Freires Primary Criticisms of Education - Essay Example

Freire has identified two basic types of educational concepts, namely banking education and problem-posing education, and has discussed the traits of both. Banking education is the typical pedagogical approach in which the teachers are in charge and the students are enslaved. In the exams, children’s memory is checked rather than their analytical skills. The problem-posing concept is on the other end of the scale. In the problem-posing educational concept, the teacher is always cognitive and never narrative. The teacher adopts a reflective approach and inculcates his reflections in those of the students. In this system of education, neither the teacher nor the students standardize the concepts. To them, reality keeps transforming and so do the concepts.

What is the "banking system" of education?
This is a system of education in which the teacher and students do not mutually exert mental to realize the truth, but the assumed fact is fed into the students by the teacher. The teacher is always right! The teacher prepares the lesson beforehand and makes the presentation in the class. The students take notes of the narration of the teacher and memorize the information. It is the uninterrupted storage of information that coins the term “banking”. The subject under discussion is the teacher’s property, thus the students can not practice any cognition. The so-called preservation of knowledge does not have anything to do with actual knowledge or culture.
How does this opinion about education relate to you personally? Connect it to something you've experienced in teaching (in public school or whenever).

From my personal experience, I can say that what Freire has told about the traditional educational systems is right, though I believe the systems are there for a reason. There is no doubt in the fact that the problem-posing educational concept is more evaluative and allows both the teachers and the students to work and mentally exert mutually to conclude a subject, but this is achieved with a compromise upon time. Instigation of students’ cognition and thoughts requires a lot of discussions which take a lot of time to be conducted. This may not always be possible for a teacher particularly when a specific volume of the curriculum has to be covered before the end of the term. I remember that in school, I would sometimes become too inquisitive and demand answers from the teacher before letting him move forward. But this did not let the teacher finish the lecture in the duration assigned. This is where the banking system works. It saves time and fills more knowledge into the students which they may, if desire so, analyze and cognize in their free time. Read More