Pedagogy of the Oppressed free essay sample

Freire, Paulo. Philosophy of Education Chapter 2: Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Home | Webster University. N. p. , n. d. Web. 10 Sept. 2013. In Paulo Freire’s essay by definition, Pedagogy of the Oppressed means a method or practice of teaching of someone who is subject to harsh authoritarian treatment. The title gives forewarning to explain that the essay covers something in regards to education in a negative light. Freires thesis is to compare two concepts in education. The banking method in which he feels is the negative side to education and problem posing education, which he feels, is the solution to education. Freire’s purpose is to go in depth about the banking method. Freire explains his beliefs that teachers are simply narrators. â€Å"Teachers lead the students to memorize mechanically the narrated account. Worse, yet, it turns them into â€Å"containers,† into â€Å"receptacles,† to be filled by teachers. The more completely she fills the receptacles, the better a teacher she is. We will write a custom essay sample on Pedagogy of the Oppressed or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The more meekly the receptacles permit themselves to be filled, the better students they are. † (Freire 1) Freire believes that the problem within education lies within the banking concept and that teachers tend to have a superior attitude and that students know nothing. Teachers deposit into students account knowledge that students merely memorize and put into their bank without real knowledge of what they are learning. Although Freire does not provide a lot of evidence to support this argument, some of his examples are relevant. I did find a lot of the information he talked about convincing because if you know anything about education then you have played victim to the banking method at some point in your educational career. I do know there is some truth to it because of similar situations I have faced. Freire talks about some professors specify in their reading list that a book should be read from pages 10 to 15 and do this to ‘help’ their students. Why do they only point out specific pages verse reading the entire chapter typically because they want to give you enough information to pass a test. Current high school students are now forced to undergo end of year exams. I have heard from some of my younger classmates that this does allow for more banking method teaching. These teachers are graded on how well their students do at the end of the year and the student can not graduate unless he or she is held up to a certain passing grade so there is much instruction time over what is on the test, remember this for the test, day in and day out. Although the end of the year exams came into effect after I got out of high school, I was still subject to this type of teaching method for my G. E. D exam. I went to night classes and got extra instruction on various subjects, but each teacher would say â€Å" This is on the test so we’re going to focus on this, This is how they will grade so I want you to write it this way, That is not on the test so that is not what we will be learning. † Freire other purpose is to discuss another concept within education in which he calls problem-posing education. Freire states that â€Å"Liberating education consist in acts of cognition, not transferals of information. † He explains â€Å"The teacher is merely the one who teachers, but one who is himself taught in dialogue with the students, who in turn while being taught also teach. They become jointly responsible for a process in which all grow. † (Freire 6) He does not provide a lot of evidence or counterarguments to support this claim either, although his logic is convincing as well. I have been in classes that worked as he is stating. Teachers wanted lots of feedback from their students. The more feedback they got the more we learned. I have had various professors open to student’s interest, questions and feedback. I know some want to be told when we think they are not right or if we believe differently. I do think problem – posing education can be beneficial. I have seen it work to my benefit. I was able to understand and know certain topics better by classroom discussion. I was able to build a closer relationship to the teachers. Overall problem – posing education can help all units of the classroom cognitively. Freire does not give a lot of evidence to support his claims other then insightful logical claims to each side. I think he has a reasonable tone throughout his essay, but he is wordier and sheds more negativity on the banking method. He discusses in detail page upon page the opposition he has towards the banking method, but he does not go into as much depth in regards to his solution for education, which is the problem-posing method. Freire could further develop this essay by doing research that is more recent since this article was written back in 1993. I think current studies would provide information to show that problem-posing method is taking place in more schools. Teachers are becoming more hands on and giving students leeway to help decide what and how they learn. Teachers are approaching education differently using more concepts to try to help with more cognitive development. The banking system is not necessarily a negative thing. I do think some forms of knowledge are learned well with repetitive learning with lecture, repeating and memorizing facts. Such as formulas, vocabulary, etc. Both concepts can be beneficial to the education system. Some may have impacts that are more negative then a positive lasting impact, but I think further studies would need to show how education is changing. Also where some of the students are today who were in school in 1993 during the more banking method times to see exactly how these students are holding up to reality as adults and progressing as intellectual individuals.