Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed goes into detail on the oppression of student by educators? the system? both? he explains the concept of Banking education which, if you read any of my teaching philosophies is what I extremely against. I just did not know it had a name. Teaching students only to have them regurgitate it back mindlessly, like good little drones following orders. Giving this concept a name only fueled my rage against it. Having a name to the face you want to deck into the past where it belongs.
People do not go into education for money, and definitely not recognition! You really go into to teach children to feel like you’re making a difference in your students life. But after reading this chapter how could anyone, following the banking system, feel they as if they are? You are actively working for/with the oppressors! “Education as the exercise of domination stimulates the credulity
of students, with the ideological intent (often not perceived by educators) of indoctrinating them to adapt to the world of oppression” (78). Even if unaware of your actions, you are actively, yet unconsciously, working for the oppressors. (I realized this makes me seem like I have a tin foil hat on)
Freire spoke on another method, “Problem-posing” education, in which basically, educators have to engage in conversation with students. “Through dialogue, the teacher-of-the-students and the students-of-the-teacher cease to exist and a new term emerges: teacher-student with students-teachers”(80). it’s a little cliché but we never really stop being students. Students learning from open dialogue with each other and teachers… it really really sounds so simple.
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