Critical pedagogy in action : a brief, comparative examination of educational systems in Bhutan and among the Zapatistas in Mexico

This paper explores the relationship between education and social transformation, using a critical pedagogic perspective. I focus on two case studies: the Zapatista education system in southern Mexico and the educational reforms related to Gross National Happiness in Bhutan. I contend that there is no such thing as an “objective” pedagogy, for each context, each theoretical underpinning, and each policy implementation, serves some agenda somewhere. I also contend that bottom-up innovations are preferable to top-down mandates and the examples I cite have relevance to the shifting demographics and rapid social changes in Icelandic society. I assert that at this stage of human development, a period of late stage capitalism and “neo-liberalism”, education must be a force for transformative change and, with the case studies provided, demonstrate areas where this can be clearly seen, documenting some of the successes as well as some limitations. I contend that without a serious commitment to making education a tool for radical social and economic changes necessary to the survival of humankind, the value of said education, already under the invisible aegis of hidden curriculums or political agendas, is of little use; an assertion somewhat beyond defending in this brief comparative analysis between systems