Using a self-study methodology to illustrate the ways in which educational institutions can be socially reproductive, hegemonic, and oppressive, the essayist reflects upon his experiences as an elementary school teacher in the United States and as a researcher and adult literacy instructor in Brazil and Mozambique.  Drawing upon his own experience engaging with Paulo Freire’s writings through autobiographical storytelling, he argues that Freire’s pedagogical models and theories provide a productive (albeit difficult) path for how to challenge unjust educational systems.  The essay closes by arguing that while Freirean pedagogy may be difficult to imagine or implement on a large scale, the writings of Paulo Freire provide a framework wherein educators as individuals can push themselves and their students towards Freire’s notion of critical consciousness.

The extant literature on 20th and 21st century public policy in Brazil makes clear that the private sector and social elite have long had an interest and influence in government across all sectors, that they have at many times brought in reforms from outside of Brazil, and that for the last several decades that international influence has been neoliberal in both policy and ideology. More to the point, the current literature argues that neoliberal ideology is commonly reflected in contemporary Brazilian policymaking--however, no research as of yet explores how that thinking is enacted, particularly within Brazilian education policy. This dissertation addresses this gap by exploring how what I call market logic, or the belief that ideas and services that come from private companies and nonprofits are inherently superior to those provided by the public sector, permeates current education policy in Rio de Janeiro, and how that ideology is both accepted and resisted by various stakeholders within Rio's education circles. Drawing on interviews with Secretariat administrators, teachers and nonprofit workers, I argue that the current administration of Rio's Secretariat is run by people who subscribe heavily to market logic in their thinking and policymaking, in large part because of the ideological role of market logic in supporting the business-oriented currently dominant educational project. However, I also use participant observations of a public school teacher strike and interviews with nonprofit workers within Teach For Brazil (an educational nonprofit that has adapted the education reform model popularized by the U.S. nonprofit Teach for America) to show how many stakeholders in Rio's public schools are resisting that project and rejecting the notion that private educational models and ideas are inherently more efficacious than public options.