Saturday, October 5, 2013

Chapter 2 of Pedagogy of the Oppressed


Chapter two of Pedagogy of the Oppressed, by Paulo Freire, was easier to understand than the first chapter. In the beginning of the chapter, it seemed as though Freire had a blanket opinion that all teachers were the same. He refers to “banking concept of education” in which teacher are all knowing and students ignorant. It is the job of the teacher to spit out information at the students and they are to take it in and memorize it without thinking why this information is so. While reading I felt that he was accusing all teachers of this. I agree that when I went to high school a few of my teachers really did follow this concept. As long as I memorized my terms and could write them on paper, I passed the class. I can’t remember anything from those classes because I didn’t think about what the concepts meant to me and the world. Freire explains that this is a problem. Education should not be something we just accept.

Freire later introduced another form of teaching called, “the problem posing method” which is essentially the banking concepts opposite.  “The teacher is no longer merely the-one-who-teaches, but one who is himself taught in dialogue with the students, who in turn while being taught also teach. This method makes students and teachers equal in the learning process. Concepts that are taught are not accepted as fact, but are explored and discussed. Concepts gain value and are not just words but have a place in the world.

I agree that the problem posing method is the better method to use in fact it is the method that we are now taught in college. Teachers should not have all the answers and should not be perceived by students as such. In reality, like the text implies, if we study a concept deep enough, we find that we do not come to one conclusion but find many aspects that lead us to question even more. This is the beauty of education. It never stops.  With this method in action, schools become a place where students learn to inquire for themselves and act, which later leads them to become successful citizens in the real world. 

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