Paulo Freire The Banking Concept Of Education Analysis

In “The “Banking” Concept of Education”, Paulo Freire describes what it is like to be a student in the 1970’s, but this work is still relevant in today's education system. In this passage from his book, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Freire discusses two different types of education. There’s the banking concept, which is currently in place, and the problem-posing education, which is the ideal form of learning. Many educational activists, in the 2000’s, have since touched on the ideas that Freire coined to depict the issues that Americans have with our system. In order to take a look at modern education, we must discuss what schooling is like now, describe what it should really be, and declare how Freire’s ideas connect with those of other writers.

That is the sole purpose of a libertarian education. It is to fix this student-teacher relationship because both parties should be learning and teaching at the same time (Freire 319). The banking concept is described as dehumanizing because it makes the students appear lifeless. It’s hard to look joyful while sitting through lecture after lecture of boring textbook information that lacks relevant facts and interesting examples. The process of liberation includes “rejecting the banking system of education” and “reflecting upon one’s role in the world” in order to work on the issues it faces (Freire 323). Freire believes that a libertarian education is made up of using thought processes, not just taking knowledge from one brain and transferring it to someone else (323). This is where Freire’s “problem-posing” education comes from. This system would entail mankind to be “conscious beings” and focus on the different problems between the earth and mankind (Freire 323). This new approach to education depends on critical thinking. We must be consciously considering our existence amongst other people and nature. Problem-posing education will only succeed if the teacher-student relationship is amended (Freire 323). That being said, teachers must realize that they can teach and be taught while the students can learn and teach through current

Music classes always had an agenda, but they allowed you to play with different instruments depending on what the topic was. Art classes would give us background lessons on the artist that we were copying the style of. Afterwards we would apply that to a drawing, painting, or project using materials like pipe cleaners. I took a contemporary issues class in my senior year of highschool and each unit had a country of interest. The teacher would go through slides of the important problems that are being faced there, but it was partially up to the students to teach the class about a certain issue. We had interactive assignments for gentrification, politics, genocide, etc. My AP psych professor would connect topics we learned in class to movies so that we could see it firsthand. That was mostly geared towards mental disorders. Classes are more entertaining when taught this way and that it’s easier to understand the material when you get to look at it in a real life