The current paper sought to clarify the character of Paulo Freire’s earliest thoughts about education. Freire wrote an article entitled “Educação e Atualidade Brasileira” to gain an educational history and educational philosophy professor at Recife University in 1959. This article preceded his educational practice in the literacy project at Recife, which began in 1962. In “Educação e Atualidade Brasileira”, Freire treats the important problem of “inexperience of democracy” in Brazil and highlights the role of education in democratization. Freire’s ideas are based on the ontology and empiricism of John Dewey. “Inexperience of democracy” was described in the Brazilian historical context of Portuguese colonization and dependence. Thus, Freire argued that Brazilian education was an important part of making Brazil independent. This means that the goal of education is to create new experiences in which people participate and change the historical and cultural context of the country. In the middle period of his career, Freire incorporated Marx’s dialectical materialism into his own thinking. However, the origins and germination of Freire’s initial thinking are represented in “Educação e Atualidade Brasileira”.