What I really enjoyed about this chapter was its frankness regarding a variety of pedagogical issues that are important to me, and addressing how critical pedagogy deals with these issues. The biggest issue McLaren addressed is that of hegemony, which is something that the US school system struggles with. Being of a 'subordinate' culture, I feel I am more aware of the issues that teaching to the 'dominant' culture presents. The clearest statement McClaren makes about this is when he says "the dialectical nature of critical theory enables the educational researcher to see the school not simply as an arena of indoctrination or socialization or a site of instruction, but also as a cultural terrain that promotes student empowerment and self-transformation," which, to me, is saying that it has become clear that education should not be seen as a means of producing 'productive members of society' as dictated by the dominant culture, but to develop students who are both productive and critical thinkers (McClaren 62).
What I also appreciate about this article is the fact that it addresses the issue of cultural oppression in schooling not through just an ethnic viewpoint, but also a gender and socioeconomic standpoint. The idea that schools can and have educated students in such a way as to abuse democracy by convincing them to vote against their own interests seems like something that needs to be addressed in the educational system as it arises.
Of course, this ties into another issue, that of standards, and how they are addressed in regards to those who are not of the dominant culture which they are most suited for. Students from 'subordinate cultures' tend to perform poorly in the American school system, and it's an issue we as educators will have to address on an individual student scale by remaining flexible and promoting a variety of cultures, creating a cultural terrain, like McClaren stated.
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