William Brickman and Paulo Friere: A Comparison A good education may be one of the most important things to which an individual can aspire. Even so, thoughts, ideas, and theories on education are not always agreed upon, even by experts in the educational field. Two such educators are Paulo Friere and William Brickman. This paper will look at the contributions of both men, their similarities and differences, as well as difficulties both encountered in their respective journeys.
Friere and Brickman 's Backgrounds and Contributions Born in 1921, Paulo Friere 's Brazilian family was impacted by the stock market crash of 1929. He found himself living among an entirely new class of people than that where his family originated. Here, he saw firsthand the oppression of the peasantry in the region (Flanagan, 2006). This instilled upon him an intense sense educational justice for all classes. William Brickman 's beginnings were equally inauspicious, living in the poor section of the Lower East Side of New York City (Silova & Brehm, 2010). Here, he was exposed to multi-lingual and multi-cultural influences which stayed with him the rest of his life, impacting his thoughts and views on education. …show more content…
Throughout his career, he strove to remain unbiased in his assessment of education and people 's contrasting views. His ideas on comparative education seemed to assert that there was no one correct way to look at this field. His own focus was on the multilingual, international, and historical scholarship in comparative education. His work as an editor allowed him opportunities to publish the works of others, even when their thoughts differed from his