Paulo Freire's Banking Concept of Education: Making Sense of Nonsense

Paulo Freire's analogy of traditional schooling with banking model seems very accurate. I have experienced how the dynamic between teacher and students is based on unequal power, where the teacher is all-knowing and must be obeyed, and the student must *act* unknowing and obedient.  I have never been able to play that proper role, and so I struggled as a student in elementary and high school.  I was always very "smart" but as I recall a teacher telling me on many occasions: I was "too smart for my own good."  I would question teachers' understanding of topics, I would question the usefulness or even the logic of assignments,  I would protest unfair treatment to myself or others.  I demanded changes in scheduling to accommodate my ice skating practice. I was not a "good student" but unfortunately for the teachers I did extremely well on standardized tests so they couldn't really fail me, or kick me out.  I always placed into High Honors or Advanced courses, but ended up getting kicked down to Regular Honors courses after being too difficult.  I think most of my teachers in high school mindlessly followed the Banking method: pouring content into our empty little brains, so they thought. However, a few exceptional teachers stand out, and this is always the saving grace for students who do not give up on learning.  They are able to get through because they don't treat students like empty, powerless objects. They treat students with respect and that is usually the crack that opens the way for more learning.  I always thought that I wasn't the problem in high school. I felt it was just my crappy high school in my crappy town that didn't work right.  My town was too corrupt, not like other towns that worked right. Once I read Freire and started to investigate more, I discovered that this is a common experience and it happens everywhere - all over the world even. And that made me understand that there's nothing wrong with students - it's the system that is broken.  A new system needs to be created so that real learning can happen.  I keep looking for models of that, and would like to be able to work on making that happen one day.

Write Blog entry #2 reflecting on Freire's Banking concept of education: What is your opinion of his definition and description of this concept? Does it have anything in common with the way you were educated in PR? Do you agree with his theory of how education works in the Banking model? If so, give an example from your experience. If not, explain what is wrong with this Banking model.

Introduction to My View of Education in Puerto Rico

I have been a teacher of English in Puerto Rico for the past 17 years.  I was educated in Massachusetts, and then graduated from Rutgers University in New Jersey.  I have only studied at the graduate level in Puerto Rico, so I really only personally know about the system from the perspective of an educator at the university level.  However, I have had the opportunity to work with English teachers in the classroom in different cities of the island. IN addition my children have been students in both public and private schools. I also like to talk to my university students about their experiences in high school and elementary school.  From this I have learned that their is a lot of diversity in Puerto Rico in terms of what happens in classrooms - in both private and public schools.  However, there does seem to be common experiences in public schools which private schools don't have.  And vice versa.  SO for me it is also critical to be clear about which system you are talking about when we talk about education in Puerto Rico.  I think in many ways this can also be siad of the higher education system: students in the UPR system have common experiences which those in private universities don't.  And vice versa.  So when I hear people talk about "improving education" in Puerto Rico - I always wonder which system they are talking about: because the problems and the needs of each of these populations seems very different.  Usually the discussion is about public education - and the problems are much discussed and lamented in the press.  But yet the needs of students are rarely addressed or even acknowledged.  On the other hand when discussing private education -- it is all about needs or desires and very little in terms of problems.  But: there are problems in the private schools and the public students also have needs.  So I think this would be a good place to start for everyone:  what do public school students need? What are the problems or barriers which prevent these needs from being met?  And: What are the needs of private school students, and what are the problems or barriers to prevent these from being met?      


In the introductory Blog post: describe your ideas or beliefs about education. What is the purpose of school? Is it working? For whom does it work? For whom does it not work? What aspects or issues of education or schooling in Puerto Rico would you like to explore through your research and writing in this class?