Chapter two of Frerie’s “Education of the Oppressed” explores the connection of the classical “banking method” of education and argues that this method makes students see the world as “static”, thus robbing them of “the critical consciousness which would result from their intervention in the world as transformers of that world”. The latter is exactly the outlook I had when I left high school. I believed all questions were answered, we knew all there is to know and all innovation occurred by chance.
I had previously read Frerie’s “Pedagogy of the Oppressed” after reading Francis Cody’s “The Light of Knowledge” (a book that discusses impacts of literacy through the Arivoli Iyakkam literacy movement, which uses Frerie’s ideas as a base), so I decided to take the assigned reading as an opportunity to read it out loud to my girlfriend (Hannah). We went to high school together, so I expected her to have a similar reaction to the article. Instead, she pointed out that she didn’t listen to a thing her teachers said, because she thought they were just indoctrinating and closed to new ideas. In other words, they acted as though they had all the answers, in order to fill their assigned role, and did not present possibilities she knew existed. She didn’t feel that her teachers were “partners”, but rather oppressors.
This made me question my initial line of thought: after high school I believed my teachers had all the answers and didn’t even consider outside possibilities, yet Hannah thought they were “full of shit” and hid the real facts; how did our views differ so drastically? We had attended the same high school and middle school, maybe we had some different teachers, but still... I went further back. Hannah’s educational background consisted of bouncing from country to country almost yearly until 7th grade; I had been in the Bulgarian educational system until 7th grade. How did I never see it before? “Verbalistic lessons, reading requirements”-- I bet if Freire kept listing aspects of the “banking method” he would soon construct the curriculum of my childhood. These thoughts were soon reinforced by cringe-worthy memories of my grandpa’s pedagogical suggestions (he was a teacher and principal for many years in Communist and Socialist Bulgaria). But wait… Hannah’s outlook towards education was disappointing as well. After further thought, I realized that although some classes and activities had differed, the majority of my learning experience in the U.S. classroom had been “banking method” based as well. I remembered filling out multiple choice boxes, taking down notes on long lectures, and even a classroom where students were not allowed to speak unless they raised their hand during question time which occurred once a week. I went to a “highly ranked” school, how can this be??? I think I know -- standardized testing.
In conclusion, Hannah and I were lucky. Our natural dislike of authority, love for literature/history, and life experiences, helped us “come to see the world not as a static reality, but as a reality in process, in transformation”. Further, I believe that liberation of thought should be one of the main goals for education and as Freire suggests problem-posing education may be one of the tools.
Some Quotes I liked:
- “conscientizacao” - conscious rising
- “fail to perceive that the deposits themselves contain contradictions about reality”
- “They may perceive through their relations with reality that reality is really a process, undergoing constant transformation.”
- “To achieve this, they must be partners of the students in their relations with them.”
- “Verbalistic lessons, reading requirements” - ex. of “banking method”
- “Its objective is to call the attention of true humanists to the fact that they cannot use banking educational methods in the pursuit of liberation, for they would only negate that very pursuit.”
- “He does not regard objects as his private property, but as the object of reflection by himself and his students.”
- “Students, as they are increasingly posed with problems relating to themselves in the world and with the world, will feel increasingly challenged and obliged to respond to that challenge.”
- “Thus, men and women begin to single out elements from their "background awareness" and to reflect upon them.”
- “They come to see the world not as a static reality, but as a reality in process, in transformation.”
- “Banking education (for obvious reasons) attempts, by mythicizing reality, to conceal certain facts which explain the way human beings exist in the world; problem-posing education sets itself the task of demythologizing.” - Religion???
No comments:
Post a Comment