Being Critical of Critical Pedagogy

Abstract

This chapter includes historical criticisms of critical pedagogy and how to begin to consider the issues. The criticisms have begun to change but have to move further. Three major criticisms of critical pedagogy dominated the field during its infancy. These included the fact that dead white, Western men wrote much of the literature on critical pedagogy. However, the great majority of those who worked and still work with children in poverty are women, many of them women of color. Another criticism was critical pedagogy was long on criticism but short on answers or practical solutions to the problems described. Finally, critical pedagogy as a field sought to eliminate discrimination and inequities, but the body of work that appeared in print had its own esoteric language that was in accessible to the general population. The chapter concludes with a discussion of how this is changing and how educators can participate in this change.