The classic exposition which redefined the nature of teaching and education. Freire evolved a theory for the education of people who are illiterate, especially adults, based on the conviction that every human being, no matter how ‘ignorant’ or submerged in the ‘culture of silence’, is capable of looking critically at the world in a dialogical encounter with others. Provided with the proper tools for such an encounter, the individual can gradually perceive his or her personal social reality, and deal critically with it.