Pedagogy Of The Oppressed Chapter 2 Summary

In “Pedagogy of the Oppressed,” Paulo Freire tells of the complex relationships that contrast narrative versus instructive teachers and compliant versus existentially aware students, in regards to the various methods of instructing and acquiring knowledge. Although this reading is only a particular excerpt from Chapter 2 of Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Freire does an exceptional job by capturing the immense reality of certain educational methods. He explains the “banking” system of teaching, which portrays the teachers as “oppressors” who enforce themselves with an authoritative, commanding position upon the “oppressed” students. By introducing scholars to this “banking” concept of education, the teacher has no regard for the student, inhibiting further questioning and analyses, which only “negates education and knowledge as processes of inquiry.” (Pedagogy) Freire applies negative connotations to help better demonstrate the contents in which these teachers apply towards their students, stressing that this simply is not well defined enough when the time arrives to properly educate the students.

To be a woman meant that one had no say in regards to political affairs or in government making decisions. If being a woman had limitations, imagine what a black woman experienced, as they were considered less than human and mistreated more than any other female from any different background. In “A Plea for the Oppressed”, Lucy Stanton, one such black woman, tried to avail her people’s plight upon an audience of white women, to support the antislavery and reform cause.

In Fareed Zakaria’s book in Defense of a Liberal Education, he debates that liberal education is more underestimated than it should be in today’s society. Zakaria presents an argument explaining the liberal strategies used to benefit an individual not only in a classroom but developing skills to help deliver intelligence for the real world. Zakaria counters the argument that liberal education is a frivolous decision made by today’s youth with little concern, for futuristic opportunities. Zakaria defends liberal education through explanations to excel by gaining knowledge, learning to think, and building leadership.

Liberal arts and sciences differ in that it’s designed to understand human relationships to the social, cultural, and natural environment. In chapter three of the book, Zakaria hits on three of the ideas of a liberal education. To begin, he talks of the importance of learning how to think which is a critical skill in any field of higher education that a student pursues. His belief is that while a liberal education teaches one how to think, it does more so by teaching one how to write. Zakaria values “writing clearly, clearly and reasonably to be an invaluable skill.” The second advantage of a liberal education is that it teaches students how to speak. Zakaria believes that the ability to speak is just as important as writing clearly and with reason. He states this by saying “whether for public or private communication, the ability to articulate your thoughts clearly will prove to be a tremendous strength.” The third and possibly most influential strength of a liberal education is how it teaches students how to learn. Not only does it help students gain knowledge from studying but it helps students acquire knowledge on their own, for personal gain. Zakaria state that a liberal education helped him “how to read a book fast, search for new sources to find data, take notes and understand lectures.” These three values are continually stated in many articles or liberal education by both Zakaria and other professors who have wrote similar articles about a liberal

While the term liberal education is heard from the most prestigious university to an inner city community college, the phrase itself has a hazy definition at best. While educators across America struggle with the definition of the phrase, William Cronon uses purpose, structure, and appeals in his essay "Only Connect: The Goals of Liberal education," to define a liberally educated being and the characteristics that such an education should impart. Cronon capitalizes on inductive structuring to lead the reader along, gently building each new statement upon a foundation of previous ideas. This effectively leads the reader to a strange

The basis of a liberal education by today’s definition is a way for a person to become educated in many aspects of different fields, and it provides a way for the student to always keep learning. With so much knowledge to obtain in multiple subjects, it is possible that someone could study their entire life and only scratch the surface of all the knowledge

Sexism has been used for generations as a tool to discriminate against women. Many women of past times were invisible and overlooked by men, this was to be a symbol of their submerged status. However, not all women from the past were treated unfairly, for instance Native American women had just as much rights as the men. In “The Intimately Oppressed” of A People’s History Of The United Sates, Howard Zinn emphasizes this and the many injustices women faced throughout history. After reading Zinn’s chapter, it would be hard to dismiss the certainty that women were undeniably overlooked. Thus, for men what was more important was for the women to have the position of child-bearers. Women were at times treated with respect, but it would be a misjudgment to say that women were treated equally.

Chapter 2 of Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed discusses a failed teaching method between the student and teacher. It’s a common mistake for teachers to treat the teaching process as a “banking concept”. Freire discusses how this concept takes away creativity from students by forcing them to memorize facts as the teacher “deposits” them into their minds. It’s not expected of the student to comprehend what they’re learning. It’s expected of them to take what the teacher is saying as fact without critically thinking about the meaning behind it. Freire explains,

In the article The Liberal Arts Are Not Elitist written by Martha Nussbaum it was said that “Education is not just for citizenship. It prepares people for employment and for lives of rich significance.” That to me is what the goal of a liberal education is, to provide a basic knowledge in multiple areas of content such as: math, reading, writing, history, and science, with addition to preparing a person for global citizenship and to live a fulfilling life. To be a global citizen, means that the person needs to be aware of what is going on in the world around them, to contribute to society, understands how the world works, takes responsibility for their own actions and to be self-sufficient. I strongly believe to receive a true liberal

William Cronon in his article, “Only Connect . . .” defines liberal education as “not something any of us ever achieve; it is not a state. Rather, it is a way of living in the face of our own ignorance, a way of groping toward wisdom in full recognition of our folly, a way of educating ourselves without any illusion that our educations will ever be complete” (5). Being liberally education means you are open to learn and knowing that is there no limit to how much you can learn. Personally I think this is a very important topic especially to me because I am the first in my family to go away to a university. I value education and it is a true privilege for me to attend Belmont University. Thus far, I consider myself to almost fully liberally

From the beginning of time and around the world, women have been subjected to patriarchal oppression in various forms. From economic hardships such as wage gaps or an inability to own property, to social mores such as submission in marriage and sexual objectification, women are systematically treated as second- class citizens without a voice. African American women have faced these gendered challenges in addition to racial discrimination in the forms of slavery, unfair taxation, red-lining, unequal access to education and derogatory media representation to name a few. “Passing” by Nella Larsen portrays two African American women as main characters who experience racial and gender oppression in various ways. Webster’s Dictionary defines oppression as: the state of being subject to unjust treatment or control, prolonged cruel or unjust treatment or control; mental pressure or distress. Larsen’s story delves into social and feminist issues of oppression such as loss of identity, oppressiveness of marriage, women’s independence relating to women’s lack of independence, the importance of marriage in society, how race and class function in society, and how relationships are dictated by race, class, and gender.

Edmundson, Mark. "On the Uses of a Liberal Education." From Inquiry to Academic Writing: A Text and a Reader. Ed. Stuart Greene and April Lidindsky. Bedford/ St. Martin’s: New York, 2008. 322-337. Print

In James V, Schall’s A Students Guide to Liberal Learning, he addresses the idea and importance of an authentic liberal arts education. Schall inquires about books and scholars of which centralize around the idea of a liberal education and of which has shaped our society. Schall examines the works of several authors who are in his opinion the guides to learning, and his essay serves as a fundamental building block for the creation of a “Personal Library”.

In Pedagogy of the Oppressed Paulo Freire mentions the teacher-student contradiction. The contradiction is when students are controlled by teachers. The teachers have the authority over the students, which puts the students in a position that lacks freedom to experience their identity as humans. This contradiction exists due to the banking concept of education. Freire states that the banking concept encourages the contradiction between teachers and students. The banking concept rejects students as individuals and sees them as objects. As a result of the rejection as individuals, students are unable to speak or act upon their own

The process of moving toward and creating a more just and humane would have to begin with education. However, it also seems that creating a just future would also necessitate the creation of many different systems of government throughout the world. If just one system existed, anyone who would not choose that system for themselves may begin to feel or actually be oppressed for a lack of conformity. Furthermore, some people just have such vastly different ideas of ‘just’ and ‘justice’ that they cannot be combined into one system. Thus, through a sort of dialogical education system, people can discover which system they most support and why before choosing where to live.