Satire as an Educative Tool for Critical Pedagogy in the Public Affairs Classroom

Critical pedagogy is a teaching praxis focused on theories of change. It is fundamentally concerned with the relationship between power and knowledge. Satire is a humor technique sometimes used to describe the absurdity of public policies, human behavior, and institutional practices. Using satire and critical pedagogy in the public affairs classroom can be useful to educate public administration students how to ask hard questions and consider multiple perspectives to become effective leaders and policymakers. Examples are shared from a public administration classroom focused on the analysis of education policy, the political economy of schools, and the politics of schooling.