Sandra Cole's Critique Of The Banking Model

Freire was a proponent of the problem-posing method of teaching. This method relies on one 's metacognitive awareness. It is important for the student to know where they are in their understanding of the material. Further, this method of teaching encourages self-reflection in that a student thinks of how they are thinking. The problem-posing method encourages critical thinking whereas the banking concept does not.

People begin their education from day one till the day they die. Therefore, every day, we always learn new things in different ways such as education, news, magazine, internet, etc. An ideologist, Paulo Freire, in his narrative essay, “The Banking Concept of Education,” present the modern concept of and approaches to education. Freire’s purpose is to compare the two educational systems, the “banking concept” and the “problem-posing concept”. Throughout his essay, he argues strongly to support his creative own and make his readers believe that problem-posing education is more efficient than the banking education.

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.

In Paulo Freire’s “Banking Concept of Education”, he explains his view of the educational system, and the faults within it. Freire describes the educational system as being “banking education”, which he explains to be the wrong method, and proposes a new method of “problem-posing” education which he believes to be more effective and just.

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 Paulo Freire’s essay “The Banking Concept of Education,” he discusses the flaws he has seen in the education system. Specifically he argues that in most education systems the students are just empty receptacles being filled by their teachers, there is no dialog between the teacher and students. Freire thinks that in education learning should not be a one way thing, there should be a dialog going on between the teacher and students. Another big point Freire emphasizes in his essay is active learning, so that everyone is learning and participating. In Freire’s essay he proposes a new way of learning/a new concept of learning called the “problem posing concept.” Another point Freire makes in his problem-posing concept is that education is

In the excerpt from “The Banking Concept of Education” the author, Paulo Freire explains the critical flaw in the current education system. He continues by offering his believed solution to this problem. The two concepts Freire discusses in this excerpt are the “banking concept” of education and the “problem-posing method” of education. The “banking concept” is talked about rather negatively, whereas the “problem-posing method” is talked about highly. Freire believes in the “problem-posing method” and that students should have free-will to a certain extent in the classroom with less authoritative power from the teacher during discussions.

The relationship between the teacher and the student can be associated with two different methods of learning. Paulo Freire suggests the “The ‘Banking’ Concept of Education”, in which the teacher “fills the account” of the student with information and knowledge they have (318). Freire also explains the concept of “problem posing” learning that contradicts the “banking” concept. This way helps the student become more involved with their education, and they are able to become a more well-rounded student. But Freire ignores to add any supporting detail to his points based on how a student feels about each method of education. Determining the best way of an education is all

The banking concept is a term used by Paulo Freire to describe the “traditional” educational system. With this concept, students seem to learn all they need to know by narration of the teachers. “Narration leads the students to memorize mechanically the narrated account”(Freire, page 1). Because of this method, students are being referred to as depositors since teachers’ deposit information into their brains and the students receive, memorize and repeat. This concept has shown that people lack creativity, knowledge and individuals cannot be truly human. Students tend to lack critical consciousness and the more they accept the role of the teachers, the more they adapt to the world as it is. As Paulo Freire discusses, “ The Banking Concept of Education” he also proposes a way to improve education by introducing us to the “Problem-Posing Approach”. By doing such, he informs us that this approach is an alternative learning method that is efficient and an effective solution to the banking approach. I personally believe that all students should be taught with the Problem-Posing Approach since the Banking Approach is not a sufficient way of learning.

The greatest thing about humans is that they have the ability to think. Thinking is what differs people from each other and makes people who they are. Freire understands the importance of thinking and wants to start a discussion on the school systems attempt to restrict thinking. This is what he tries to do in his article, something that he does pretty well. He believes the school system solely cares about facts and numbers. The teachers feed their students information and expect them to memorize it, and spit it back on paper. “The reason the banking system continues to thrive is to serve the purpose of the authority, whose peace of mind rests on how well the oppressed fit in the world created by the oppressors, and how little they question it (Freire, page 219). Educators have to understand that the classroom is a leveled playing field, teaching and learning simultaneously through discussions with each other.

In “The Banking Concept of Education”, written by Paulo Freire, the author analyzes the modern day education system by comparing students to “containers” or waste receptacles that are meant to be “filled” by the teacher, or the depositor. The idea that teachers are meant to teach and students are only to listen is the main problem is today’s society. The concept is that a teacher is deemed more reputable “the more she fills the receptacles” while students are better the more they “permit themselves to be filled” (Freire 1). In turn, the “banking” concept of education is born suggesting that education becomes only an act of depositing instead of communication between both students and teachers. When students are denied their creative freedom,

The Bank of the United States is a symbol of the long held American fear of centralization and government control. The bank was an attempt to bring some stability and control and was successful at doing this. However, both times the bank was chartered, forces within the economy ultimately destroyed it. The fear of centralization and control was ultimately detrimental to the U.S. economy.

In this system, knowledge is formed by posing problems of human beings in their relation with the world that incite critical thinking and thought-provoking dialogue between students and teachers where both parties learn from each other. The students are liberated from oppression and placed at a level tantamount to the teacher, creating an environment in which the students and the teacher will only continue to gain more knowledge and truth through dialogue and communication. Freire states, “yet only through communication can human life hold meaning.” Transferring that idea to a learning environment, communication both ways between the student and the teacher is absolutely necessary for education to mean anything because without communication, there would be no education. In “problem-posing education,” communication is two-sided; therefore, both parties become conscious of the other as human beings. This allows the expansion of human faculties to be limitless and ever-evolving.

When you think of a typical day in any classroom, you probably imagine students sitting in a desk taking notes with the teacher talking non stop. It’s like our minds are empty and it’s up to the teacher to fill us up with the required information for the course. The next day and the day after that, it’s the same process over and over again. I just explained the banking system which Freire describes as the flaws in the teaching-learning space for students and teachers. In his book he states, “the teacher talks about reality as if it were motionless, static, compartmentalized, and predictable”. This in return causes students to have a lack of creativity and not understanding the significance of what’s being taught. He turns this around by bringing up a new problem-posing education which emphasizes a better atmosphere in a classroom by asking questions, being open minded, and keeping a mindset for

There are two ways in which one leads a classroom of young entrepreneurs of learning. These forms of education are concreted in either a banking concept or problem posing approach. Paulo Freire, the creator of such ideas, is a man who believes in the distinct difference that either reaps learning or destroys it. Banking concept education, according to Freire, is an education that “becomes an act of depositing, in which the students are the depositories and the teacher is the depositor” (Freire 244). In simpler terms, banking concept is the lack of true understanding by students. Learning is not a responsibility, instead it is an act to passively check off the list. In contrast, Freire speaks of problem posing as “liberating education [that] consists in acts of cognition, not transferrals of information” (Freire 249). To expand, Freire is bringing to light that this type of education is the development of genuine, active understanding between teachers and students. Freire believes in critical, investigative work between teachers and students. He believes that the banking concept restricts growth and keeps students and teachers from a true critical understanding of the world. Both banking concept education and problem posing education are evident in the film Mona Lisa Smile.