Paulo Freire
The ideas and concepts of learning have been around since humans have been on the earth. The methods behind those ideas however, usually are not questioned or put on the spot for examination. The traditional ways of learning, the Banking Concept and the Problem Posing idea, which Freire discuses in his essay, have been used since the beginning. So naturally people do not question the very structure they are based upon. When actually examined, the ways of learning we base our lives on seems a little less concrete, and makes you wonder how much more you could have challenged yourself while you were "learning" in school. The first learning style that Freire talks about is the "banking" concept. It is based on the fact that ever since we started learning, teachers have viewed us as their own personal file cabinets which they must fill with as much facts and ideas as they can to satisfy their own teaching goals. However, they never go into what significance those "facts" actually have in our lives. In my own life I have had this happen to me many times. For example, I remember learning limits in calculus, a very hard concept to grasp, but our teacher made it a point for us to learn. However, she never on
ce stopped to explain when we would use those in our everyday life, or if not that, where they were used. This always bothered me in my schooling. I often would be upset with my work and fail to complete it with all my effort because I lacked reason for giving my time and effort for something I have no idea where it could help me. Also she could have explained the connections that limits had in other math concepts. Instead she just made us memorize the formulas and theory. Freire questioned that kind of teaching as a valid way of making the students more intelligent. In fact he goes as far as to say that students as a whole are oppressed by the way we are taught. He gives examples of the attitudes that the teachers have when they are in the teaching environment: The attitude that the teachers know everything and the students know nothing. I think this holds true in many cases in my life. Teachers that when questioned refuse to accept anything the students say as a valid point, when he or she could actually be learning from the student. Another concept Freire talks about is how the teacher has the right to teach what he wants the way he wants, knowing no matter what we, as students, must comply. This is another concept I firmly agree with freire in. Many studies through out history have shown that many students learn in many different ways. So if a teacher is teaching to a class of one hundred students, they should realize that those students all learn at different paces and in different ways. The teachers however refuse to acknowledge this and they teach in one closed minded way. This in return leaves many students striving to hang on when in reality they are just as intelligent and capable as the rest of the class.
Some common words found in the essay are:
Concept Posing, Banking Concept, Paulo Freire, banking concept, students learn, teacher teaches, students learn teacher, teacher teaches students, complete ourselves, called reality, challenge ourselves, learn teacher, teach learn, educate ourselves, teaches students,
Approximate Word count = 1200
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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