Critical literacy, breadth of perspective and universities: Applying insights from Freire

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Abstract
This paper considers one feature of recent debates over core curricula and canons in higher education—the problem of finding the right balance between breadth and depth in reading—from a Freirean point of view. The paper falls into two major parts: the first explores the Freirean notion of critical literacy; the second applies Freire's ideas to the question of what, how and why students in universities ought to read. Freire promotes a dynamic linking of ‘word˚s with ‘world˚s. Critical reading, for Freire, demands a restless, curious, probing stance toward both texts and contexts. While Freire advocates a slow, careful, in-depth approach to the study of texts, he also stresses the importance of encountering and addressing a broad range of theoretical perspectives. Noting the importance of time in planning reading requirements, the author sketches three levels at which a core course based on Freirean principles might proceed. At each level, the aim is to enhance breadth of perspective through critical reading. Freirean critical literacy is seen as both the ideal on which core courses might be founded and the means through which students might go beyond such courses to other worthwhile forms of learning.

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