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Book Reviews Giroux, Henry A. (2011), On Critical Pedagogy. New York: Continuum. (186 Pages) ISBN 978-1-44116-2-540 (Paperback) ₹ 1300 Reviewed by Parul Batra Henry Giroux is the Global TV Network Chair in English and Cultural Studies at McMaster University, Canada. His publications, spanning over three decades, vouch for his important contribution in the field of critical pedagogy, cultural studies, influence of media on the youth, among others. This collection of Giroux’s essays (2011) is a complex and important contribution in the field of education. Through his essays, Giroux raises questions on the traditional pedagogical system that relies on memorizing tasks for tests and rote learning. He suggests that since the 1980s, the right-wing conservative educational theorists have attempted to contain the influence of teachers by reducing the educational system to an establishment that promotes “unthinking”, “anti-intellectual” and “outcome-based” practices, in which the educators and students remain mere stakeholders. In fact, by charting the detrimental effect of neo-liberalism on educational technologies, Giroux fixes the significant role of education in democracy. He emphasizes how the free ideas of neo-liberals that address social issues, are in fact more harmful. Giroux’s assessment pivots on the theory that for a democracy to thrive, education must be central to it, and must also provide stimulus for critical engagement and debates. Apart from some fairly significant takeaways from the book, the main issue that gets highlighted is the sense of immediateness and urgency in wresting education from the immutable clutches of neo-liberalism. Over five sections, Giroux moves from discussing the immediate need for critical pedagogy in what he calls “dark times”, to suggesting techniques of rethinking education as sites of struggle and political resistance against the status quo. Giroux says, “As a form of provocation and challenge, critical pedagogy attempts to take young people beyond the world they are familiar with and makes clear how classroom knowledge, values, desires, and social relations are always implicated in power” (p. 6). The book urges the reader to participate in altering the hegemonic regime of a civic culture of anti-intellectual, banal education policies
FORTELL Issue No.36, January 2018
ISSN: Print 2229-6557, Online 2394-9244