Paulo Freire has argued that the innate quest for freedom in humankind necessitates a critical examination of oppression, and that a truly useful pedagogy facilitates the emergence of such consciousness. This paper considers the possibility that in higher art education, competitive, corporate, institutional cultures that have been embraced for reasons of survival and protection, while staving off financial wolves for a time, are in danger of facilitating a greater threat. For the arts themselves stimulate both social cohesion and destructive individualism in equal measure. The key to a socially beneficial arts practice lies in education.

In the context of an arts industry that sees itself as vulnerable and oppressed, this paper asks, how do we become “fully human” in Freire's sense, as artists and educators? Are we producing citizens who are able to live with empathy and compassion, and might a move forward require an arts education that includes philosophical self reflection alongside political and social critique?