Sunday, September 20, 2009

"The Banking Concept of Education" By, Paolo Freire

In "The Banking Concept of Education", byPaolo Freire talks about how the teacher-student relationship is an important concept when overcoming oppression. Freire believes teachers and students need to constantly work together beginning to develop the knowledge and consciousness that is necessary to overcoming oppression. There are various methods which can be used to overcome these obstacles associated with the teaching of education. They are the banking method and the problem-posing education method.
In this article Freire talks of how in the problem-posing method of overcoming oppression as men "you need to develop a power to perceive critically the way they exist in the world with which and in which they find themselves..." (page 82, "The Banking Concept of Education", by Paolo Freire.) This quote was important because I never realized the power that this type of education could impose on the students you teach. It begins to help students see their world not so much as static but as reality. You use your education to transform the current conditions that one is faced with.
The central theme is the "banking concept of education" (page 75, "The Banking Concept of Education", by Paolo Freire.) This term is important because it tells just how the traditional educational system is teaching our students. Teachers are basically just filling up the "containers" of every student and telling them to take various examinations. Like Freire states you have basically turned education into a bank-clerk model in which the students are transformed into "depositories" and the teacher is transformed into "depositor." You basically fill all this information into the students minds without telling them the meaning or purpose behind the discourse.
Overall, the need for a reform in education is necessary in order for students to be better prepared for the "outside world." I'm not saying that this form of education isn't in the students best interests but sometimes as teachers you need to teach "outside the box" and bring real world situations along for the ride. This ride will ensure students that there is a reason I'm teaching you all this jargon of various subject matter.
One very useful resource that I took out of this reading was that as teachers you need to develop a further understanding of yourself and why "self" is important in society. By gaining a better understanding of the importance of "self" in society you can begin to provide an education that is both powerful/potent enough to students to have them say "change is coming!!"

1 comment:

  1. Nice summary of the "banking concept" Freire describes. What about his alternative to that: "problem-posing"? How does that work according to Friere? It's not so simple as just asking questions. How is "praxis" related to "problem-posing?"

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