Banking Concept Analysis

The Allegory of the Banking Concept

In their work, Plato and Paulo Freire have offered harsh critiques of education and learning. Plato compares people to prisoners in a cave of darkness in relation to knowledge, and Freire refers to a “Banking Concept” of education in which teachers put their thoughts and information into students’ minds much like the deposition of money into a bank. Instead of this money being of value, Freire and Plato acknowledge that the value declines. Although many people refute the concept of accepting new knowledge and admission of mistakes, I claim that both Plato and Freire produce valid points about the corruption of education because people cannot learn unless they have an open mind and truly desire to learn. Ultimately, what is at stake here is the effectiveness of learning and continuing the cycle of education.
As Plato puts it, everyone is in a cave of distorted perceptions.

Freire disagrees with the traditional form of education when he says, “Oppression...is necrophilic; it is nourished by love of death, not life. The banking concept of education, which serves the interests of oppression is also necrophilic” (Freire 261). Freire argues that learning via oppression is the death of learning. Oppression is necrophilic, as Freire says, because, instead of appreciating intelligence, people hang onto the death of language and education. To some this may not seem important, but there is a death of learning and the practice of learning. The Banking Concept is not the way to teach. Oppression in teaching is more prevalent than thought. An example of this is when people only call attention to pitfalls and negativity instead of cherishing positivity and successes. This is not a beneficial environment for the majority of people. Freire and Plato both illustrate that darkness and oppression symbolize the dearth of