Am I the only one who got lost while reading Freire’s “The
Banking Concept of Education” from Pedagogy of the Oppressed – Chapter 2?
When I first read the handout (four days ago) I thought I
struggled with it because I had a horrid head-cold and sifting through the material
was like trying to read hieroglyphics off the pyramids in Gaza
without any working knowledge of what the pictures mean. So, imagine my surprise
when I re-read the paper and still found it difficult to follow along with any
real proficiency.
From what I am able to intelligently piece together, Paulo
Freire is an author, educator and advocate for liberation. He believed that
children today (in the 1097's) have been force-fed information and data in the collective efforts
to ‘fill the students with the contents of [his] narration – contents which are
detached from reality, disconnected from the totality that engenders them and
could give them significance. Words are emptied of their concreteness and
become hollow, alienated and alienating verbosity.” In other words, the kids
are being taught nothing more then facts and data with little or no real
understanding as to ‘how’ or ‘why’ they need to ‘know’ the information.
If my understanding of what I read is correct, and Paulo was
privy to the new state mandates regarding the increase in standardized tests to
assess the aptitude of our youth, I believe he would probably roll over in his
grave, shake his fists in the air and shout his disbelief and outrage at the atrocities
that are a direct result of the ‘banking method.’
That is also what I understood from it. I agree with you saying that he would be rolling in his grave. In fact I almost said the same thing! Although I definitely like the way you put it better!
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