Critical pedagogy. Dewey explicitly argued that progressive education should
not be entirely “child-centered” but needed to address social problems in the child’s
world. Many of Dewey’s more overtly political followers have therefore emphasized
importance of “social reconstruction” or “social responsibility” as primary goals of
education. In the 1970s, after the publication of Pedagogy of the Oppressed by the ra
Brazilian educator Paulo Freire, the term “critical pedagogy” came into use and many
progressive theorists now use it to mean a deliberate effort to educate for social
responsibility. They believe that the main purpose of education is not to transmit
knowledge and preserve social traditions but to transform society by helping students
develop a perceptive and inquisitive consciousness of the conditions of their culture.