Biography
Born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in 1948, and raised in both Toronto and Winnipeg, Manitoba, Professor McLaren earned his doctorate in 1984, and served the following year as Special Lecturer in Education at Brock University where he specialized in teaching language arts in urban schools. Professor McLaren also served as a consultant for the National Film Board of Canada and served on the Canadian Cancer Society Educational Subcommittee, 1980-83. Professor McLaren moved to the United States in 1985 to help create The Center for Education and Cultural Studies at Miami University of Ohio where he served as Director and held the title of Renowned Scholar-in-Residence and taught from 1985-1993. Professor McLaren then taught at the University of California, Los Angeles from 1985-2013 as a Professor in the Division of Urban Schooling at the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies. Professor McLaren taught elementary and middle school from 1974-1979, and most of that time was spent teaching in Canada’s largest public housing complex located in Toronto’s Jane-Finch Corridor. Cries from the Corridor, McLaren’s book about his teaching experiences, made the Canadian bestseller list and was one of the top ten bestselling books in Canada in 1980 (MacLean’s Magazine), initiating a country-wide debate on the status of inner-city schools.
Professor McLaren is a dual Canadian-American citizen, having become a US citizen in 2000. Professor McLaren is the author and editor of nearly 50 books and his writings have been translated into over 20 languages. Five of his books have won the Critic’s Choice Award of the American Educational Studies Association. Professor McLaren’s book, Life in Schools: An Introduction to Critical Pedagogy in the Foundations of Education (Allyn & Bacon), has been named one of the 12 most significant writings by foreign authors in the field of educational theory, policy and practice by the Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences; the list includesPedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire and Deschooling Society by Ivan Illich and books by Pierre Bourdieu and Howard Gardner. Life in Schools is currently in press with Paradigm Publishers in its 6th edition.
The charter for La Fundacion McLaren de Pedagogia Critica was signed at the University of Tijuana in July, 2004 and was later moved to Ensenada, Mexico under the title, Instituto McLaren de Pedagogia Critica y Educatcion Popular. Instituto McLaren de Pedagogia Critica y Educacion Popular offers courses, degrees and training in popular education and has been named in Professor McLaren’s honor.
Professor McLaren will be associated with Chapman’s historical commitment to the memory of Paulo Freire, as demonstrated by the university’s Freire archive collection and the only known North American bust of the well-known Brazilian pedagogical theorist. He has been invited to collaborate with Tom Wilson, Ed.D., director of Chapman’s Paulo Freire Democratic Project, and Suzanne SooHoo, Ph.D., Hassinger Endowed Chair in Culture, Community and Collaboration, in the reinvention of the Freire Project at Chapman, as well as formal and informal educational projects of ethical and democratic practices
Statement of Purpose
This website is developed as a resource for students of critical pedagogy. The critical pedagogy which I support and practice advocates non-violent dissent, the development of a philosophy of praxis guided by a Marxist humanism, the study of revolutionary social movements and thought, and the struggle for socialist democracy. It is opposed to liberal democracy, which only serves to facilitate the reproduction of capital. It advocates a multiracial and anti-imperialist social movement dedicated to opposing racism, capitalism (both in private property and state property forms), sexism, heterosexism, hierarchies based on social class, as well as other forms of oppression. It draws its inspiration from philosophers of revolutionary praxis such as Paulo Freire, Raya Dunayevskaya, and other philosophers, social theorists and political activists and supports all those who yearn and struggle for freedom. Critical pedagogy is opposed to both state terrorism and individual acts of terrorism. As Freire writes in The Pedagogy of Freedom, “Terrorism is the negation of what I call a universal human ethic.” Critical pedagogy is driven by the engine of class struggle in both national and international arenas.
Este sitio web está desarrollado como una fuente de consulta para estudiantes de la Pedagogía Crítica. La Pedagogía Crítica que apoyo y practico se aboga por el disentimiento no violento, el desarrollo de una filosofía de la praxis guiada por un humanismo marxista, el estudio y pensamiento de los movimientos sociales revolucionarios y la lucha por una democracia socialista. Lo anterior se opone a la democracia liberal, la cual sirve únicamente para facilitar la reproducción del capital. Se aboga por un movimiento social multirracial, antiimperialista dedicado para oponerse al racismo, el capitalismo (tanto en la propiedad privada como las formas de propiedad del Estado), el sexismo, el heterosexismo, las jerarquías basadas en las clases sociales, así como otras formas de opresión. Se delinea con la inspiración de filósofos de la praxis revolucionaria como Paulo Freire, Raya Dunayevskaya y otros filósofos, teóricos sociales y activistas políticos y en todo aquél que anhele y luche por la libertad. La pedagogía crítica se opone tanto al terrorismo de Estado como a los actos del terrorismo individual. Como Freire escribe en la Pedagogía de la Libertad, “El terrorismo es la negación de lo que llamo una ética universal humana.” La Pedagogía Critica se ha conducido por el motor de la lucha de clases, tanto en arenas internacionales como nacionales.*
*(La traducción ha sido hecha por el Mtro. Sergio Velasco Yáñez, integrante del Cuerpo Académico “Procesos de Educación de Personas Jóvenes y Adultas” de la Unidad 011, Aguascalientes, de la Universidad Pedagógica Nacional, quien ha gestionado su participación en el Seminario Internacional: “El Poder de Educar: La Pedagogía Crítica a debate”. 28, 29 y 30 de Enero de 2009 en la Sala Audiovisual.)
NOTE: “The thoughts and ideas on this blog are my own and are not necessarily reflective of the opinions of Chapman University”
Questions Or Comments:
You can direct questions or comments to Timothy Bolin
Chapman University
College of Educational Studies
1 University Dr, Orange, CA 92866
Email: bolin108@mail.chapman.edu