09/30/13 Advanced reading and writing Sebastian Mathison

Interpreting another essay Yanan says I have had an educational experience for over 12 years with the typical Chinese education...The teachers task is to fill the students with the contents of his narration. My partners essay talks about how she was taught at school in China. In this country the banking concept of education has been deeply implemented in the society and the culture. It is a place where the teacher speaks and the students are quiet. I think this has a lot to do with the stereotypes of asian people being shy or introverted, or like saying they are all good at math for example etc. These people behave in a certain way because society has told them to do so and it does not change because the teachers and the students keep following this pattern. Freire states that : Implicit in the banking concept is the assumption of a dichotomy between human beings and the world : a person is merely in the world, not with the world of with others; the individual is a spectator, not re-creator. In this view, the person is not a conscious being(corpo consciente); he or she is rather the possessor of a consciousness: an empty mind passively open to the receptions of deposits of reality from the world outside

Freires point is that in this system of education, the student is not a conscious being who is able to create things derived from the content he learns inside the classroom. The students represent blank minds, looking forward to be filled with the teachers knowledge. It almost feels like the student should not put any effort into participating in class and actively discussing the content, therefore, the teachers class does not change whether the students attend or not, it feels like he does not really care about them. He has the mentality of I am only going to do my job, whether the students like it or not. This means that the educational system does not adapt to the students, all of them are taught in the same way. If everybody is different, why are we being all taught in the same way? This system of education results inadequate for the students since the teachers do not help them, they just pressure them into mechanically remember the information, otherwise, the student will fail. This pressure and monotonicity of the classes obviously harms the students, because they get lower grades and they are not really recreating anything. It makes them associate school with something they do not like but that they have to do instead of something that they are passionate about and actually enjoy doing. Yanan says: ...once I chose a wrong answer Miss. Yan blamed me and even hit me, and I was so upset I even made a mistake in my homework and my teacher should not hit me.

In this case, Freire would criticize the authoritarian behavior of the teacher trying to oppress the student without even taking into account that the student is also a person with feelings, just like him. This is wrong in so many ways. On the first place, how can a teacher even be angry at a student for not understanding some content, but apparently in the banking system of education he does not understand that when his students are not learning properly, he is also failing as a teacher. Freire says that in problem-posing style education the communication between teachers and students is very good, they can openly talk about anything and it is okay even if the student has to disagree with the teacher. The student is told that it is fine and even beneficial to make comments and ask question during class, this helps the teacher understand the student and viceversa, it overall just makes the learning experience more complete where both parties make an effort to please each other. On the second place, Freire would never approve of a teacher harming physically the students for not knowing the answer for a question. I believe this topic is a a little over the top in the banking concept of education but we are going to go over it since my partner included it in her essay and it is a real life experience. This is the moment where the authoritarian position of the teacher is expressed in its purest form, because this means that the one teaching assumes a position of superiority over her students, treating them like dogs or even like slaves. I think freire would criticize the lack of communication of both, the

abusive power of the teacher, and the submissive position of the student. When we do not communicate, we stop thinking logically and we start thinking with our instincts, just like animals. If the teacher starts taking advantage of the student or making him feel inferior in any way, it is the students responsibility to openly communicate the teacher that he does not like the way he is being treated. If the student does not tell the teacher how she feels, the teacher will keep having this abusive behavior toward her. It is a perfect example of Freires dehumanizing concept involved in the banking system of education, where students are being treated like blank sheets being filled with information. Like objects, inanimate beings who cannot have their own opinion about things, speak or stand up for themselves. Here, Freire would not blame the teacher or the student, he would blame the system of education that conditioned both parties to assume a certain role, even though, that does not justify the teacher hitting the student. Here follows the conclusion of Hanans essay: From my own experience, I think the banking education will lead student bad study ability, because student just become to memorize the facts teacher told. Compare to the university education I have in America, I find the creativity and critical thinking is much more important than a good listener in the classroom. Her point is that. the banking concept will lead the students to a lack of creativity in the future, The banking concept of education does not benefit the teacher nor the student. It sets a mood in the interaction between both parties where neither of them is happy, and they are

unable to communicate it to each other. Freires answer for this problem would obviously be to insert the problem-posing style education in this situation. This means to progressively adapt the teachers and the students to this new style of education. This is one of the best solutions for this problem, although, this does not mean it is going to be an easy solution. The banking concept of education has been implemented in the society, for a really long time. The longer it continues to be that way, the harder it will be to revert this effect, therefore, if one expect any changes the answer is (easier said than done) to start taking action in order to reach the goal of implementing problem-posing education in the system. This also has to be done progressively in order to engrain this system of education into the society, just like they did with the other systems.