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Societal Oppression is 100% based on historic and economic factors. This can be traced through any type of culture and it all translates to be the same, the less money you have, the harder it is going to be to succeed in life. This can be applied within the time Freire describes in his book, as well as a more familiar time frame such as the 18th & 19th century in the US. The governing laws during that time stated that owning slaves was legal  and the owners would oppress their slaves to not read or write because then they stay uneducated. By not letting these people become educated, they would be stuck in the place they are right now with no room for growth. This was done to keep them stupid and oppress them even further. They were not able to gain their own voice to fight back or even communicate with each other. On top of the physical violence they would receive, this was another form of violence according to Freire. Even with all the oppression that was received by these individuals, there are still remnants seen today with things such as redlining or even being offered less jobs and loans. Oppression can take many shapes and forms anywhere in the world but they all are acts of violence. The TED talk by Clint Smith was very eye opening in the sense that I never felt that I was a silent person but I did feel like one after watching. Sometimes being a bystander is just as bad as being the perpetrator. Using our voices is one of the most powerful things we have and is what sets us apart from being oppressed. Talking with the four core principles with students can help them come to this realization too that their voice does not go unheard unless they don't use it.

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Elizabeth Nunziata

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I really enjoyed that Ted Talk by Clint Smith.  I think there are a few ways to remove personal bias from classroom discussions. I think being aware of your personal bias is where you should start. If you acknowledge it there is room to get away from it. Spreading kindness and empathy and practicing it can show your students how discussions should be led.

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When people are being denied their ability to inquire, there is violence.  Humans take advantage of their natural curiosity to solve problems and adapt to the changing environment. When a group of people are denied their ability to question or challenge what/how they are being taught, this counts as an act of violence. Free will, curiosity, and intrinsic motivations are far more valuable than any physical object is being taken from them.

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There are so many Ted Talks that I can post about violence as a contributor of social injustice.   I would like to highlight this talk from Megan Ming Francis where she talks about explicit violence to African Americans present and historically.  She says that the root of racial injustice is not lack of education, but the idea that we have to collectively take a stand against racial injustice.  "Education is not a cure-all for all of America's racial sins," says Francis.  In relation to violence, Francis states that, "they contemporary problem of killing unarmed blacks is not a problems that boils down to providing greater education opportunities to blacks - it's a mis-diagnosis...  Francis states we must expand our vision and responsibility to what Civil Rights really means in order to combat racial violence.  Another great point that Francis made was that while the NAACP is known for fighting for Civil Rights in educations, their greatest contribution fighting escalating violence that African Americans endured.  The NAACP organized mass demonstrations in the streets, "the campaign forced American to confront lynching and mob violence to African Americans," says Francis.  As a result lynching and mob violence decreased dramatically.  Lastly, Francis states that collectively we must take a stand against racial injustice. - Alicia Parker

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Let's get to the root of racial injustice | Megan Ming Francis | TEDxRainier

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- Alexandria Szewczuk

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That was an amazing speech by Clint Smith. It really makes you think on how having a voice can mean so much more then just speaking. What really resonated with me was when he said " And I find myself thinking a lot about that last point, tell your truth. And I realized that if I was going to ask my students to speak up, I was going to have to tell my truth and be honest with them about the times where I failed to do so." If you want your students to be honest and be the best version of themselves where they believe in themselves and stick up for what they believe in you need to be that example to them. But first you need to be honest with yourself to accept that you made mistakes in the past and that you can grow and move forward from them. Below I attached a TED talk that is more specific to girls and how we should be teaching them to be brave not perfect.

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Reshma Saujani: Teach girls bravery, not perfection

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We're raising our girls to be perfect, and we're raising our boys to be brave, says Reshma Saujani, the founder of Girls Who Code. Saujani has taken up the charge to socialize young girls to take risks and learn to program -- two skills they need to move society forward.

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I certainly think that in the past (and present) acts of violence have certainly led to oppression and holding down different groups of people. I do not, however, think that that every time "oppression" as Friere defines it, takes place, violence has occurred. First, I have always felt that Friere is a little to broad with his concept of oppression, and I don't want to be just as broad with our definition of violence. I think we can disagree with a mode of doing things, such as "oppressing" a group or individual, without resorting to the most sensational language we can think of all the time. I think when we over-broaden the uses and definition of concepts such as violence, we actually lessen the meaning of the word. Just my 2 cents though.
- Allan Itzkowitz -

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That was a wonderful and very important TED Talk, one that I haven’t heard before! Thank you for sharing Pooja. I believe that by oppressing students within the classroom and focusing on a banking concept for education does indeed take away their voice. I believe that his four core principals aim to eliminate the idea that students do not have a voice. All too many times, students are told to be quiet or silenced when their opinion does not match the majority. This is a dangerous road to travel as it sets students up to believe that even as adults their opinions and voices do not matter. Although this type of act would not be seen as violence to the typical person, it very much is. Taking away a student’s ambition to be heard and suppressing their voice is indeed a violent act. As educators, we should aim to give all students a voice because no matter how little they may be, their voices do in fact matter greatly.

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I enjoyed the presentation by Clint Smith. I think it ties very well into what Freire was referring to when he wrote that "preventing others from engaging in the process of inquiry" is a violent act. Clint Smith takes it a step further as he ascertains that when we are not speaking we are acquiescing and thus we are to blame for what is wrong with the world because when we had a chance to fix it, we never spoke up. I, also, would like to link a video that a believe ties very well into the theme of this discussion. The video is titled "How to Win a Debate in 5 Easy Steps" and it teaches the viewer the basic elements any good debater has to include in his/her debate. I think we not only should be teaching students how to speak up, but we should be providing them with the tools necessary to win arguments. Andreu A.

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How to Win a Political Debate in 5 Easy Steps | Joshua Thompson | TEDxWWU

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This man is brilliant this was probably my third time seeing this talk and i have shown it in my classroom.   I I value what he is telling us and i also preach it. Education has been the same for to long and we need to modify the view we have on education.  We need to not have a hierarchy for the content in which we teach all of what is taught in a school has equal value. I love his story at the end about the little girl who is a dancer and becomes a millionaire  from her passion for dance. The attributes of  a person who has ADHD are the same attributes of a person who is creative and i firmly Believe this because i to have ADHD but i channel it in to my creativity with my hands and am thank for this gift. This is always a pleasure to watch and he is very funny.

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Another great TED Talk

Sir Ken Robinson remarks on the remarkable creativity of children and our need to foster this creativity in our students. He comments that historically speaking not only the US education system, but education systems globally do not give the arts enough weight because they are predicated on the interests on industrialism. He puts forth the idea that going forward, the world is less predictable and to meet the needs of the future we must do more to value and reinforce the value of the creativity of students.

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Sir Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity?

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Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining and profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity.

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I loved listening to this woman talk. She was so full of passion. She explains how from an early age she was able to see the difference between her neighborhood low poverty school and the high end school she was lucky enough to get bussed too. She later ends up working at the same low income school she avoided as a child. It is amazing to see the difference in what she experienced as a student and then as a teacher. She goes on to talk about how hard she worked to bring some of her former experiences into her classrooms and how much better her students felt, learned, and grew. We always say how we send children to school to become something more. something better. If we send them to school without a decent meal or a school library, how can we expect them to grow academically.
-Melanie Funicello

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How America's public schools keep kids in poverty | Kandice Sumner

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Why should a good education be exclusive to rich kids? Schools in low-income neighborhoods across the US, specifically in communities of color, lack resources that are standard at wealthier schools -- things like musical instruments, new books, healthy school lunches and soccer fields -- and this has a real impact on the potential of students.

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"Any situation in which some individuals prevent others from engaging in the process of inquiry is one of violence." (chapter 2, Freire)  Everyone should be afforded the opportunity is explore and investigate; especially in the school system. As teachers, we must create an environment that allows our students to take charge of their education. As educators, if we do not allow the exchange of information to happen we are doing our students tremendous disservice. We are limited their educational growth which is extremely harmful.
Melanie Hammitt
Freire, Paulo. Pedagogy of the Oppressed: 30th Anniversary Edition . Bloomsbury Publishing. Kindle Edition.

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Take a look at the the TED talk by Clint Smith where he talks about a tough topic that many teachers have a hard time bringing up with their students. The four core principals he brings to his classroom are amazing. His message is loud and a bit harsh, nonetheless an important one.

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"We spend so much time listening to the things people are saying that we rarely pay attention to the things they don't," says poet and teacher Clint Smith. A short, powerful piece from the heart, about finding the courage to speak up against ignorance and injustice.

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In Chapter 2 of The Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Freire describes oppression as "violence." Do you feel that societal oppression is based on historical and economic factors violence?