Discuss the argument that a person without critical consciousness is of disservice to his

of his community.
Multitudes of research have suggested that critical consciousness refers to the ability to
recognize and analyse systems of inequality and the commitment to take action against
these systems — can be a gateway to academic motivation and achievement for
marginalized students. Freire believed that Education is a liberating process but it cannot
liberate people from their misery unless it arouses awareness in them. This process of
arousing new awareness is called critical consciousness which means a campaign to
increase or raise public awareness. It is a practical need in present educational and social
context to bring desirable changes in society1.
Faiza Jamil, a Human Development Professor at Clemson University states that critical
consciousness helps you to be able to see beyond your own personal experience and
understand the diverse experiences that other people in the country have---thus alluding
to the reasons why it is important for people to be critically conscious in socities.
In accordance with Dr. Bettina Love’s writing, that without critical consciousness, we
face the danger of turning “schools into places that mirror society instead of improving
it.” By weaving critical consciousness into instructional practices, teachers provide a
pathway for students “to understand that if we have to learn with each other, we should
also learn about each other so we can bring each other up,” as suggested by Christopher
Emdin. For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood… and the Rest of Y’all Too: Reality
Pedagogy and Urban Education.2
An individual with critical consciousness is of paramount importance to a community for
it gives said individual or individuals the ability to adapt to social change and all the
changes it collectively breeds. According to Freire, critical consciousness aims to
dismantle cultures of silence and cultural rigidity that quell freedom of thought. The
significance of critical consciousness in social change is the realisation of social thinking.
With critical consciousness comes the ability to realise who you are where you stand and
those notions are important in society. “Critical consciousness is linked with social
change. It plays an important role to raise critical consciousness of illiterate people.
When they become conscious, they will be able to realize their condition in society. They
could understand their position that where they are standing and where they should
stand and for which thing, they should take stands.” 3
Without critical consciousness one cannot adapt to the ever developing and ever
dynamic facets of social change. In the instance that one possesses critical
consciousness, they are able to speak up about the injustices that are destroying their
communities, hereby pioneering the much-needed notion of social change. A person with
critical consciousness as an example, can show children that they deserve just as much
respect as adults deserve, contrary to the cultural belief that damage societies by
encouraging children to be silent because speaking up or challenging their parents’
reasoning is regarded as “rude” or “impolite”.
A person enlightened with the nuances of critical consciousness plays a massive role in
their community within the scope of removing or dismantling the culture of silence. The
dominant system of social relation originates a culture of silence that imprints a negative
1
CRITICAL CONSCIOUSNESS AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE IN SOCIAL CHANGE , 2018 JETIR August 2018, Volume 5,
Issue 8 www.jetir.org (ISSN-2349-5162), page 1070
2
For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood… and the Rest of Y’all Too: Reality Pedagogy and Urban Education.
3
Paulo Fierre, “Education for critical consciousness”, Pg 8, 1974.
silenced and suppressed self-image into the oppressed. Due to consciousness, oppressed
people may realize that they are afflicted with culture of silence and they become
conscious about the causes behind it. To break any ill structure of society it is necessary to
recognize the problem and its roots. Critical consciousness is excellent path to remove the
culture of silence. A person with critical consciousness can assist in enlightening other
people about ill structures and create spaces or rooms on how to dismantle said ill
structures ruining the society. If people lack critical consciousness they will just reside in
the fallacies and horrors of the ill structures in their communities.
Communities need people with critical consciousness to dismantle the banking education
system that’s a plague to the education systems of communities. With the advent of
critical consciousness came the concept of challenging the norms in most education
systems utilised in the world. Education systems have a tendency to spew knowledge on
learners leaving them barely any room to question any concepts or critique them as well.
Known to most scholars as the banking system of the concept of education, one can
surmise that learners for quite some time have been passive learners in class who haven’t
been given room to utilise their minds or imagination to establish goals in their certainity.
The removal of the banking concept of education facilitates a much-needed attack on
contemporary education system, Freire called it, ‘banking model of education’. In this
system of education teacher’s behavior was authoritative, they were active orators and
students behave as passive listeners. Teachers pour knowledge in students as they were
piggy bank. In this process teachers were free to deposit knowledge as a depositor.
Students were like ‘tabula rasa’. Against this system of education Freire propagated
problem posing method which leads students to think critically that was very useful
instrument to break the strong structure of banking education. Thus it is vital for an
individual to have critical consciousness to pave way for a more dynamic education system
that can edify children’s minds with knowledge and the ability to question societal norms.
A good education system is required to breed a great community and those facts won’t be
a reality unless someone or most people have critical consciousness to destroy the banking
concept of education.
A person who is not equipped with critical consciousness does a major disservice to his or
her community for they negate the system of teaching that has been normalised in
communities. When members of a community are equipped with critical consciousness thy
can foster the establishment of a democratic relationship between teachers and students.
In the process of critical consciousness students and teachers both will learn together.
Students are free to ask questions, to react and to express their views. Thus, it can be said
that critical consciousness can propel democratic relationships between teachers and their
students to facilitate a more conducive learning environment.
A person who lacks critical consciousness does not contribute to community as they act as
more of hindrance than a propeller to economic prosperity. Unquestionably the issue of
poverty is reduced with the help of education. Illiterate people believe and accept their
poverty as their destiny. More or less they believe that they can’t do anything for social
change. But critical consciousnesses opens their eyes and create a path for economic
prosperity. Ultimately, people equipped with critical consciousness tend to make effort for
the purpose of achieving prosperity. Often times, a person with critical consciousness
shares his or her knowledge to help facilitate critical consciousness to others as well for
widespread economic prosperity.
Critical consciousness aids in removing orthodoxies and superstitious behaviour. That being
said, an individual who is critically conscious can assist in dismantling harmful
superstitious practises that hinder societal progress. The multi-faceted theory of critical
consciousness is based upon logic, analysis and reasoning. Doubtlessly if any concept is
tested on the basis of reason and logic, the flaws of concept must be removed. Critical
consciousness brought about the end of cultural practises that did nothing but harm
people. In Zimbabwe, people took to killing twins as they thought that they were a bad
omen. However, the killings were put to a stop when the Zimbabweans were made aware
of the cruelty of their acts. Thus, people with critically conscious minds are able to
dismantle orthodoxies and superstitious behaviour that have long reigned and harmed
other members of the community.
Critically conscious people have knowledge about the cooperative feeling among
oppressed and oppressors, hence they are advantageous to the community. Whether they
are the oppressor or the oppressed, critically conscious people know where they stand in
society and how to approach the problems, they face within the community. In the process
of critical consciousness both oppressed and oppressors stand at the same platform of
seeking the root of their problem and thus the solution of their problem. Because both
parties are aware of their positions and the benefits or drawbacks they enjoy, they can
create a web of communication and understanding.
People with a deeper grasp of critical consciousness challenge the stagnancy of certainty,
hence their undeniable importance to society. Freire has observed that educated people
gain certain facets of knowledge after education. That knowledge can make them masters
of particular areas requiring expertise or general areas as well. That being said, Freire
claims that people develop complacency after education. They rest on their certainty and
leave little room for different schools of thoughts. Herein lies the importance of critical
consciousness --- it’s ability to challenge the complacency of one’s preconceived notions
and facets of knowledge. As Freire continuously points out, critical consciousness seeks to
constantly question. Critical consciousness does not believe in certainties. 4 Hence,
individuals who have critical consciousness dismantle foundations of certainty in their
communities in order to make room for knew and beneficial knowledge that could even
better their communities.
It is further adumbrated that education is not quantity of knowledge but rather the quality
of the mind. That is, it’s ability to question, probe, analyse, discern and determine. These
facts alone are a mirror of the importance of critical consciousness. Critical consciousness
is important for it’s ability to give a human a mind equipped with knowledge and the
ability to edify it without relying on certainties.
Furthermore, critical consciousness is vital to people and communities in the world of
problem solving. The very purpose of critical consciousness is to question systems,
whether deemed fair or unfair. Thus, critical consciousness breeds one’s ability to solve
problems in after receiving the knowledge of the system they reside in and grow in as a
whole. Without critically conscious people, communities would struggle to find ways to
either circumvent, mitigate, quell and solve problems in the event that they arise in any
way shape of form.

4
Alexis Jemal, Critical Consciousness: A Critique and Critical Analysis of the Literature, 2017 May 2,
doi: 10.1007/s11256-017-0411-3
Conclusively, it is paramount that a person is equipped with critical consciousness in order
to be active and beneficial to the communities they reside in. A person who lacks critical
consciousness cannot be part of a community as they can and will perpetuate stagnancy
and complacency in systems that should be dismantled or questioned.
Bibliography
1. CRITICAL CONSCIOUSNESS AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE IN SOCIAL CHANGE , 2018 JETIR August 2018,
Volume 5, Issue 8 www.jetir.org (ISSN-2349-5162), page 1070

2. For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood… and the Rest of Y’all Too: Reality Pedagogy and Urban
Education.

3. Paulo Fierre, “Education for critical consciousness”, Pg 8, 1974.

4. Alexis Jemal, Critical Consciousness: A Critique and Critical Analysis of the Literature, 2017 May 2,
doi: 10.1007/s11256-017-0411-3