Transforming Education: Examining the Pedagogy of the Eagle and the Condor

• In Event: Educational Agency and Transformation: Enacting Pathways for Empowerment With Latino Educators and Youth

Abstract

Freire (1970) believes that knowledge resides in each and every individual and critical teachers create spaces for new knowledge to be learned, critiqued and generated. However, current K-12 curricula are grounded in the belief that knowledge is a commodity. The goal presently rooted in our system, is towards efficiency, security, competition, and personal gain. Palmer (1983) argues, “For over a century, individualism and competition have been institutionalized in our society and in our schools” (p. xiv). Education has the potential serve as a transformative tool used to nurture the courage and understanding needed to fundamentally counter today’s oppressive attitudes and beliefs, characterized by competitive individualism (Smith, 1993). By reinventing the culture of schools, education has the potential to include the refinement of moral and spiritual sensitivity, empathy, compassion, mutual aid, and an individual’s concern for justice and truth (Miller, 2000).

This study examines the effects of the Pedagogy of the Eagle and the Condor (PEC), based on a Chicano/Indigenous epistemology and alludes to indigenous prophecies of today. PEC focuses on spiritual/indigenous principles, teacher/student/community relationships, and various pedagogical practices that elicit personal/social growth and transformation. Four theoretical frameworks were utilized in the developmental design of the pedagogy consisting of Critical Pedagogy (Freire, 1970), Pedagogy of Hope (Duncan-Andrade, 2011), Critical Compassionate Intellectualism (Romero, 2009), and Holistic Education (Gallegos Nava, 2001).

• Critical Pedagogy exists within PEC focusing on Freire’s problem posing process and his oppressor/oppressed theoretical framework (1970). Critical Pedagogy requires participants to engage in developing a consciousness that truly reflects a struggle for humanization and that has the power to transform reality through reflection, dialogue and praxis (Freire, 1970).

•Duncan-Andrade’s (2010) Pedagogy of Hope informs PEC by providing the theoretical framework informing three types of teacher – student relationships: audacious, critical, Socratic. All three of these relationships encompass authenticity, love, compassion, dialogue, reflection, and persistence.

•Romero’s (2009) Critical Compassionate Intellectualism was utilized within PEC engaging students in six key constructs: Blossoming of intellectualism (xinachtli), Barrio pedagogy (Duncan-Andrade, 2008), students as creators of knowledge, collective and individual agency, organic intellectualism, and academic and personal transformation.

•Holistic Education informs the PEC framework and encompasses a teaching and learning that reconnects young people to their emotional, physical, intellectual, and spiritual wholeness (Miller, 2000).

This paper will provide the PEC framework, document my experiences implementing PEC, and examine the educational/personal outcomes that resulted with two contrasting populations of participants: middle school and graduate level students. Data was collected via focus groups and individual interviews. The research addressed three specific questions about PEC:

•How did the spiritual/indigenous guiding principles influence your beliefs/actions?
•Which practices within the pedagogy had the strongest and/or weakest implications on your beliefs/ actions, and research/academic identity?
•What personal and/or social transformations evolved as a result of this pedagogy?

The paper is significant because it attempts to introduce a transformative pedagogy that unifies the heart of human beings, our existential struggles, and academia ultimately creating “New Tomorrows” consisting of balance, love, compassion, and a commitment to courageous action.

Author

• Ricardo Medina, San Diego State University