Paulo Freire The Banking Concept Of Education Summary

1323 Words6 Pages

How do teachers attempt to control the way you understand the world? Paulo Freire, author of “The ‘Banking’ Concept of Education”, declares that “Narration (with the teacher as the narrator) leads the students to memorize mechanically the narrated content. Worse yet, it turns them into ‘containers,’ into ‘receptacles’ to be ‘filled’ by the teacher” (216). Freire’s statement implies that teaching utilizing the banking concept shifts the role of students as learners to robots who receive data and execute orders given by their programmers (teachers) but do not actually recognize the significance of the information. I agree with Freire's interpretations because even though my role in high school was a student, my continuous encounters with banking…show more content…
Students are forced to memorize everything that the teacher “narrates” without being told why such things are important. This is what Freire means when he says, “The students are not called upon to know, but to memorize the contents narrated by the teacher. Nor do the students practice any act of cognition… evoking the critical reflection of both teacher and students” (222). He declares that banking education does not provide students with the opportunity to use what they have memorized to engage in critical thinking with their teacher and classmates. I can relate Freire’s quote to my first few years of high school when most of my teachers used textbooks to create their test questions but spent the entire class period lecturing via PowerPoints or handouts with exact wordings from the textbooks. By doing so, my teachers engaged in “narrating” which did not satisfy my hunger for knowledge. They did not spend any time discussing and going into detail about difficult concepts or stop to verify that every student was on the same page. Consistent lecturing from my teachers obstructed my undiscovered talent for greater logic and made me into a “robot” by feeding me material. However, through multiple experiences, I was able to become aware of how my teachers had attempt to change the way the world “entered into me” by never giving me the chance to understand the material forced into me…show more content…
They expect that students will understand everything they are taught, but how is that possible if teachers do not expand into their lectures at all? A majority of my teachers did not allow me to raise my hand to ask questions about the lecture. Instead, I was told to “go get tutoring after school in the library.” Although that is what I ended up doing for almost every class, I was still left to fend for myself. The tutors were upperclassmen who had previously took the same class but were not proficient enough to help me effectively comprehend complex concepts. Additionally, my teachers never spared time for me to discuss sections that seemed confusing which is important for the development of cognitive skills. Freire’s quote, “Solidarity requires true communication, and the concept by which such an educator is guided fears and prescribes communication” (220), reveals that discussions among teachers and students are necessary for students trying to exercise cognition. Even though I was not given the opportunity to communicate, I was expected to understand everything I “absorbed”. I was unwillingly cast into the role of a “robot” that was expected to remember the definitions of terms word for word without assistance or the use of cognition to comprehend meanings. My Honors English teacher, who practiced the banking concept, expected me to know the definition of simile, metaphor, and

Paulo Freire The Banking Concept Of Education Summary
811 Words | 4 Pages
Paulo Freire a Brazilian educator, philosopher and a leading advocate of critical education puts forth his opinions of the education system in the article ‘The Banking Concept of Education’. Freire (2008) expresses his ideas on the mechanical error in the current education system referring to the “banking” method and offers his own solution that he believes will solve the learning-teacher disorder in the classroom referring to the problem poising method. Freire (2008) develops his position on the
Read More
Paulo Freire The Banking Concept Of Education Summary
1115 Words | 5 Pages
The Literate Arts: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly From the time a child is born, they're being trained for their entrance into the school systems. From birth until about age five, it is the parent's duty to introduce the child into the concept of the literate arts; to get the child socialized into society. In most cases, the child is taught how to read simply, write, color in the lines, count and spell a couple of words. The child then enters the school system, where their advancement in the literate
Read More

Popular Essays

Open Document

Paulo Freire The Banking Concept Of Education Summary