Week 6 Post

In the Banking Concept of Education chapter by Paulo Freire, the banking concept is explained by teachers "depositing" knowledge into the students so, "instead of communicating, the teacher issues communiques and makes deposits which the students patiently receive, memorize and repeat," (Freire 104).  Through the banking concept, children are considered inferior to the teacher and as if the students know nothing and the teacher knows everything.  These teachers are not interested in children understanding the material but rather having them submit to authority.  Because of this, my most important post-it note says learning shouldn't be memorizing then regurgitating the information then forgetting it but instead learning the information through memory hints so the facts are remembered and used later in life.  I feel that I remember information the best when a teacher has a funny saying or hint to help me remember rather than reading off endless slides and writing down definitions.  I do not agree that the teacher should act as if they know everything to make the child feel inferior, I believe that the teacher and student should work together to learn the correct way to obtain information.  I agreed with Freire when he says, "the teacher cannot think for her students, nor can she impose her thought on them," (108).  From this chapter, I learned "banking education treats students as objects of assistance; problem-posing education makes them critical thinkers," (Freire 113).  I did not like the concept of children being objects that learn because every child has the right to think for themselves and offer up their opinions for others to hear. For me personally, when I feel that I am being talked down to by a teacher, I do not like to participate in the class or voice my opinion because I am afraid of being shut down, which happened to me last year.  Therefore, the class was very unenjoyable and uncomfortable.  I feel that a discussion based class is best for students to learn because they can say what they want and they can listen to other students and take their opinion into account.



Canestrari, Alan S., and Bruce A. Marlowe. Educational Foundations: An Anthology of Critical Readings. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2013. Print.