Abstract

This article primarily addresses and describes the dispositional transformation of a university professor from an insecure faculty member in a teacher education program to one who embraces concepts of authentic and unpretentious purposes of education. That is, this article discusses the recovery from personal pedagogical failures to an apparent personal awakening of hidden potentials by overcoming fears of rejection. Ancillary themes of this article promote a critical pedagogy ideology that facilitates persistent growth and understanding of the realities of one’s humanness beyond merely content-only learning. This discussion also examines the locus of control (internal and external) and self-efficacy, the significant importance of these concepts in higher education, and how critical pedagogy can support an ideology of self-empowerment for students.