Introduction

Against the approach narrowing down critical thinking as a narrow ‘skill’, which can be measured in terms of a reified idea of ‘efficiency’, the Paris Self-Managed Highschool or LAP (Lycée Autogéré de Paris) argues that critical thinking can only take place on the basis of democratic practices. It follows that LAP is embedded in the broader history of democratic education and is influenced by the theories of Brazilian educator Paulo Freire, notably by his critique of top-down ‘banking pedagogy’. For Freire, banking pedagogy is a decontextualized and authoritarian way of teaching in which students’ heads are empty ‘banks’ needed to be filled with ‘what is best for them’ from above. Through allowing for the self-management of the institution, in its mission statement, LAP intends to position itself as an integral part of the praxis of democratic education. How this unfolds on a daily basis will be the concern of the book, in which I carry out a critical ethnography that can be considered a ‘critical theory in action’, in line with the logic of critical pedagogic discourse. It is a critical praxis itself in so far as its goal is to reveal unfair relations of power hidden beneath the surface of what seems to be ‘given’, to take into account and acknowledge the critical expressions of different communities of practice as valid critique and to enact or inspire acts toward social justice.