Critical Pedagogy and Dialectical Thought in the Secondary English Classroom

INTRODUCTIONIn a time of ever-growing disparity between the wealthy and poor, immense political/economic power held by the select few, and unprecedented standardization and regimentation in our country's schools (Hill, 2006; Giroux, 2008; McLaren & Farahmandpur, 2001), now more than ever is there a need for America's youth to be able to think critically and dialectically. In order to seriously address this nation's issues (e.g., poverty, racism), students must be able to break down arguments, see the facts from all sides, and then come to a clear, independent decision free from hype and hearsay. According to McLaren, Martin, Farahmandpur, and Jaramillo (2004), our nation's schools are the perfect "vehicle for social transformation, as a way of addressing larger social contradictions and antagonisms" (p. 140), yet the current trend in education is to move further and further away from using critical thinking skills (Kumashiro, 2008; Law & Kaufhold, 2009). As a result of teachers being required to focus solely on subject matter that will be presented on standardized tests mandated by No Child Left Behind (NCLB), high school students are increasingly becoming unquestioning, uncritical, test-taking automatons (Hursh, 2008; Jones, 2007; Lugg, 2007). Curriculum is being narrowed to the point that untested subjects, such as art and music, are being completely cut out of daily lessons (Kumashiro, 2008; McCarthey, 2008; Sleeter, 2005). Even though there are many educators who feel that "critical thinking is an organic and fundamental element of the meaning of education" (Pavlidis, 2010, p. 75), more and more students are being denied the classroom opportunities to think critically since educators must teach to the test (Jones, 2007; Spring, 2010; Webb, Briscoe, & Mussman, 2009) in order to score higher on the required standardized assessments."In general," states McDaniel (2004), "children in the United States are taught to not question the status quo and to accept and obey the voice of authority" (p. 473), yet in order to produce a more equitable and just society for all, our youth must have the confidence to break away from our current state of intellectual uniformity (Spring, 2010) and be able to clearly identify and address the sociopolitical issues they encounter in their everyday lives. Today, our public schools are consistently and vociferously blamed for many of society's ills (Berliner & Biddle, 1995), but teachers have the power to arm students with the skills necessary to become responsible citizens, ones who can find solutions to our country's problems and act upon them, and not just lay the blame at others' feet. As is evident by the vast punditry of our media, we have more than enough of those people already.In order for educators to help their students become critically engaged thinkers, their teaching philosophy must be grounded in the theory of critical pedagogy through a desire for social justice. For teachers, reflecting on how we engage our students is difficult, and change is often uncomfortable (Yagelski, 1999), but in order to help a new generation of students realize their potential power to create change in our society, teachers, especially those in English/Language Arts (ELA), need to take the initiative (Mantle-Bromley & Foster, 2005). More so than most other academic subjects, the language arts classroom "extends itself most readily [for delving into] very real and serious subjects" since "[f]inding an author's purpose and discovering what comment on life an author is making are at the heart of studying literature" (Greenslate, 2007, p. 29). It is through this discussion and analysis that students can begin to approach issues of social justice. In the ELA classroom, "social justice is a way to increase students' abilities to articulate their experiences, critique their world, and address those identified issues with subsequent action" (Chapman, Hobbel, & Alvarado, 201 1, pp. …