CGEE is inspired by Paulo Freire鈥檚 philosophy of popular education, as well as other critical, experiential, feminist, indigenous, and postcolonial pedagogies that foment transformation. 聽The goal of all of our educational programs is the empowerment of the participants to work for personal and social transformation.
CGEE’s Five Pillars of Education
Intercultural
CGEE draws upon the diverse backgrounds of participants,聽students, faculty, staff, and our domestic and聽international community members聽as the basis of an聽intercultural experience. 聽This experience聽is enhanced by聽facilitated reflection which analyzes cultural traditions, values and ways of interpreting the world, whereby participants look聽at the聽complexities of diverse cultures and deepen their own聽cultural self-awareness.
Experiential
Our experiential聽programming聽combines a variety of activities such as story-telling, dialogue with host families and a聽range of community members, small group work, excursions, lectures, internships, films, and the聽use of music and the arts with other hands-on experiences. 聽As necessary catalysts for learning, critical聽analysis and reflection聽of the experiences are central to our programs and facilitation. Participants聽are asked to reflect upon both new experiences as well as prior knowledge in a global context.
Holistic
CGEE is committed to both intellectual and emotional learning. We encourage people to聽reflect upon how they learn best and to grow outside of their comfort zone. Our programs are聽developed with different learning styles in mind.
Analytical
CGEE encourages participants to analyze multiple perspectives and to develop their own聽viewpoints. Our experiential interactions, combined with background reading and research to聽determine the validity of information, provide the basis for critical analysis of multiple sides of聽an issue.
Transformative
CGEE believes that the purpose of education is to create a more just and sustainable world. Our聽goal is for learners to engage both in their own transformation and to act to bring about the聽changes they envision for our world. Transformative education leads to greater personal and聽social responsibility.