The “Banking” concept of education, an analysis of Education in our society by Paulo Freire, is very simple. Teachers teach to their pupils as though they were receptacles which were to be filled. Things which are to be taught are taught as solid, two-dimensional things. For example, a student of economics might learn what the term ‘Laissez-Faire’ means. However, they would not be taught why or how ‘Laissez-Faire’ affects the economy, or any information regarding how ‘Laissez-Faire’ could be used. Students are rewarded for being able to spit back facts and information to teachers without actually fully understanding what it is they are saying. Freire states that students are given no room for creativity, or extra understanding. They are simply to digest the facts given.
In the essay, Freire suggests that students are not given any motivation or drive to seek new knowledge. When a pupil goes out of his way to seek out information on the formation of the universe because something his teacher said peaked his interest, the teacher is doing something right. This not only creates a better form of education, but a deeper connection between the student and the pupil, which Freire states is necessary. The banking concept creates a large gap between the student and teacher, where it is not necessary for the student to come together at all. The teacher proposes no challenges to the student in which he needs to think, or become active in the topic. By lecturing students, a teacher is not really doing his job, or any job at all. A student could gain the same information from any other number of ways. It has been stated many times before, but a teacher can also learn from a student. There is absolutely no room for this to happen in the banking concept. When a student learns that a teacher doesn’t in fact ‘know everything’, they might feel much more compelled to ask questions, and their inhibitions might be lowered.
Genuine thinking on the student’s part does not occur in the banking concept. When a student just needs to take in factual information, there is no need for any real analyzing of information or thinking. Freire states that this system of education must be completely discarded to make way for a completely new form of education. An educational system in which “concepts and practices under analysis come into conflict” as Freire puts it. A system in which students can question the knowledge they seek, and where they can fully understand everything they learn. This form of education would cause students to have the need to solve or work on problems. There would be need for a student’s creative power to come out, and an even greater need for a connection between the teacher and the student. Students would no longer be satellites which information is simply relayed to, but living beings which have to actually understand the information.
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