It's also an incredibly pertinent book regarding the recent election (2016) and the frustrations of the lack of movements. I did, however, feel as though one speaker spoke more than the other.
This is a book that was talked. That is, two men, in the winter of their lives, gathered at Horton's Highlander school to 'talk a book.' The content revolved around many concepts, but mostly education, politics, loss, and hope were discussed. The insightful comments about teachers being essentially groomed to teach a certain way is a refreshing comment to my sentiments in the classroom. I feel that students are taught to be robotic and geared toward an unrealistic high stakes test. What students need to do is to be guided, not forced. They need to be given time to reflect on higher level thinking, not rushed onto the next topic.
Horton especially emphasizes his insistence that a teacher must admit he/ she does not know everything. He- agreeably- states that it is a healthy relationship between student and teacher when the educator admits to the end of the knowledge. From there the student continues on through with research. Furthermore, Horton highlights the need to allow thoughts to range freely. Corralling minds and enforcing limits works only in the moment, but it is a detriment to the student farther down the road.
Freire emphasizes his experience as being a hungry child during the Depression. That lesson taught him to value items of worth. Instead of referring to himself as a victim, Freire loosely states he had the privilige of hunger. His upbringing in a socialist Brazil gave him the insight and value of education as illiteracy surrounded his life.
Both men state that reading must be enjoyable. Forcing students to regurgitate reading in a public school model demonizes the very act that can help a student get ahead. This is a strange insistence by public school curricula when they tout school achievement. Furthermore, bot men agree on the thought that literacy is the path to power that can support movements.
With the constant evolution in our current public school setting, this book can certainly provide a new light on the art of teaching. Perhaps it will swing teachers back to the artistic side instead of the heavy leaning to the scientific side lately. Forget STEM, Common Core, No Child Left Behind; allowing students young and old to be presented with a problem and developing the skills to solve that problem is worth so much more life experience than any standardized test could offer.
While I felt like it was Myles Horton's book (and Paulo Freire happened to be there), I think this book should be an education graduate's present. Have the aspiring teacher read the book and then walk into the classroom prepared to ask students to think outside the box. Instead of being a robot just like the school districts are asking the students to be, this book could help a teacher reset the trend. We could all dig up the currently paved road of the public school model and make a new one by stepping in places not yet explored. Finally that sounds like a solution to our race to the bottom education system, designed by lawyers, and bucks the trend.
This is a book that was talked. That is, two men, in the winter of their lives, gathered at Horton's Highlander school to 'talk a book.' The content revolved around many concepts, but mostly education, politics, loss, and hope were discussed. The insightful comments about teachers being essentially groomed to teach a certain way is a refreshing comment to my sentiments in the classroom. I feel that students are taught to be robotic and geared toward an unrealistic high stakes test. What students need to do is to be guided, not forced. They need to be given time to reflect on higher level thinking, not rushed onto the next topic.
Horton especially emphasizes his insistence that a teacher must admit he/ she does not know everything. He- agreeably- states that it is a healthy relationship between student and teacher when the educator admits to the end of the knowledge. From there the student continues on through with research. Furthermore, Horton highlights the need to allow thoughts to range freely. Corralling minds and enforcing limits works only in the moment, but it is a detriment to the student farther down the road.
Freire emphasizes his experience as being a hungry child during the Depression. That lesson taught him to value items of worth. Instead of referring to himself as a victim, Freire loosely states he had the privilige of hunger. His upbringing in a socialist Brazil gave him the insight and value of education as illiteracy surrounded his life.
Both men state that reading must be enjoyable. Forcing students to regurgitate reading in a public school model demonizes the very act that can help a student get ahead. This is a strange insistence by public school curricula when they tout school achievement. Furthermore, bot men agree on the thought that literacy is the path to power that can support movements.
With the constant evolution in our current public school setting, this book can certainly provide a new light on the art of teaching. Perhaps it will swing teachers back to the artistic side instead of the heavy leaning to the scientific side lately. Forget STEM, Common Core, No Child Left Behind; allowing students young and old to be presented with a problem and developing the skills to solve that problem is worth so much more life experience than any standardized test could offer.
While I felt like it was Myles Horton's book (and Paulo Freire happened to be there), I think this book should be an education graduate's present. Have the aspiring teacher read the book and then walk into the classroom prepared to ask students to think outside the box. Instead of being a robot just like the school districts are asking the students to be, this book could help a teacher reset the trend. We could all dig up the currently paved road of the public school model and make a new one by stepping in places not yet explored. Finally that sounds like a solution to our race to the bottom education system, designed by lawyers, and bucks the trend.
Read
July 1, 2020We Make the Road by Walking: Conversations on Education and Social Change is a striking dialogue between two of the 20th century’s most important educators- Myles Horton and Paulo Freire. Through Freire’s development of the field of pedagogy and Horton’s leadership of the Highlander School in the mountains of Appalachia, these two men have had an immense impact on both the theory and practice of progressive education and citizenship. The book is set up in a dialectic structure, a dialogue between the two of them with an occasional third party interlocutor asking questions. It traces the biographic details of each mans life- Freire in Recife, Brazil, and Horton in the mountains of eastern Tennessee- and then lets each one explicate on their life experiences and the ways those experiences have influenced their thought. From their, each one bounds into their ideas about education and its future.
We Make the Road by Walking isn’t a strictly pedagogical book, that is, it doesn’t provide some sort of blueprint for progressive/radical educators or engage much in the tactics side of things. However, both Horton and Freire share personal thoughts and ideas around their life’s work that feel more important than a curriculum or lesson plan. The need to have workers and students find self determination, the centrality of literacy to democracy, and the importance of adapting as educators to the needs of the students, all while maintaining some type of authority, are recurring themes within the dialogues. Horton somes up the values nicely, saying ‘if I had to put a finger on what I consider a good education, a good radical education, it wouldn’t be anything about methods or techniques. It would be loving people first. If you don’t do that, Che Guevara says, there’s no point in being a revolutionary’ (177). It’s thoughts like these that really power the book, rather than directives or instruction it feels like honest formulations around each man’s philosophy.
The importance of books like We Make the Road by Walking to CTEPs should be clear. We are, at the core of it, educators who are often working in non-conventional settings. While it may often feel difficult to make change or improve peoples lives with our relatively limited scope and resources, the history of radical education in this country shows the value in what we do and how much more tangible the work that outside educators can have. Voices like Horton’s and Freire’s are valuable in that they devoted their whole lives to the cause and struggle of education, and from that their advice and ideas can be part of the pedagogical toolkit that we all must build over the course of this year.
We Make the Road by Walking isn’t a strictly pedagogical book, that is, it doesn’t provide some sort of blueprint for progressive/radical educators or engage much in the tactics side of things. However, both Horton and Freire share personal thoughts and ideas around their life’s work that feel more important than a curriculum or lesson plan. The need to have workers and students find self determination, the centrality of literacy to democracy, and the importance of adapting as educators to the needs of the students, all while maintaining some type of authority, are recurring themes within the dialogues. Horton somes up the values nicely, saying ‘if I had to put a finger on what I consider a good education, a good radical education, it wouldn’t be anything about methods or techniques. It would be loving people first. If you don’t do that, Che Guevara says, there’s no point in being a revolutionary’ (177). It’s thoughts like these that really power the book, rather than directives or instruction it feels like honest formulations around each man’s philosophy.
The importance of books like We Make the Road by Walking to CTEPs should be clear. We are, at the core of it, educators who are often working in non-conventional settings. While it may often feel difficult to make change or improve peoples lives with our relatively limited scope and resources, the history of radical education in this country shows the value in what we do and how much more tangible the work that outside educators can have. Voices like Horton’s and Freire’s are valuable in that they devoted their whole lives to the cause and struggle of education, and from that their advice and ideas can be part of the pedagogical toolkit that we all must build over the course of this year.
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May 10, 2017We Make the Road by Walking is a beautiful, instructive, and compelling book about education and social change. The conversation between Myles Horton and Paulo Freire is delightful. The techniques and pedagogy discussed are worth contemplating (and enacting, in my opinion). Equally affirming and transforming.
Here's a favorite passage.
Paulo: I think that we have to create in ourselves, through critical analysis of our practice, some qualities, some virtues as educators. One of them, for example, is the quality of becoming more and more open to feel the feelings of others, to become so sensitive that we can guess what the group or one person is thinking at that moment. These things cannot be taught as content. These things have to be learned through the example of the good teacher.
Myles: This is a problem, how we can have a body of knowledge and understanding and resist the temptation to misread the interest of the students because we're looking for an opportunity to unload this great load of gold that we have stored up.
Paulo: Not to do that, Myles, is one of the other virtues.
Myles: Now that binds us sometimes, it seems to me, from observing the action of the students, the nonverbal language, because we are thinking verbally, and we're only looking for verbal reactions, and we don't read anything else.
Here's a favorite passage.
Paulo: I think that we have to create in ourselves, through critical analysis of our practice, some qualities, some virtues as educators. One of them, for example, is the quality of becoming more and more open to feel the feelings of others, to become so sensitive that we can guess what the group or one person is thinking at that moment. These things cannot be taught as content. These things have to be learned through the example of the good teacher.
Myles: This is a problem, how we can have a body of knowledge and understanding and resist the temptation to misread the interest of the students because we're looking for an opportunity to unload this great load of gold that we have stored up.
Paulo: Not to do that, Myles, is one of the other virtues.
Myles: Now that binds us sometimes, it seems to me, from observing the action of the students, the nonverbal language, because we are thinking verbally, and we're only looking for verbal reactions, and we don't read anything else.
December 21, 2016
Excellent book.
Reviewed and discussed at my blog.
Chapters 1-2, 3, 4, and 5-6.
There are also two posts exploring the book club's creations: 1, 2.
Plus the post describing the book club's reading's plan.
Reviewed and discussed at my blog.
Chapters 1-2, 3, 4, and 5-6.
There are also two posts exploring the book club's creations: 1, 2.
Plus the post describing the book club's reading's plan.
January 22, 2021
I read this when I was in grad school, but somehow also remembered it, so decided to read it again. It is so inspiring to hear from Myles Horton and Paulo Freire in their own words as they "talk a book." As someone who cares deeply about adult education, civic engagement, and who works in international development, I found a number of gems in here, as expected. I thought I would find (but didn't) this one line that I still want to attribute to one of these educators - about lifting a community up by engaging even its most disenfranchised citizens. I wish I knew/remembered where I had read that. I recommend this book for those who have a particular interest in these themes/areas and in the history of the American civil rights movement of the 60s/70s.
February 16, 2021
This past academic year and a half has been especially challenging—both for the soul and the body. As I struggled to adapt to a completely new way of teaching, I kept returning to the core: what is it exactly that matters most to me as an educator? If everything else were stripped away, what core elements would I want to retain?
As I was considering this, the title of this book kept repeating in my head—“we make the road by walking...” that phrase, I feel, captures the spirit of this year more than anything else.
I was assigned this book in college but never read it in entirety. I’m so glad I reread it, as it nurtures the teacher’s soul, and validates my quest for a more meaningful approach to my practice than I had been taking.
As I was considering this, the title of this book kept repeating in my head—“we make the road by walking...” that phrase, I feel, captures the spirit of this year more than anything else.
I was assigned this book in college but never read it in entirety. I’m so glad I reread it, as it nurtures the teacher’s soul, and validates my quest for a more meaningful approach to my practice than I had been taking.
August 9, 2019
What a banger. The format of “speaking a book” must be my new favorite - especially when it’s absorbing the reflections of these two militants. Absolutely essential reading on the differences between education and organizing, political development, building structures, and so much more. And reading this right after Pedagogy of the Oppressed helped solidify so many of the lessons from that text as well.
October 10, 2017
These two men get it . . . there is no change by applying the same old same old. Change comes by DOING TOGETHER. Particularly as at Miles's school 'Highlander' in Tennessee, I imagined, finally, the embodiment of the truthful saying "Work is love made manifest". Again and again I found myself reveling in his indomitable spirit.
Rod
Rod
April 25, 2019
Freire and Horton discuss, at length, the importance of education and social change. How reading should be a wonderful thing for children should want to do and should not be messed up into the punishment system. Reading must be a loving act. The importance of life learning in addition to book learning.
January 27, 2020
A transcribed conversation between Miles Horton of Highlander and Paulo Freire the subversive educator from Brazil. They discuss their histories and beliefs about transformative education and its place in creating political and social change. this makes Freire's ideas much of accessible than his own writing, and exposes us to Myles Horton whose work is so important but he wrote almost nothing.
December 31, 2021
I love this book so much, especially chapter 6, reflection. Conversation between Myles and Paulo reminded us that if someone is an educator it means that this person is involved with the all process of the students.
Yes, education is something which is serious, rigorous, methodical but also creates happiness and joy.That's why I love being a teacher.
Yes, education is something which is serious, rigorous, methodical but also creates happiness and joy.That's why I love being a teacher.
October 29, 2023
Excellent dialog reflecting on lifetimes pursuing radical education, seeking non-authoritarian ways of developing freedom for students to participate in knowledge production, to be respected as capable humans who bring knowledge and common sense to the classroom. To not be neutral as a teacher, teaching with an objective of structural change through education for all.
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