Critical Education for Democracy

Authors:

 *Omar Swartz (Univ of Colorado, Denver)

 *Katia G. Campbell (Univ of Colorado, Denver)

   Christina Pestana (University of Colorado, Denver)

Abstract:

Central to pedagogy in a democratic society is a critical consciousness suspicious of received wisdom/ authority and flexible in adapting to the contingencies of experience that affect all of our lives. We contrast Platonic and critical models of education, emphasizing the benefits of critical and progressive approaches and then elaborate on critical pedagogy in communication studies and offer an extended, specific example from our experience of working with one of our more recalcitrant students.