|
|
Freedom Schools: The Curriculum
Oppenheimer, Marty
http://www.solidarity-us.org/site/node/4157Date Written: 2014-05-01 Publisher: Against the Current Year Published: 2014 Resource Type: Article Oppenheimer analyzes the curriculum taught in the 1964 Freedom Schools, which were designed to help Black students understand oppressive American social structures in and to think about them critically. Abstract: - Excerpt: SNCC prepared a document, "Notes on Teaching in Mississippi," which outlined the conditions under which they would be teaching, described the deprived nature of the potential student' learning, and laid out the curriculum including a "core curriculum" of courses in leadership development: Black history, history of the civil rights movement, and current events. Other courses included remedial math, science, and debate. Cultural activities led to the production of student newspapers in many schools. But equally important was SNCC's attention to pedagogy: "The purpose of the Freedom Schools is to help (the students) to begin to question," and that meant that the teachers would also ask questions. The majority of the volunteers were women. A number of them had teaching experiences that used traditional methods involving unquestioning obedience to teachers' authority. This would be challenged. Students would be able to express themselves and learn to question authority and thereby also question the social structures that were responsible for their oppression. Subject Headings |