Banking Concept of Education

A detailed Summary of Banking Concept of Education

A loud, siren - like noise pierces the morning's silence, and you are unexpectedly jolted awake. That annoying noise is unmistakable. You know the drill by now. Its 7:00 AM and its invariably time to get ready for your first day of school. You hurriedly shave, shower, get dressed and assemble your books and supplies and then it's off to usher in another school year and yet another productive year of "learning."

You arrive at your first class, brimming with breathless anticipation, and a robotic, monotonous instructor who proceeds to meticulously detail the course work for the duration of the semester soon greets you. "You will read this book, you will do this homework, you will write these essays, and you will be evaluated on my criteria for success," the teacher growls. This intimidating tactic that your teacher has knowingly (or unknowingly) chosen to employ could potentially render you and your classmates unwilling and unable to pose questions to the instructor and to provide constructive input and feedback, actions that are critical to the learning process. This episode is all too similar to Paulo Freire's essay "Banking Concept of Education." Freire concludes, "The teacher talks and the students listen, meekly (261).

However the Internet can sometimes offer hope for a sponge - like student. I say this because the Internet often times invites the student to explore a different realm. That is, reality. While they need to be careful to differentiate between fact and fiction, the Internet could provide the student with the opportunity to be introduced to reality, which has been non - existent to them thus far. They can view how the rest of the world lives and through literature and websites they can access information that could help them to become interested in becoming one with reality. Through the Internet, they are afforded the opportunity via electronic mail and instant messages to communicate with others in the world around them. Indeed, the Internet could be the gateway for the student, spurring intrigue and interest into a whole new world.

Indeed, Freire undoubtedly conveys a powerful message to us about the deficiencies that exist in the banking concept of education and its eventual consequences on students in society (263-264). These consequences are most vividly depicted in a real life drama that I encountered while working as an overnight news reporter for a local radio station. We arrived on the scene at East 116th and Buckeye Roads at approximately 2:30 AM Saturday morning. The darkened sky reflected the vivid glow of emergency vehicles' lights. It was clear that tragedy and violence had, just moments ago, interrupted this once uneventful and tranquil morning. As we made our way through a flurry of police activity we encountered a lifeless figure resting beneath a white sheet, inundated with blood. I approached the lead homicide detective assigned to this case. My first question to him was naturally, "What happened detective?" His somber answer was all too familiar. "Drugs," he said. When I asked what the motive was he replied, "These damn kids have no education, no job, no money, no caring family. They resort to being a pusher on the streets. They learn young. It's the only thing they know and the only way for them to make money. This is how they end up." At that point, he pointed to the body of what was a 16-year-old male under the sheet, a boy who was prematurely gunned down as a result of a drug deal gone bad. Too often when a child is educated, they are not adequately prepared for their future. The type of education that they are "sentenced" to is shockingly characteristic of the banking concept of education. Whereas, the students attend class (often times not) and their heads are filled with trivial morsels of information. They are not taught according to reality. They have no concept of what reality really is. They fail to realize that this is not a sufficient means of education and they are never able to harmoniously co-exist in society. Distraught and unable to work for money, they turn to drugs, which inevitably leads to violence and then death.

Overall, there is a great deal of validity to what Freire conveys. Specifically, he says, "the teacher thinks and the students are thought about (261)." In other words, the students are placed in an environment where the teacher "deposits" information into their heads and the students absorb that information into their sponges in their heads. The sponges are then wrung out when they become saturated with information. When this happens, most of the information that was temporarily stored has been drained out through the sponge. The students are evaluated solely based on the amount of information they have been able to retain in their sponge at the time of testing. They are strongly discouraged from giving their opinions and creatively thinking, as their instructor would most definitely frown on this approach. In short, the student is treated like a mushroom. That is to say, a mere object, which is constantly left in the dark and mercilessly "dumped" on. Obviously this type of education will inevitably yield minimal success.

Stu

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Approximate Word count = 2966
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English