"Critical Social Theory and Transformative Knowledge" by Zeus Leonardo

The author of this article presents a historical perspective of the origins of Critical Social Theory (CST) and how it has evolved within our educational realm.  It can be traced back to the work of Kant, Dewey, and Freire as the most notable influencers of the CST movement in education.  This theory relies on uncovering and critiquing the contradictions within our educational system, with a resulting utopia, or a dream for future remediation.   CST is meant to address question and critique persistent social issues, those that affect our society, not necessarily individual or personal issues.  Educators should create a classroom environment where students are encouraged to question social disparities, such as the persistence of racism and other "isms".  By fostering this practice, the goal is that students become thinkers and prepared to independently confront social injustices.   Although they might be well-equipped to pose critique, the solutions to those injustices will unlikely create must change since they are so persistent and impenetrable.  Instead of thinking that we will create change by critiquing and challenging social structures, we can have a vision that these changes are possible and can occur in the future.

Questions:

1. How can we better prepare future educators to promote CST in their classrooms?
2. In a time of focused educational standards and high expectations for standardized test results, teachers feel they don't have autonomy to go off prescribed curriculum.  How can they have the freedom to promote a classroom environment of critique and social awareness?