Nationality North American Name James Kirylo | Role Author | |
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Occupation University Professor, Author Subject critical pedagogy, curriculum theory, liberation theology, multiculturalism, literacy Books Paulo Freire: The Man from Recife | ||
James David Kirylo (born 1958 in Italy) is a university professor who teaches courses that examine concepts associated with critical pedagogy, teacher leadership, diversity and literacy. He is the author and editor of numerous publications. His latest book is Teaching with Purpose: An Inquiry into the Who, Why, and How We Teach. Along with other books, Kirylo is also the author of Paulo Freire: The Man from Recife, which is one of the most comprehensive texts in English on the life and thought of Paulo Freire, significantly contributing to Freirean scholarship.
Contents
Early life
Kirylo was raised in a Mediterranean seaside community called Tirrenia, between Livorno and Pisa in the Tuscany region of Italy. After his high school studies, he moved to the United States and studied education at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah. Upon receiving his degree in elementary education in 1981, Kirylo went on to teach elementary school for 18 years in a variety of public and private school settings in three states, including working with the Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity in Holy Trinity, Alabama.
Educator
He later conducted his graduate work at the University of New Orleans, receiving two M.Ed. degrees and a Ph.D., focusing his studies on curriculum theory, critical pedagogy, liberation theology, and literacy. Kirylo is a faculty member in the College of Education and Human Development at Southeastern Louisiana University, where he has served as president of the faculty senate. He has also taught at the University of South Alabama, Universidad Evángelica del Paraguay, and the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
He sits on the Executive Board for the Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI) and the editorial boards for the Journal of Curriculum and Pedagogy and Childhood Education. He is a regular reviewer for those journals. Kirylo is best known for his contribution to critical pedagogy, diversity, curriculum, and liberation theology.
In 2012, Kirylo received the Southeastern Louisiana University President's Award for Excellence in Research.
Aspects of thought
Influenced by the work of Paulo Freire and other progressives, Kirylo suggests that education is not a neutral enterprise but a highly charged political affair, largely dictated by the voices that have the most capital power. More often than not, according to Kirylo, these particular voices have propagated a view of education and the notion of school reform as one that has morphed into a language that can be characterized as corporate speak.
Kirylo argues there are those who have become so enamored with the convenience of explaining school reform with detached terminology such as outcomes, results, performance, monetary rewards, takeover, competition, and comparing and contrasting that they have created a system analogous to describing a for-profit corporation, resulting in the creation of "winners" and "losers," ultimately fostering what he describes institutionalization of the depersonalization of education. Consequently, in order to ascertain the accuracy of who the winners and losers are, the infrastructure that protects that interest has to be secured. In the end, Kirylo suggests this type of system fosters the objectification of school-aged children, possesses an extraordinarily distorted view of what is educationally important, and largely blames teachers for anything that ails education. Moreover, this type of system has fostered a subtle and not-so-subtle move systematically to deprofessionalize the notion of teacher education and the teaching profession in general, all of which reduces teachers into mechanical functionaries, seriously preventing them from fostering critical thought, innovation, and creativity in actual classroom practice. Not only asserting that to be called an educator is an incredible responsibility and an earned privilege requiring involvement in the political process, Kirylo argues that schooling is a complex affair, suggesting educators collectively unite in challenging systems that propagate a corporate point of view of education.
Research on Freire
In Paulo Freire: The Man from Recife, Kirylo makes the point that the notion of education "reform" is not what is needed. That is, the word "reform" only implies change or modification yet maintains the fundamental infrastructure of the existing system. Rather, what is needed, according to Kirylo, is radical, transformative change of the infrastructure of the system itself. He also points out that a beginning step toward that change is to reframe public discourse with concepts that explore schooling as a place where educators authentically tap into the multiple intelligences of naturally curious children, and discuss the meaning of engaged teaching, cultural relevance, meaningful learning, developmentally appropriate practice (DAP), and holistic assessment and where an authentic fostering of the professionalization of teaching exists. In the end, Kirylo states, schooling is about learning, and meaningful learning takes place in an arena where all children are invited to participate, not to compete.