Book Review: Empowering Education, by Ira Shor

By: Patricia Austin
Publication: The Quarterly, Vol. 16, No. 2
Date: Spring/Summer 1994

Summary: Patricia Austin reviews Empowering Education by Ira Shor, which conveys the notion of knowledge not as a commodity to impose on students but rather as a problem posed to them for mutual inquiry toward social change. To empower students, Shor offers a methodology using problem posing, "desocialization," and dialogue in classes that are student centered but not permissive or self-centered. He refers to Paulo Freire's pedagogy with students in Brazil, and his own work with students at the City University of New York.

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