The Education of the Oppressed and the Oppressor: A Mediation On Revolutionary Educational Philosophy and the Luigi Mangione Paradox
Education is often framed as a personal journey — a path to growth, skill development, and individual achievement. But let’s not kid ourselves: education has always been about more than just filling heads and ticking boxes. Real learning, as constructivist and progressivist thinkers have argued, reshapes how we see ourselves and the world, and it’s rarely comfortable. It’s about changed behavior, they would argue. Vygotsky’s view of learning as a social process reminds us that education is transformative not just for the individual but for the messy, interconnected web of relationships they inhabit. It’s about asking hard questions and dismantling illusions — not the kind of thing that fits neatly into a test score.
This dynamic becomes all the more relevant when we examine contemporary events that blur the boundaries of education’s role in personal and social transformation. Take Luigi Mangione, a graduate of a prestigious private boys’ school in the United States, whose name currently dominates our social media feeds Lauded by some as a hero and reviled by others, Mangione stands accused of murdering a CEO of a major insurance company, allegedly driven by outrage over capitalist greed and its impact on democracy.
His school’s ethos emphasized diversity and service, preparing students to serve the greater good. Yet Mangione’s radical interpretation of these ideals — resorting to violence — raises profound questions. Did his education fail to guide him toward constructive activism? Or did it instill a misguided sense of duty that festered into something destructive? Or considering what we have learned of his Goodreads reviews, perhaps this is the natural outcome of someone who took their learning to deeper, uncharted places, considering the broader social context of late-stage capitalism. What if Mangione, despite sharing the face of the oppressor, became its victim — trapped in a cycle of privilege and rebellion, searching for a way out that the system itself could never provide? or…what if…
“I remember you was conflicted
Misusing your influence
Sometimes I did the same…”
-from Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly.
Having taught in affluent IB communities, I’ve seen the paradoxes of elite education up close. On one hand, these schools encourage students to grapple with justice and equity. On the other, they risk nurturing a savior complex — a kind of moral adrenaline rush that is rarely tempered by humility or real connection to the communities they’re trying to “help.” Social learning, in such settings, can easily become an exercise in self-congratulation — what Paulo Freire might call the oppressors learning to “de-oppress themselves.” Mangione’s story forces us to confront an uncomfortable truth: even the noblest educational missions can backfire if they aren’t grounded in genuine collaboration and a sense of shared humanity.
Philosophical Foundations: From Freire to Social Reconstructionism
Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed anchors my mediation here. Freire saw education as liberation, a way for learners to reclaim their agency through dialogue and critical action. For him, learning isn’t just about absorbing facts; it’s about breaking down the walls of oppressive systems and imagining something better.
His words cut to the heart of it: “The oppressed, having internalized the image of the oppressor and adopted his guidelines, are fearful of freedom.”
But I say think on this: what happens when the oppressor starts to empathize with the oppressed? When they look in the mirror and realize the line between “us” and “them” is thinner than they’d like to admit? That moment — fraught, awkward, but undeniably powerful — is where transformation begins. But let’s not romanticize it. This kind of reckoning is messy, and it takes courage to confront complicity without slipping into performative guilt.
Social reconstructionism takes Freire’s ideas a step further. Thinkers like George Counts and Theodore Brameld argued that education should not just critique society but actively rebuild it. Schools, they insisted, have a moral obligation to empower students to challenge inequities and imagine new possibilities. This isn’t about churning out “world leaders” in glossy yearbooks; it’s about equipping people to engage with the world as it is and work toward what it could be.
To contextualize these questions further, it is essential to reflect on the perspectives of historical revolutionaries and activists. Martin Luther King Jr. once stated, “A riot is the language of the unheard,” emphasizing the desperation that fuels violent acts while advocating for nonviolence as a path to justice.
“The greatest humanistic and historical task of the oppressed: to liberate themselves…” ― Paulo Freire
Malcolm X’s philosophy of “by any means necessary” highlights the complex spectrum of revolutionary thought, where systemic change is often seen as requiring direct confrontation. Malcolm X’s assertion that “Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today” underscores the transformative power of self-directed learning. His own journey, from self-education in prison to becoming a global symbol of resistance, highlights how education can challenge systemic inequities while reshaping individual identities. This transformation, however, demands careful guidance to channel convictions toward constructive action.
The Current State of Schooling
Let’s be honest: the state of education today is a mixed bag. Here are some of the standout issues:
Testing Over Learning: The obsession with standardized testing has turned classrooms into factories. It’s all about regurgitation, leaving little room for creativity or critical inquiry.
Access Inequality: The gaps in resources and opportunities are staggering. Underfunded schools struggle to get by, while wealthy institutions pour money into state-of-the-art facilities.
Fractured Social Missions: Some schools genuinely try to foster global citizenship, but others are stuck in a rut, focused solely on producing high achievers who are more concerned with résumés than relationships.
Tech-Driven Isolation: While online learning has its perks, it often strips away the human connection that makes education transformative.
Enter the Mangione case, which raises questions about the unintended consequences of well-meaning educational ideals. Was his school’s effort to instill responsibility warped into a savior mindset? Or is it possible that his actions represent something deeper — a reckoning with the contradictions of privilege? Could Mangione’s radical move, as polarizing as it is, serve as a galvanizing force in a fractured society? Could it push those at odds to find common ground in the uneasy reflection of shared complicity and the need for change? Or does this have anything to do with it?
Is taking on the oppressor necessarily going to lead to a violent outcome? Modern examples show that it doesn’t have to be this way. In South Africa, the “Decolonize the Curriculum” movement is challenging Eurocentric narratives by integrating indigenous perspectives. Globally, movements like Fridays for Future are blending education with activism, showing how young people can lead the charge on critical issues like climate change. These efforts remind us that education, when done right, can be a catalyst for real, systemic change.
Photo by Andrew Amistad on Unsplash
Vision for Revolutionary Social Learning
You see the old way wasn’t working, so it’s on us to do what we gotta do to survive. From Tupac Shakur’s “Changes”
Revolutionary education cannot be satisfied with tweaking old models. It must challenge every assumption about how, where, and why we learn. Borrowing from Freire, Counts, and Brameld, here’s what a truly transformative approach could look like:
Invest in Teachers as Activists is the First Priority: A revolutionary education begins with those who lead it. Teachers must be empowered not just as facilitators but as activists and visionaries. Provide them with the tools, training, and resources to foster critical thinking, dismantle oppressive structures, and ignite change. The system cannot transform without those tasked to drive its reformation.
Critical Disruption of Power Structures: Go beyond questioning norms — empower students to identify and consider how dismantling oppressive systems brings real change and equanimity to real communities. This means engaging directly with issues like corporate exploitation, systemic racism, and environmental destruction.
Radical Community Immersion: Make learning inseparable from community action. Replace internships at elite firms with grassroots work in underserved areas, fostering humility and real-world impact.
Adjust Hierarchies in Classrooms: Work to flatten the teacher-student divide. Teachers become facilitators of dialogue, learning alongside students as they co-create solutions to societal problems.
Democratize Access to Knowledge: Education cannot remain a privilege. Utilize open-source materials, community-taught classes, and technology to break down barriers to learning.
Curriculum as Protest: Design courses that are inherently revolutionary — examining histories of resistance, the mechanics of systemic change, and the art of organizing movements.
Reclaim Assessment: Scrap the metrics of conformity. Evaluate students based on their ability to collaborate, problem-solve, and engage ethically with the world.
Liberate Learning Spaces: Education doesn’t belong in static classrooms. Use public parks, co-working spaces, and digital forums to make learning dynamic and accessible.
Looking Ahead
The future of education must bridge the personal and the collective, empowering individuals to see themselves as both unique and interconnected. Revolutionary teaching recognizes that education is never neutral: it either reinforces the status quo or disrupts it. And disruption — let’s face it — is rarely clean or easy.
Perhaps Mangione’s story underscores this urgency. Education must guide students not only to understand injustice but to act constructively in response. By drawing on revolutionary thinkers like Paulo Freire and aligning with modern movements for justice, we can redefine what it means to learn — and to lead — in a crumbling world that begs for real change.
References and Further Reading
Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Continuum.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Harvard University Press.
Counts, G. S. (1932). Dare the School Build a New Social Order?. Southern Illinois University Press.
Brameld, T. (1956). Toward a Reconstructed Philosophy of Education. Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.
Malcolm X, Haley, A. (1965). The Autobiography of Malcolm X. Ballantine Books.
King, M. L. Jr. (1967). Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?. Beacon Press.
Masenya, Tlou. (2022). Decolonization of Indigenous Knowledge Systems in South Africa. International Journal of Knowledge Management. 18(1), 1–22. https://doi.org/10.4018/IJKM.31000
Fridays for Future (Global Movement Resources).
