Marxism in education Main characteristic of Marxism Karl Marx {1818-1883}, a revolutionary thinker, philosopher and author, is regarded the

originator of Marxism. He along with his colleague and friend Fried rich Engles propounded a body of socio-economic doctrine which came to be called Marxism. Marxism is a theory of revolutionary change. Capture of political power by the working class is the beginning and after it the dictatorship of proletariat should be establish at massive task of social and economic transformation should start so that the way for a class less society may be paved. In practice Marxism has divided the world in two main blocks- the capitalist or liberal block and the communist or the social block. With the disintegration of USSR Marxism has received a great setback. Some of the most important characteristic of Marxism are mentioned below Marxism believes in the materialistic philosophy of life. Mans essence is defined in the terms of productivity- i.e. man is a productive animal. Man posses no personal or individual freedom but finds his freedom in following the collective will of the people. The working class must seize the power and abolish private ownership then there will be a classless society. All the people will own natural resources. Religion as the opium of the people. Implication of Marxism in education:Central aim of education:- Under Marxism, the ultimate purpose of education is to strengthen the state and the building up of a classless society. Knowledge is not to be imparted or acquired for its own sake. It has social purpose- namely the service of the state. Production-oriented education:-according to Marx, education should be combined productive work. he appreciated the work of a British factory owner, Robert Owen for initiating this idea. Marx observed from the factory system budded, as Robert Owen has shown in detail, the germ of education of the future, an education that will, in the case of every child over a again age, combined productive labor with instruction and gymnastic, not only as one of the methods of adding to the efficiency of production, but as the only method of producing fully developed human beings. Curriculum. As stated above the teaching of productive work and teaching of practical activities of life must be made essential and these activities should be social and useful. Marx stressed the importance of studying history scientifically. The significance of class struggle could be fully understood through the study of social science. Competence in vocational field should be encouraged. Stress on group work. Marxian education mitigates competition and substitutes it by group work of different kinds. The child is made to feel from the very beginning that he is a unit in the society and has duty to society. Educational Agencies. the state is the sole agency of education. It has absolute power and con troll of all educational institutions. There is no decentralization of educational

administration or educational planning or curriculum. The method of instruction, textbooks and evaluation system are all centrally controlled and administered by the state. Discipline is very rigid. nursery education is given due importance. Free and Compulsory education. Education is compulsory at the school stage. It is free at all levels. PAULO FREIRE {1921-1997} Brief life sketch of Friere. A Brazilian educator, Paulo Freire, who took a vow at the age of eleven to dedicate his life to the struggle against hunger so that other children would not have to face the agony he was then experiencing, has made profound impact only in the overall struggle for development in the Third World countries but also in the field of education. After obtaining his Ph.D. in 1959 form the university of Recife, he worked for sometime as a Professor of History and Philosophy of Education at the same university. Goals of education According to Paulo Freire, following are the main goals of education. 1. Power awareness 2. Critical Literacy 3. Desocialisation 4. Self-education Meaning of Educational Practice. educational practice is not seen as extension but as communication, Extension is negative in nature and communication positive in nature. Education is not the transfer, or transmission of knowledge or cultures. Nor is it the extension of technical knowledge. It is not the act of depositing reports or facts in the educate to the milieu. I see education as the practice of freedom above all as a truly gnosiological situation in the educational process for liberation, educator-educatee and educatee-educators are both cognitive subjects before knowable objects which mediate them Placed face to face before themselves they investigate and question themselves. The more the ask question the more that their curiosity about the object of their knowledge is not decreasing. It only dismisses if it is isolated from human being and the world. Dialogical Method Paulo Freire suggests the following methods: (a) Active, dialogical, critical and criticism-stimulating method. (b) Change in the program and content of education. (c) Use of techniques like thematic breakdown and codification. Banking Concept of Education Paulo Freire has introduced the new terminology of banking concept in education. HE explains this by stating that the narration of the teacher turns students into containers, into receptacles to be filled. Education thus become an act of depositing in which the students are the depositories and the teacher is the depositor. Instead of communicating, the teacher

issue communicate and makes deposits which the students patiently receive, memorize and repeat. This is the banking concept of education, in which the scope of education allowed to the students extends only as far as receiving and storing the deposits. Ideology of the oppressed. According to the banking concept of education, knowledge becomes a gift bestowed by those who regard themselves knowledgeable upon those whom they consider to know nothing. This projection of an absolute ignorance on others by the knowledgeable is a characteristic of the ideology of oppressed. it negates education and knowledge as processes of enquiry. The students accept their ignorance like a slave. Paulo Freire here makes an interesting point by stating but unlike the slave, they never discover that they educate the teacher. Education must begin with the solution of the teacher-students contradictions, by recording the poles of the contradiction so that both simultaneously teachers and students. Following are the chief characteristics of the banking education which lead to several contradictions in the system. 1) The teacher teaches and the students are taught. 2) the teacher knows everything and the students know nothing. 3) the teacher thinks and the students are thought about. 4) the teacher talks and the students listen-meekly. 5) the teacher discipline and the students disciplined. 6) the teacher chooses and he enforces his choice, and the students comply. 7) the teacher acts and the student have the illusion of acting through the action of the teacher. 8) the teacher chooses the program content and the students (who are not committed) adopt it. 9) the teacher confuses the authority of knowledge with his own professional authority which he sits in opposition to the freedom of the students. 10) the teacher is the subject of the learning process, while the pupils are mere objects. The banking system reduces the creative power of the students. This is in the interest of the oppressor. That oppressors, through their welfare schemes what they call humanitarism preserve their superiority. They oppressed are termed as marginals, incompetent and lazy. The banking procedure dehumanism the students and adults in place of humanize them. Contribution of Friere to Principles and Practices in Education:Friere views are summarized as under: 1. authentic thinking-thinking that is concerned with reality does not takes place in ivory tower isolation, but only in effective communication. 2. Problem Solving education, responding to the essence of conciousness-intentionally rejects communiqus. Problem solving epitomizes the special characteristics of consciousness. 3. The movement of enquiry must be believed and directed towards humanization. The pursuit of humanity cannot unfold in the antagonistic relation between oppressors and oppressed. No one can be authentically human while he prevents others from being so. 4. Teachers cannot think without the pupils, nor or the pupils but only with the pupils.

5. In the banking system of education there should be a two-way traffic. The roles of the depositors, the prescribers and the receivers must be exchanged to a great measure. 6. There should be true communication between the teacher and the students. A teacher cannot think for his students. He also cannot impose his thought on them. 7. Dialogical relations- The teacher-of-the-students and the students-of-the-teacher leads to a situation wherein the teacher is no longer merely the one-who-teaches, but one who is himself taught in dialogue with the students, who in turn while being taught also teach. They become jointly responsible for process in which all grow. 8. In the dialogical relations, no one teaches another nor is anyone self-taught. People teach each other. 9. In the dialogical system, the students are no longer docile listeners now they are coinvestigators in dialogue with the teacher. 10. In the dialogical system, knowledge does not remain at the doxs (opinion) level but reaches the level of the Logos (reason). 11. Dialogue cannot be reduced to the act of one-person depositing ideas in another, nor it can become a simple exchange of ideas to be consumed by the discussants. It must be meaningful. 12. Dialogue cannot exist without humility. 13. Faith is an apriori requirement for dialogue. 14. The task of the dialogical teacher in an interdisciplinary team working on the thematic universe id to represent the universe to the students not as a lecture but as a problem. 15. Some fundamental themes should be taken up for teaching-learning and learningteaching in dialogical relations. The themes may be broken up. The thematic breakdown splits the total themes in search of their fundamental nuclei, which arr the partial elements. 16. Themes may be printed by means of brief dramatizations, reading and discussion of magazine articles, newspapers, book chapters (beginning with passages) and records interviews. 17. In the dialogical relations, arguments based on authority are no longer valid. Authority is on the side of freedom, not against it. 18. Problem Solving in the dialogical system stimulates creativity and true reflection. 19. Students, as they are increasingly posed with problems relating to themselves in the world and with the world, will feel increasingly challenged and respond to the challenges resulting in development on new understandings. 20. The teacher must be imbued with a profound trust in the creative power of his students. 21. The teacher should become a partner of the students in his relationships with them.