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Jessica Corona
Professor Fernandez
English 1T
1/30/17
The banking concept of education

Martin Luther King Jr. once said "The function of education is to teach one to think

intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education."

For education to be successful, we must have educators, but what really is an educator?The

dictionary describes an educator as a person who provides instruction or education; a teacher. To

me an educator means much more. An educator should be a mentor, a counselor, and most

importantly a person who engages in acts of dialogic enrichment to effectively make sure

knowledge is obtained from each other. In the text The Banking Concept of Education by

Paulo Freire he states that the banking concept, is essentially an act that hinders the

intellectual growth of students by turning them into unconscious receptors and collectors, of

information, that has no real connection to their lives. In his text Freire discusses the

disadvantages of teaching through the Banking Concept, and provides an alternative method

which he calls Problem Posing. According to Freire in the Banking Method there is a

student-teacher disconnect, and the students are alienated from their own knowledge. On the

other hand Freire states that with problem posing students expand their knowledge, making them

feel valued, providing self awareness, and most importantly allowing students to transform. I

agree with Freire and like him believe that students are alienated, isolated, and dehumanized

through the Banking Concept of Education. Therefore, I believe that change begins with a great
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students-teacher relationship in order for students to be free and able to express their ideas and

feelings towards their own education.

The connection between students and teachers begins with learning and knowledge, but

the Banking Method causes a disconnect between the students and the teachers affecting the

students learning. Freire describes the banking method as a relationship that involves a narrating

subject which is the teacher and the listening subject which is the student. According to Freire

the task of teachers who teach through the banking method is to fill students up with information

as if they were containers causing them to disconnect from the material they are learning. The

contents whether values or empirical dimensions of reality, tend in the process of being narrated

to become lifeless and petrified. Education is suffering from narration sickness (Freire 1). In

other words what Freire is explaining is that the process of the Banking Method causes not only

the students, but the teachers as well to be lifeless and to be disconnected from each other. This

disconnect causes a barrier in the education system where teachers and students become

stagnant. Freire refers to this disconnect as dehumanizing, and this dehumanization leads to the

alienation of students learning.

In the Banking Method, students are not allowed to think for themselves or express their

ideas openly which means they are not connecting with their own knowledge, and this alienates

them from their learning. My personal experience the Banking Method was in the 6th grade.

Since Spanish is my first language Ive always had difficulties understanding, reading, and

writing in English, yet I was still overly confident in my writing skills when I was younger. This

confidence soon disappeared the day my English teacher, Ms. White alienated me from my own

knowledge. This all happened one day after writing an essay which I was overly confident about,
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yet received a C- on. When this happened I asked my teacher for help but denied me the help it

was as if it was out of her job scope to help me. Ms. White was the type of teacher that would

lecture from a book and deposited information into students not allowing us the students to

critically think or expand our knowledge. After this incident I began to think I wasnt good in

English, so I stopped trying. It wasnt until college that I realized that everyone has a different

style of writing and everyone learns differently. Perhaps if my teacher would of taken the time to

try and explain to me what I did wrong and helped me improve my writing skills I would of

continued trying instead of giving up. The problem with me was that my teacher alienated me

from my own knowledge and prevented me from expanding my knowledge because I didnt feel

valued by her and her way of teacher didnt work for me. Luckily in college I learned that

everything isnt black or white. I also learned that the more you expand your knowledge the

more you learn.

In the Problem Posing Method, students freely express their opinions while critically

thinking and expanding their knowledge without being judged or put down by teachers. Freire

says, that students are no longer docile listeners [and] are now critical co-investigators in

dialogue with the teacher (Freire 7). In the Problem Posing Method students are no longer

submissive, and become critical thinkers. Teachers allow students to learn from them as well as

the teachers learn from the students. In this quote Freire describes the value in the Problem

Posing Method where teachers allow students to become critical thinkers, and both teachers and

students learn from each other.

With the Problem Posing Method students become more aware of themselves and their

own learning. The world- no longer something to be described with deceptive words- becomes
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the object of the transforming action by men and women which results in their humanization

(Freire 11). In this quote Freire describes the awareness and transformation of the students.

Freire states that with the Problem Posing Method helps students transform and become humans

again. With the Problem Posing Method students are no longer alienated from their own learning

because teachers help and guide students allowing them transform and become human again.

Students are given the opportunity to grow and expand their knowledge through their critical

thinking skills.

Freire describes the banking method as immobilizing and fixating forces, which fail to

acknowledge men and women as historical beings, and provides a solution for this method which

he calls Problem-Posing. The Problem Posing Method takes the people's historicity as their

starting point. In a traditional classroom setting, all students are the same - their brains are empty

vats that the teacher is attempting to cram as much information into. In the more untraditional

setting, teacher's play to student's strengths and allow students more freedom in what they wish

to learn. Im in agreeance with Freire and believe that students are alienated, isolated, and

dehumanized through the Banking Concept of Education, and a great way of overcoming this

problem is by having students develop a good relationship with their teacher to help their

educational development. This will help students be able to express their ideas and feelings

freely in their learning path.