Critical pedagogy aims to give students the tools and resources to challenge an oppressive system. While this is extremely worthwhile, I wonder if education can be used to prevent prejudice in its students. In my education, there was very little attention paid to our (the students') differences. In fact, a "we are all the same" rhetoric was very much present. Students are typically taught that they all have the same potential for success. If students were taught about the differences between people, I think they may be more likely to accept people that are not just like them. For example, if you are told your whole life that anybody can achieve success if they work hard enough, and you have never thought critically about this claim, than you may look at an underprivileged who has not achieved success and say "What's wrong with you? You threw away opportunities". The reality is that not everybody in this society has the same opportunities; why don't we tell students the truth about that? Then they would see the underprivileged person who is not successful and feel compassion, not contempt. This could potentially eliminate a lot of prejudice in the world.
Why are we afraid to tell students that the world is not fair?
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