Blog Post IT

In the article The Banking Concept of Education, Paulo Freire voices his thoughts on the current, versus an ideal, form of education. He dictates that the current form is called the "banking concept" of education. This means that students act simply as depositories to be filled to the brim with information. On the other hand is problem posing education, wherein questions and problems are raised in the classroom in hopes that students will solve them; all in attempts to give students a greater understanding of the content. Amidst his compelling argument, Freire also makes some powerful connections and statements regarding the teaching profession. He allows us as readers to dig below the text, and wonder how we will be preparing our future students for the world.

Well into the piece, Freire makes his claim writing, "Those truly committed to liberation must reject the banking concept in its entirety, adopting instead a concept of women and men as conscious beings, and consciousness as consciousness intent upon the world." This struck me when reading it because he talks about education in a light that I have not yet considered; education as an agent of liberation. Freire asks us to understand that when we are educating children, in a way we are setting them free. We are ridding them of the oppression of ignorance and allowing them to find their own way in the world. This is where his argument forms, since current methods, according to Freire, of freeing the oppressed are inherently oppressive. He asks us, as future teachers, to evaluate how we will be asking our students to learn. Will we be simply filling them with information? Or asking them the questions that allow them to be free in this world? I plan on using the second tactic.

Another interesting distinction he makes is the role teachers should be playing in the classroom. He explains that "through dialogue, the teacher-of-the-students and the students-of-the-teacher cease to exist and a new term emerges: teacher-student with students-teachers." I have often heard it said that a teacher learns many things from his or her students, but the fact that he is pinning it as such an integral part of effective learning really makes it pop from this passage. Also, he names these "new terms" in such a way that he makes the teacher as much of a learner as the students. When the intelligence of the class grows symbiotically, all members benefit. Students are encouraged to think deeply, answer confidently, and question constantly. It also proves to be in the students best interests when they are actively involved in their education, or rather, their liberation.