Pedagogy of the Oppressed

Extremely difficult book to rate because I found the concepts within very valuable but the writing was incredibly dense and repetitive. It's a book that's difficult to read but ultimately worth struggling through, I think, but it could be written in a more digestible way.

The real value in the book is not its readability but its spirit. Regardless of how I felt about Freire's perspective, I found it was a valuable perspective to read. The writing of Pedagogy of the Oppressed may not be digestible, but it is undoubtedly full of Freire's love for humanity and his resulting passion to better the world. Some of his concepts and writings didn't land for me, but Freire nonetheless gave me thoughts about how I can offset some of the abundant oppression in society as both an educator and a human.

In that sense, I feel Pedagogy of the Oppressed, whether intentional on Freire's part or not, managed to avoid being a book that deposited pedagogical concepts into me and instead stimulated my own interest in problem-solving. To me, this book is best read as Freire's interpretation and perspective of the struggles he faced as an educator rather than an instruction manual. His perspective is respectable and worthwhile, but I think it is ultimately one of many valuable perspectives to take into account.

I think it's a good, important book to read for a more wholesome grasp of how to approach oppression, especially as far as education is concerned. My only real gripe is, again, the writing quality.