Abstract: Critical pedagogy is a movement, bound together in a concern about the impact of modern society on the conditions of growing up. Its methodological principles are those of the hermeneutics, the dialectics and the critique of ideologies. The author argues that relations between society and education can be discussed in three ways, i. e, critical pedagogy looks at education by discourse in terms of three paradigms. The first paradigm looks at education from a social standpoint only. The second paradigm focuses on the idea that education should be seen as an autonomous system. The third paradigm relates to the Bildung tradition and is renewed in the German reform pedagogy. Then, the author discusses its ten traditional origins, of which the author pays homage to Klaus Mollenhauer, who introduced empirical approaches to education research developed in the USA. Inspired by the late writings of Mollenhauer's, the author points out that the dynamics of social and cultural changes have accelerated in a way that does not suit the accelerating time an individual is given by nature. Meanwhile, critical pedagogy will have to meet the challenges posed by education in global society and create a safe environment for the sake of the children's development.