Freire

J.O

Contradictory education: The baking concept
In Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed, he states that “The unfinished character of human beings and the transformational character ofreality necessitate that education be an ongoing activity.” Paulo states three pillars that the education system should be built upon: the fact that humans must recognize that they are historical beingsand that they are yet not complete, education should humanize and liberate men and women so they become solidary beings that solve the world’s problems, and education never ends. In many places aroundthe world, education is not built upon these pillars. In fact, it’s built upon a completely adverse set of ideologies. This venomous system education is referred to by Paulo Freire as the bankingconcept. Even though the public system of education claims that it is built upon Freire’s three pillars, it is not. The banking concept alienates humans from the world, suppresses critical consciousnessand binds its student to the status quo, directing mankind to a system of perpetual oppression. All of these negative effects and consequences can be reflected and seen in my nation of Puerto RicoBefore we can understand the solution though, we must understand the problem: the banking concept. Why does Freire refer to the actual education system as one which implements a “banking”methodology? Freire makes the analogy comparing how a bank works and how a teacher student relation works. Just as the bank impersonally deposits money to its clients, the teacher impersonally and withoutadjusting it to the current situation deposits information to his or her students. Freire calls this “deposit” technique, narrative education, whose outstanding characteristic is “the sonority of words,not their transforming power.” In Puerto Rico, for example, in the public education system, teachers are given a syllabus that is made by government officials and not the teachers themselves....