Neither Liberal nor Conservative: The Theoretical and Political Nuance of Critical Pedagogy in a Sectarian Climate

This article, acknowledging the variety of interpretations and applications of critical pedagogy, delves into the thought and politics of Paulo Freire to review theoretical and political foundations, along with a consideration of common criticisms and responses from critical theorists. Informed by recent literature, I highlight the theory of critical pedagogy as dialectic, and examine the inherent political nature of critical pedagogy as non-sectarian, anti-neoliberal, radical-progressive, democratic, and humanist.  After reviewing the theoretical and political foundations of critical pedagogy, I consider criticisms in the literature related to its emphasis on theory as abstract, potential inherent sexism and cultural invasiveness.  As I aim to show, these criticisms, while not without some merit, are based primarily on a strawman portrayal of critical pedagogy as inherently liberating without serious interrogation of the intentions of the teacher.  Noteworthy criticisms which may help the field of critical pedagogy to evolve beyond a myopic view of democracy originate from Indigenous scholars’ approach to integration and critique of critical pedagogy.  The significance of this article pertains to clarification and reconsideration of critical principles in an era where schooling serves as a battleground between liberal and conservative forces.  In an era of polarization, critical pedagogy contributes an underrepresented perspective in this debate, as it critiques both Right and Left, offering a critically nuanced rather than a sectarian assessment

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Praxes of Transformation: Envisioning Futures of Critical Pedagogy in Teaching and Learning

This session is guided by a desire to bring about better futures through social justice education. Guided by Paulo Freire’s philosophy of critical pedagogy, the panelists in this session bring forth unique expressions of light, love, and life to provide new pathways toward humanization through teaching and learning. Panelists in this session offer reflective/reflexive vision and praxes of their past and present, to open up possibilities for critical pedagogy in the future. Specific topics explored by panelists include: 1) the utility of Freire\u27s concept of utopia for the realization of critical pedagogy in the sphere of teacher education, 2) the work of trans-Pacific “transgressive scholars” (Kincheloe, as cited in Freire, 2005) who apply Freirean lessons by examining themselves, their practice, their relationship to students, and their profession to resist the impact of neoliberalism on praxis, 3) a scholar- practitioner’s journey toward cultural relevance and sustainability, 4) the role of hope in a teacher education course, and 5) reflections on epistemic responsibility and solidarity as praxis