article reflection

Paulo Freire’s artilce entitled The “Banking” Concept of Education caught my attention and allowed me to think about the education system in a different way. It’s interesting to think about teaching and education as a banking system, and as I look back on my eighteen or so years in the education system, I can’t help but to remember the teachers I’ve had who have fit under this description, and the teachers who have fallen under the humanist category, who acted as equals and as partners to their students, instead of acting as an oppressive force that simply states facts to their students instead of putting forth an effort to make sure the material being taught is actually being understood. I think Freire’s effort in writing this article is to not only shed light on this banking system of education, but also to try and help people understand how it originated, and how we as a society need to invest in humanistic educators. I think it’s important to understand that almost anyone has the ability to stand in front of a classroom full of students and throw information in their direction, however it takes a special kind of person to have the patience and desire to help their students actually learn and not just memorize facts. The way I see it, the education system is essentially a factory, where teachers are “spit out” and “stamped” into uniformed shapes that then regurgitate information to pupils who may or may not understand the material being taught. Of course not all teachers fit under this description, but too many of them do, which only assures the future of this banking system of education.