Paulo Freire

Summary and Analysis of Paulo Freire's, "The 'Banking' Concept of Education"

In Chapter 2, “The ‘Banking Concept of Education,” from the book Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1989), Paulo Freire criticizes the education system, comparing it to a “banking concept.” The author also points out the system is broken and needs to be overhauled.

Freire begins his critique by analyzing the relationship between teacher and student. The author suggests that the teacher is a “narrator” and students are mindless drones waiting to be “filled” with useless information. Freire expands on this idea, comparing the students to “depositories” and the teacher to being the “depositor”; the comparison indicating teaching is an act, not a collaboration. The author also

supports the notion that the design of the education system allows teachers job security by using the students’ lack of knowledge as justification for employment. A final point Freire contends is that the oppressed suffer from an educational system that causes them to have a distorted view of a “healthy” society. To revamp the education system, Freire proposes a more humanistic approach called “problem-posing” education, which allows students to interact with each other, as well as with the teacher, producing a learning environment that encourages critical thinking and objective evaluation, while stimulating contemplation.
Throughout the chapter, Freire contends that the education system is a tyrannical “banking concept” that needs to be replaced with a more “revolutionary” method of teaching. Though some may find his views controversial, or even ideological, the author does provide convincing evidence that a system change is long overdue.
The first point of contention for Freire, the relationship between teacher and student, is described as a “fundamentally narrative character” (Freire 71) that has a “narrating Subject (the teacher) and patient… (the student).”(71) The author also points out that “the process of being narrated to becomes lifeless and petrified.”(71) Through this process “the student records, memorizes, and repeats” without really learning the material. I think the author’s description paints an accurate picture of today’s education system.
Freire now draws a comparison between his “banking “concept,” and students are being turned into “containers” and “receptacles to be “filled” by the teacher.”(Freire 72) In his comparison, the author explains that much like the “filling of a receptacle” (72), “…the banking concept of education, in which the scope of action allowed to the students extends only as far as receiving, filing, and storing deposits.”(72) This comparison effectively explains, in Freire’s opinion, how education is more like “an act of depositing” (72) that a collaboration where teacher and students work together.

I like the comparison between the banking depositing process, and the lecturing techniques used by teachers. The visual made it easier to interpret the author’s

message.
The next point Freire describes, under the guise of the “banking concept”, is how “knowledge is a gift bestowed by those who consider themselves knowledgeable upon those whom they consider to know nothing.” I think this quote was a good lead in to the author’s explanation of why he felt teachers were working just to stay employed, and do not have the students’ best interests in mind.

Another way the author exemplified his opinion of teachers was though the list of “attitudes and practices, which mirror oppressive society as a whole” (Freire 73). Two examples from the list, “…the teacher knows everything and the students know nothing,” (73) and “…the teacher confuses the authority of knowledge with his or her own professional authority, which she and he sets in opposition to the freedom of the student,” (73) clearly validate Freire’s notion that the education system design allowed for job

security.
Another point of contention for Freire, was how the oppressed suffer from an educational system that causes them to have a distorted view of a “healthy” society. The author contends that “the interest of the oppressors lie in “changing the consciousness of the oppressed, not the situation when oppresses them.” (Freire 74) The education system itself allowed for the oppressed to become “beings for others,” not allowing them to transform into “beings of themselves.”(74) All these examples support the author’s view that the education system caused a “healthy society” to be a non-existent realty. In Freire’s mind, the world was a place to be dominated and repressed, and his writings confirm this attitude.
The final topic covered by Freire was how to resolve “the problems of human beings in their relations with the world” (Freire 79) through a new way of educating the oppressed that he called “problem-posing” education.”(79) The author points out that student would interact with teachers becoming “jointly responsible for a process in which all grow.”(Freire 80) Freire also believes that his system of “problem-solving” education will allow teachers and students to overcome “authoritarianism and an alienating intellectualism,” (Freire 86) and enable “people to overcome their false perception of reality.” (86)
Overall, Freire’s’ writing style is persuasive and effective in providing a convincing argument for a new education system. The author also does a good job explaining exactly why he is a champion for reform, and what failures are occurring in the existing that makes his system a better choice.
References
Freire, Paulo. “The ‘Banking Concept of Education.” Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Bloomsbury, 1989. 71-86. Web (.pdf file of print). 3 September 2015.