The Struggle with Education Education has become stagnant. Intelligent individuals are still being molded, but the methods of education are creating individuals who lack free will. Through deep analytical understandings of education, both Walker Percy’s essay, “The Loss of the Creature,” and Paulo Freire’s essay, “The Banking Concept of Education,” have been able to unravel the issues and consequences of modern-day education. Despite creating clever people, Percy and Freire believe that the current form of education is inefficient because it strips away all sovereignty from the students and replaces it with placid respect for authorities, creating ever more complacent human beings in the long run. In today’s modern educational system, the …show more content…
Freire believes that the “more completely they accept the passive role imposed on them, the more they tend simply to adapt to the world as it is and to the fragmented reality deposited in them” (73). Percy claims that this dependency stems from the belief that “sovereignty [must be] surrendered to a class of privileged knowers” (54). Freire believes that due to this loss of sovereignty, the ones with authority attempt to “indoctrinate[e] them to adapt to the world of oppression” (78). Consequences begin to mount as students begin to mold into the world of oppression. Freire’s strongest belief is that, due to the banking system, a student simply becomes “the possessor of a consciousness: an empty ‘mind’ passively open to the reception of deposits of reality from the world outside” (75). This mentality causes students to become constricted thinkers, or mindless robots, only letting the engineer program predetermined ideas that the engineer deems them fit enough to know. “What has taken place,” claims Percy, “is a radical loss of sovereignty” among the students because in the way education is currently being utilized, educators perceive that knowledge can simply be placed into students, however, this method is sorely inhumane …show more content…
Despite both writers believing that there is a flaw in modern-day education, they come to that conclusion in separate ways. Freire predominately believes that the education system is what is restraining students, while Percy believes that the students are to be blamed for refusing to leave “the beaten track.” Regardless of the individual problem that both writers perceive as being incorrect, Freire and Percy end at the same conclusion that students are losing their individuality. Students and teachers must unite to strive for the change they deserve and to get past the preset system that is withholding them from greatness. Freire points out that true “Knowledge emerges only through invention and reinvention, through the restless, impatient, continuing, hopeful inquiry human beings pursue in the world, with the world, and with each other” (72). With these newly discovered ideas for reform, students will not be constrained by their oppressors from expressing who they truly are:
Douglas talks about how people who refuse to learn about their situation do not want to face their oppression. However, Freire says nearly the same thing just that students believe they know everything from the whole banking concept idea. Another similarity that both these pieces present is the value of education in society. Douglas talks about the education prospective from his point of view in the 1800s which is very different from now but he still represents an argument. People should want to learn how to read and get a better understanding on their unfortunate circumstances. However, Freire’s point of view is from the late 1900s which is more recent then Douglas. Freire talks about how teachers need to change their style of teaching so students become more active in the classrooms. However, these pieces can be very different based on what is the social problem in both articles. Douglas faces the problem of race, since Douglas is African he was unable to learn how to read and write unless the lessons were given in secrecy. When Douglas learned how to read and write he tried to teach his people and they refused to so he lost faith and trust in everyone. Freire talks about the problem in the classrooms, how teachers need to get the students more active to help them feel a need that they are incomplete unless they are
Knowledgeable, educated, and wise have become descriptive characteristics that have become seemingly interchangeable in today’s society. However, what does it mean to be educated, wise or knowledgeable? In the article “The Educated Student: Global Citizen or Global Consumer” by Benjamin Barber, he says “…young people were exposed more and more to tutors other than teachers in their classrooms or even those who were in their churches, their synagogues-and today their mosques as well.” (417). It is suggested that the places where these characteristics are obtained have changed with industrialization and capitalism. “The Student and the University (from the Closing of the American Mind)” by Allen Bloom directly postulates from the vantage point of a college while referring to an entering student “In looking at him we are forced to reflect on what he should learn if he is to be called educated.” (422). The main reason students continue their education falls under the assumption that will be considered educated at the completion of their studies. But, what does it mean to be educated? Deborah Tannen proposes in “The Roots of Debate in Education and the Hope of Dialogue” that students since the middle ages have gone to places of higher education to learn how to argue or, more formally, debate (538). Where does the ability to argue fall into education? With little support for the education system currently in place, Barber, Bloom, and Tannen discuss in their respective articles the existing problems, their origins, and what they entail.
Baldwin talks about role and how one must change their place in the world in order to appreciate one’s role in society, while Freire talked about how the teachers in the schooling systems needed to change their roles in the lives of those they taught. Baldwin talks about his place in the world and how isolated he felt from the people of America. He had to leave America to find his “role— as distinguished…from [his] “place” — in the extraordinary drama which is America, [he] was released from the illusion that [he] hated America” (Baldwin 2). Going to France released him from the role he thought he was stuck in. Freire adds to this idea when talking about the role of students and teachers who “instead of communicating, the teacher issues communiques and makes deposits which the students patiently receive, memorize, and repeat. This is the “‘banking ' concept of education, in which the scope of action allowed to the students extends only as far as receiving, filing, and storing the deposits” (Freire 1). Freire discuses the solution to this problem by using “problem-posing education, which breaks with the vertical characteristic of banking education [and] can fulfill its function of freedom only if it can overcome the above contradiction. 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” (Freire 6). According to Freire one of the main problems with the ‘banking’ is “the banking approach to adult education…will never propose to students that they critically consider reality” (Freire 3). Baldwin also talks about his role when he says that while in France he started listening to Bessie Smith to “ re-create the life that [he] had first known as a child and from which [he] had spent so many years in flight” (Baldwin 1). For years Baldwin had avoided certain activities and foods
It’s no surprise that there are faults within our schools in today’s society. As both authors’ point out if our educational system is
Imagine a world without education where human history is totally forgotten by the young generation, and individuals are forced to live in their basic everyday life without having the power to change it. Such in balance or disorders are the growing problems that occur around the world, which were pointed out in many educational essays like “The Educated Student” By Barber, “The student and the University” by Bloom, and “Class in America – 2003” by Mantsios. These essays are among the many of their kind that address the status education in the modern world as being forgotten and lost behind all the technology and commercialization of education. This was the point of attention of scholars like Barber, Bloom, and Mantsios who came up with a common
The human mind is perhaps the greatest object on the earth, animate or inanimate, but without the proper training, the mind is a relatively useless tool. Through the development of formal education systems, humans as a whole have tried to ensure the training of all minds so as to continue prosperity for the world. Most of the time, though, education systems do not realize the harm they are doing to developing minds and the subsequent negative consequences. Among the largest of these inadequate education systems is the American primary schooling system. The American education system is in fact failing; it continues to deplete children of their natural creativity and thirst for knowledge while preaching conformity, which in turn creates an ill-prepared and incompetent public.
In Dorothy Sayers essay “The Lost Tools of Learning” she observed that the modern education system has been successful in teaching subjects but failed at teaching students how to think and learn for themselves. She connects this failure of education to change that took place at the end of the Middle Ages in which the education system changed course from its true purpose. She proposes several questions for us to ponder this loss of education in today’s society: the modern custom of extending childhood, the lack of ability to recognize fact from opinions, unproductive debates where questions are not answered or even argued. One doesn’t need to look further than the current news media to see that her claim holds merit. Children are leaving schools
Currently, the world faces many problems involving education. Including, expensive college tuition, lack of math and science but most importantly unequal global education. For example women in the Middle East have limited education and there is an enormous lack of modern education in third world countries. But in his novel The Abolition of Man C.S. Lewis points out that our modern education system is not perfect. Lewis presents an argument about how the modern education is far inferior to the post-modern education. The Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis is successful in using rhetoric to prove that the Tao is no longer a part of modern education which is leading to the abolition of human nature.
The second chapter, "Formative Years," is a delight for readers who, like me, enjoy hearing others' stories and how they got to be where they are today. This section gives an in-depth background on the context in which Horton and Freire grew up and the major influences on their lives. Some of the points highlighted in this chapter include Freire's concept of "reading words and reading the world" (p. 31), distinction between "having authority and being authoritarian" (p. 61), Horton's emphasis on the importance of learning from the people and from each other (p. 41), and their agreement that education is not neutral (p. 64). The stories provided by both authors to illustrate these points projects great examples for the reader, from which each reader can reflect back on our own history to identify how we came to hold the ideas we have today.
... that a “banking” education is not the better choice for obtaining an education. He does not present both options and allow or encourage the reader to form their own opinions. The style of his writing is direct and straightforward as opposed to analytical. By analyzing Freire’s essay, one can assume that Freire received a “banking” education based on the way he has written his essay. This is another example of how the style of education you receive affects your life and relationships.
Max Fischer cannot be summed up with a few simple words. A plethora of descriptive definitions is still incapable of summing up such a Renaissance man. Max is such an extraordinary student that he can be compared to Paulo Freire’s idea of a student, as explained in The Pedagogy of the Oppressed. In it, Freire disparages the modern education system, “the banking concept of education,” by noting its destructive abilities of creating complacent students who regard themselves as inferior by those above their educators. This method is based on the idea that the teacher simply force-feeds knowledge to students, only to have it regurgitated back at them (72). Freire is concerned because students are educationally restricted by this method, however
Through our class discussions of education we came across this quote by Joseph Sobran, an American journalist and writer who spent a great amount of his career working for the National Review Magazine, "In 100 years we have gone from teaching Latin and Greek in high school to teaching Remedial English in college." When asked to critically think about the meaning of this quote I concluded that our educational standards have been lowered over the years and that students in America are not as intelligent as they once were in previous years. These two thoughts brought me to the questions, what does it mean to be educated or intelligent and who gets to decide. When reflecting emotionally on how this quote made me feel I realized it made me feel
In the Freire’s “the banking ‘banking’ concept education.” he interpreted that teacher deposit themselves contains reality to students, and take the concept as if reality although it is far away from our life. This kind of education model led students to adapt the world, but not judges the world personally. T The capability of banking education to minimize or annul the students’ creative power and to stimulate their credulity serves the interest of the oppressors, who care neither to have the world revealed nor to see it transformed (Freire, Pg.217). The process of teacher’s teaching just an information transition, this act make students away from real life and world. Hence, banking education makes people apart from praxis. Apart from the way to be a fully human being in the real
Education has always been in existence in one form or another. As each child is born into this world regardless of who or where they are born, life lessons immediately begin. He/she will learn to crawl, walk, and talk by the example and encouragement of others. Although these lessons are basic in the beginning they evolve as the child grows. However, the core learning method of a child does not change. Learning from others, they will watch, listen, and then act for themselves. Thomas Jefferson believed that an education would lead men and women to the ability to be self-governed and become positive contributors to society (Mondale & Patton, 2001). Today, we can see how true this is by the examples of others. Those that are given the opportunity for education are more likely to find jobs and develop skills that not only improve a community, but influence the economic growth of their nation (Ravitch, Cortese, West, Carmichael, Andere, & Munson, 2009, p. 13). On the other hand, if an education is not provided to individuals, they can become a hindrance to that nation’s growth.
How do we get educated? To most, education is an arduous slog through school; starting with simple stories about naughty rabbits swapping bologna sandwiches. As we grow, we move on to more and more intellectual pursuits- onward to ancient kings being depressed. By the time we graduate we are ready for a life as a ‘productive member of society’. One may find themselves wondering where that shift is from ignorant to educated. Most people will tell you it comes when you graduate high school, some will argue that it will not happen until you become a parent, others will say it never happens. David Foster Wallace and Mike Rose believe that being educated is not a matter of how well you have been educated, but how you grow as a person. Mike Rose’s life experiences illustrate this perfectly.