ABSTRACT
A conference on cultural imperialism was held in 1977 in Algeria, and education was one of the main topics. Without doubt, Paulo Freire laid the foundations for a new pedagogical imagination. The strongest critiques of Freire, from the right as well as the left, are related to the lack of rigor in his categories and to the use of terms closely linked to Marxism or functionalism outside of the corresponding theoretical contexts. The most well known and cited report on the state of education in the United States was the official document A Nation at Risk, published in 1983. Common political, educational, and communications concerns were the bases for the different types of analyses drawing on distinct theoretical frameworks and life experiences that were presented at the conference in Penang. The effects of the world economic crisis of the 1990s on education and the dissemination of information in poor nations sparked these concerns.
