A Comparison Of Paulo Freire And Friedrich Nietzsche

When one is sitting in a university lecture classroom trying to absorb the vast array of knowledge disseminating out of the PA system, there is a certain ambience that parallels a movie theater. The architecture of the classroom is designed to symbolize the lecturer as the “subject” and the students as the “objects”; meaning, the professor narrates through story-telling and the students passively sit in their seats with open minds readied to be entertained and filled with deposits of wisdom. After the monotony of one lecture following another, students delve into to their stacks of knowledge so that they can memorize, repeat and regurgitate all of the information that they now possess. This type of teacher-to-student dynamic has been intrinsic

Therefore, education is preventing students from being thoughtful beings who possess the power to critically think and solve problems in the world. Paulo Freire and Friedrich Nietzsche—theorists from different eras—took issue with their educational system. Both theorists extrapolated valid arguments that are very applicable to modern education and society: namely, the repercussions that come with treating knowledge—like history—as an end in itself that prevents students from being creative, innovative and active participants in the modern world.

Some forms of contemporary education function through what Freire would call a “narrative character.” In which the narrator is constantly pushing knowledge onto students who are supposed to assume

Students should no longer represent themselves as submissive receptacles of information; they should question their reality, epitomize consciousness and identify common experiences in the world. An education built around communication—learning through a dialogical process between teacher and students—should replace the one-sided stream of knowledge that is the prevalent choice for many educational institutions. An example of a problem-posing education would be where both teacher and students surface relevant problems and reflect through open discussion based on the students experience in the world. Freire mentions that “problem-posing education affirms men as beings in the process of becoming,” not static and mechanical, and students should not perceive the objective truth as final reality (72). Liberated students are critical thinkers who are actively engaged in solving problems subjectively by being active participants, conscious beings, in the world. Freedom of education should inspire students to transform their reality instead of letting teachers transform them into inorganic, receiving objects. This type of education would undermine the “banking” concept in its entirety; narration would be replaced by communication; and the