‘Everyone Has Humanity in Them’: Multidimensional Teaching and Learning Through Philosophy-based Discussion

Abstract

While many K-12 alternative education programs are transforming pedagogy and practice, the students who attend them often remain educationally marginalized. Simultaneously, in higher education, experiential learning courses grounded in the theory of engaged scholarship have frequently cast alternative K-12 students in roles subordinate to those of their college student “helpers.”  This paper describes a program designed to replace this ‘stigma’ paradigm with an asset-based approach highlighting mutuality and transformation, in the spirit of Freire’s conscientização.