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For this week, you were tasked with reading about three critical theoretical frameworks from Michael Apple, bell hooks, and Paulo Friere.

How do these theoretical approaches differ from that of the classical theorists we learned about previously? And how might we use their theoretical paradigms to understand educational inequality both domestically and globally? This is a vast question, so you can pick one particular issue you'd like to focus on as an example.

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Freire and hooks view education as a means of liberation, critiquing how traditional models (like Freire’s "banking model") reinforce inequalities by limiting critical thought and agency. They argue for a participatory, dialogical approach where students develop critical consciousness and challenge social hierarchies of race, class, and gender. Du Bois similarly sees education as vital for social uplift, particularly for African Americans, advocating for a curriculum that centers on Black history and culture to counteract internalized racial oppression. In contrast, Marx situates education within the capitalist system, seeing it as a tool to reproduce class hierarchies by preparing students for their roles in the labor market. For example, standardized testing in the U.S. can be critiqued using these paradigms: Freire and hooks would argue it perpetuates social hierarchies by valuing certain knowledge while marginalizing others, Du Bois would emphasize its role in reinforcing racial stereotypes, and Marx would see it as a mechanism for maintaining class divisions by tracking students into different economic roles. Globally, this critique extends to neocolonial curricula, where Freire, hooks, Du Bois, and Marx would each argue that education continues to perpetuate inequality by aligning with dominant cultural and economic systems rather than promoting local autonomy and empowerment.

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Apple's theory of education reproduces social inequality by aligning curricula and teaching practices with dominant ideologies and the need of powerful. Apple argue that in countries like the United States, standardized testing curriculum choices and school funding models favor the middle and upper classes. These educational structures often reinforce the dominant valves of capitalism and individualism while marginalizing the needs of working class and minority students. example schools in affluent arears are better funded, providing students with more resources and higher quality instruction, while schools in lower income arears face overcrowded classrooms and fewer resources. Apple's framework would highlight how these disparities serve to reproduce social hierarchies and maintain the privilege of the elite.

Global-critique how western, capitalist models of education are exported to developing countries often ignoring local needs and cultural differences. example many developing countries focus on standardization and privatization can limit access to education for marginalized groups such as rural population or ethnic minorities.

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Nicole Mobley

Karl Marx and W.E.B Du Bois take on the big structures that create inequality—Marx argues that education is used to keep the working class down in a capitalist system, while Du Bois points out how schools reinforce racial injustices, especially for Black communities. On the other side, Michael Apple, bell hooks, and Paulo Freire look at how education itself can either uphold or challenge these inequalities. Apple shows how school curricula and policies tend to serve the interests of those in power, keeping cultural and ideological dominance intact. bell hooks focuses on race, gender, and class, pushing for an inclusive approach that ties marginalized students’ experiences into their learning. Freire sees education as a tool for liberation, using critical dialogue to help students question and resist oppression. So, while Marx and Du Bois provide a broader critique of inequality, Apple, hooks, and Freire dig into the everyday workings of education, aiming to transform it from the inside out.

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⁤Apple and Marx provide insightful critiques of how capitalism influences and shapes the educational system. ⁤⁤Marx's perspective on education centers on its role in perpetuating class divisions and inequalities within society. ⁤⁤He believed that the educational system serves to maintain the existing social hierarchy by imparting values and knowledge that reinforce the dominance of the ruling class. ⁤

⁤On the other hand, Apple's analysis dives into how educational practices and policies contribute to reinforcing social hierarchies. ⁤⁤Apple emphasizes how the educational system often serves the interests of the ruling class, further entrenching existing inequalities. ⁤⁤According to Apple, teachers have the potential to act as agents of change, challenging oppressive systems within education but they do the opposite and teach students in a way where they will only repeat an answer and not learn, which aligns with Marx's concept of individuals resisting and transforming societal structures as education keeping society down. They advocate for educational practices that aim to promote equity and justice, shedding light on the need for systemic changes within the educational sphere to address societal inequalities. ⁤

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Apple had an interesting theory on education and how the education system does not teach people how to be equal. He states how they teach people to feel like they have power amongst others. Schools are what form us because it teaches us how to grow and what we need to know in order to succeed in life. However, Apple states that sometimes schools do not educate on inequality and how everyone should feel entitled to what they want to learn in school. Schools are part of out life and we are aware this is what forms us and what we get from education should be equal. We need to get some type of education on things that are important for us to learn.

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Michael Apple, Bell Hooks, Pablo Freire, W.E.B DuBois, and Karl Marx's theoretical approaches offer a different perspective on educational inequality.  Apple focuses on how education functions to replicate social inequality through hidden curriculum implementation. He aligns himself with Marxism and social theory. Still, he focuses on how US educational institutions mildly transfer cultural values and maintain social hierarchies by allowing those from upper socioeconomic status to privilege specific knowledge. Both Bell Hooks and WEB DuBois focused on racial inequality in education, but Bell Hooks incorporated gender and class into her theoretical perspective on inequality. Paulo Freire's educational banking theory aligns with Marxism and liberation theology but emphasizes dialogue, critical thinking, and empowerment to overcome systematic inequality. Their theoretical framework has changed education both in the United States and globally but has not eliminated inequality because capitalism and hierarchy still benefit from more resources.

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Paulo Freire, Bell hooks and Michael Apple all provide critical foundation that are differentiated from the classical theorist we have learned about recently such as Karl Marx and W.E.B DuBois. Paulo, Bell and DuBois center their theories on identity, culture and pedagogy as it pertains to comprehending inequality. Michael Apple identifies how schools sometimes teaches cultural values that can maintain power difference instead of just teaching regular subjects, he calls this a hidden curriculum. Apple centers on how education can form or ideas and views and strengthen power dynamics, while on the other hand Karl Marx concentrated on economics and class struggles in education

Bell Hooks explains how many different characteristics as it pertains to identity such and class, race and gender collaborate with each other to form special experiences of inequality. Even though both DuBois and hook examined class and race, hook centers on how feminism and the aspect of community and love can decrease and stop oppression. I think that we can use their theoretical paradigms to understand education inequality both domestically and globally by focusing on power dynamics, education and culture as it pertains to education because all of these things are important to understand inequality that is present within the educational system.

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In many countries, schools often focus on colonial histories or the stories of dominant cultures, while ignoring the knowledge and experiences of minority groups.

Michael Apple highlights how schools reinforce inequalities by promoting some cultural stories while ignoring others, especially those of marginalized groups. W.E.B. Du Bois focuses on the personal struggle of students trying to fit in when their identities aren’t represented. For example, a Eurocentric curriculum can make students from diverse backgrounds feel left out. By applying these theories, we can see that education systems often exclude certain voices, which helps us understand the need for more inclusive practices that welcome all students’ experiences.

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Marx and DuBois focused on material conditions as the drives of oppression, whereas Friere, Apple, and Hooks emphasized ideological struggle and conscious building.

Friere, Apple, and Hooks propose education as a transformative practice, empower individuals to challenge systemic inequalities.

Curriculum: Domestically and Globally

With these theoretical paradigms curricula is never neutral. They are shaped by social, economic, and political forces. Domestically and globally it can often serve to reproduce inequalities as much as they can support resistance and transformation. Educators can challenge these systems and create more equitable and empowering educational experiences for all students.

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There exist several fundamental similarities between Paulo Freire's "Pedagogy of the Oppressed" and Michael Apple's work on ideology in curriculum, particularly in their critique of traditional educational techniques and emphasis on social justice. According to Apple, the curriculum is filled with ideologies that serve specific goals, rendering it anything but impartial. The information that is permitted or prohibited is claimed to represent the distribution of power in society. Apple and Freire believe that social inequity has to be taught in schools. They think it's a good  concept to use education to promote social change and equality.

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Michael Apple's theory is that schools not only control people but also help control—the meaning of it. Schools are a place of oppression and inequality in the Mirror society. However, schools alone are not the only ones contributing to this; everything is a part of it, whether political, cultural, or religious institutions. Apple was not optimistic about the possibility of schools changing and being able to be reformed or being a place of opportunity and growth. Apple believes schools serve as places of inequality,  unfairness, and oppression. Schools are the foundation of social problems.  Although some may say schools are separate entities, Apple believes they are all interconnected.  Politics, economy, culture and

Religious institutions. We see this very evident in the school systems today, where a lot of politics is involved, and a district's economic status matters for the distribution of resources and education tools. Contrary to Pablo Feire’s theory, teacher-student relationships are the root of social problems. Their authority puts teachers in the position of controlling how students learn and what they know. Schools reproduce class-based inequality ( the pedagogy). In the 1968-1972 publication of Pedagogy of the Oppress, we see it extended into a society with a hierarchical system. It promotes inequality and oppression. On the other hand, Bell Hooks believes in the “theory as liberatory practice”(1994), that although there is hurt and inequality, that theory offers an opportunity for it to be reformed and understood. Hook was a fan of Pablo Feire and based a lot of her theory on his theory and often referred to it throughout her book; although she points out the weaknesses in the theory, she believes that she can take the theory and expand it to grow. She recognized that most of her pain came from a patriarchal family and a Patriarchal society. She wanted to use the liberatory theory to stop the hurt; she didn’t only view the theory as not liberatory but transformational. But how can we understand the world if the only theories that are validated come from white people? So, as she puts it, black and brown men and women already come with family trauma and then go into a society that further oppresses them.  But not one monolithic oppression but intersectional oppression. Hooks believes that theory helps to understand the root of pain and where it comes from.

After reading and hearing about the philosophy or the thinking behind the theorist, you can see how parts of each theory relate to our school system. I agree with Hooks's views that it’s intersectional and that many components play a part. Many students come to the classroom with wounds and trauma that they bring to the school, which plays a role in their development. But I think with time, the school systems, although there are many flaws and politics involved, also have people trying to make a difference to bring healing and trust to our students. I think when we have and see people representing our own identities in schools, they may understand student struggles and that teaching practices can change. We can see that some of the teaching approaches are transforming and are taking a different approach to learning where students feel included and validated for their culture, religion, and gender. In some way, this helps to transform the views of society and how black and brown people view themselves in society.  We have a long way to go to achieve this. Still, it’s when each moving part works together with the same vision and recognizes that we are all valuable and deserve equality in our education system and society.

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In this week reading, I would prefer to focus on freire point of view In which talks more about the way in which teachers are giving education to the students. I feel like the theorical approach of making classes be more involve with discussions and more in real life experiences can bring a vast amount of knowledge and point of view that the student went through. A dominican will have a way different experience and point of view than a asian student, however that does not mean that both of them cannot contribute to a topic in common, and mostly when it has to do with society , both of them were opressed in differents way but both ways lead to the same result, Opression. if teachers in public school will have the posibilities to make their curriculum wide and open mind for their student like some college professor do, it will be a more broad possibility to give more knowledge to the futures generations.

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Michael Apple and Bell Hooks are both modern theorists that give better insight to Karl Marx and W.E.B. Dubois. Apple speaks about the fact that the education system would like to paint a picture of progressiveness that it does not have while also enforcing the idea that politics, economy and culture all work together as a higher system. However, the main job of this educational institution is to train the next generations to continue this vicious cycle of structural norms. Schools do not challenge us to think beyond the box at times, but to work with where we are and what are given. This is similar to what Karl Marx's idea of the bourgeoise aiming to keep the proletariats in place. Bell Hooks excellently explains her experience of how even in her home, these patriarchal norms were not allowed to be challenged and even quotes Terry Eagleton to say that children are the best theorists. In this theory, she describes children as having 'wondering estrangement' that adult do not have. This estrangement is the alienation that Karl Marx also uses in his work about estranged labor.

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Micheal Apple's ideology in the school system was how educational practices were correlated to culture, identities, politics, and economics. The power among schools is affected and reflected by the political power and the values in society therefore having inequality. There is an "intersection" between class, gender, and race which also has to do with schools in the way it's being practiced. Author Micheal Apple advocates changing the ideology of old practices and challenging power dynamics to help students be engaged and have new forms of schooling/ better quality school opportunities. Not only were the students involved but also educators by having them deskill and reskill.

Connecting Apple's ideology with Du Bois they both share similarities when it comes to challenging societal norms. Du Bois highlights the inequality within race due to systematic oppression and how African Americans struggled in the education system. Du Bois's concept of "double consciousness" analyzes African Americans' struggle with identity and the misrepresentation school systems had.

There is still an inequality that goes within the school system. When it comes to funding to area one lives in influences the quality of learning. Educators are underpaid, have overcrowded classrooms, and lack resources and support. The quality of learning is different among schools, and schools use standardized testing to divide students on where they qualify to attend schools.

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Marx argues that the proletariat and bourgeois are the problem as the proletarians have to fight for what is left. Consequently, unequal distribution of material and immaterial resources based on class is one issue with educational inequality. In contrast, Bell Hooks asserts that racial and gender disparities are linked to academic inequality in addition to class.

According to Pablo Freire, teacher narration - also referred to as the “banking method” is the issue in schools, where lecturers treat students like empty vessels because they are viewed as the authority. Lower class students experience this which also gives people the impression that they are not working hard enough. On the other hand, Du Bois discusses the use of double consciousness, the sense of unfairness to comprehend unequal distribution among schools and school base segregation. However Du Bois ignored the gender aspect.

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The theorists (Karl Marx and DuBois) we have covered previously in class have provided a foundation for later theorists to expand and build upon. For instance, DuBois thought about the struggles of his time, and how to overcome those obstacles. He wanted cultural inclusion, and equal education.

Marx viewed things through a capitalistic lens. He felt that the systems that were provided by schools were used to perpetuate the power dynamic that already existed.

Freire's theory centered around the banking method. He argued that in this method teachers treat students like empty vessels with no consideration of previous knowledge. There is no connection to the student, and it also strips students of their voices. There is only value for what the teacher knows.

Many ideas of past theorists are still present and serve as the bedrock for many theorists that came after.

Bell Hooks although influenced by Freire, looked at things through a different lens as well. His work left out people of color and women as it written in a different time. She was theorizing through a patriarchal lens Her theorizing began with pain, struggle, and hurt. She is looking at the lack of representation in theory. That goes into race and culture, as well as sex. She was looking for black and brown voices, she was looking for women of color as well.

Apple looks at education as one cog in a system that perpetuates injustices and inequality. He shines a light on the education system, but does not fully blame it. He instead looks at the education system as a piece of a larger system that must be scrutinized. He is looking at equity in education.

I think the theoretical approaches changed with time. They began as broad strokes to address certain things that were relevant to the time. As the challenges changed and transformed ,so did the people who began to theorize.Each of the theorists looked at things from their own perspective, but all have common ground in equity, injustice, or changing the power dynamics.

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Paulo Freire, Bell Hooks, and Michael Apple focus on identity, culture, and how teaching methods connect to inequality, which sets them apart from thinkers like Karl Marx and W.E.B. DuBois. Apple highlights the "hidden curriculum," where schools teach cultural values that maintain power differences, while Marx focused on economics and class struggles in education. Apple’s concept of the hidden curriculum can explain how schools often reinforce traditional gender roles, such as discouraging girls from pursuing STEM fields. Hooks’ intersectional approach highlights how race and class further shape these experiences, showing that Black and working-class girls face challenges. Freire’s emphasis on empowering learners encourages educational practices that challenge these norms and promote equity. Bell Hooks examines how race, gender, and class work together to create unique experiences of inequality. Unlike DuBois, who also studied race and class, Hooks emphasizes feminism, community, and love as ways to fight oppression. These examples highlight how education systems around the world reinforce power imbalances and demonstrate the importance of addressing identity, culture, and teaching methods to tackle educational inequality.

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Team Marx and Dubois vs. Team Hooks, Apple, and Friere (The focus of the differ approaches)

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When it comes to education and inequality, each thinker bring such powerful approaches. First up -- MARX. As we all know that Marx brings class struggle and the role of education in reproducing this idea of capitalist inequalities, he argues that the more dominate or powerful class of this economic stratification utilized school at the school system to instill their ideologies to maintain their dominance. He believe global educational inequalities are deeply rooted in economic systems of oppression. Next -- DU BOIS. You can't spell Double Consciousness without Du Bois .... well you can but .... besides the point -- he brings race into the conversation, critiquing how systemic racism intersects with class to shape access to education. And if blaming the inequalities within the education system on economic class and race wasn't enough, Bell Hooks was there to provide understanding that it wasn't enough to just say their inequality in the education system based on class and race but also gender (Now entering into the ring --- Bell Hooks) Hooks emphasizes on intersectionality -- the combination of race, gender and class to give deeper understanding of oppression in the educational system. That school has the ability to marginalize the voices and cultural knowledge or oppressed groups. And while the already mentioned theorists focuses on class, race and gender, Apples comes in with the idea that that education is driven by profits and reforms like privatization and increases inequalities within the educational system and Freire focuses on the dialogical teacher-student relationship. Introduction the term "banking" model where students are in class to only retain all the information for the teacher because the teacher knows everything and the student knows nothing. This sense of Teacher "depositing" their educational information into a bank without any withdrawals from this account.