Critical Reflection 3

In chapter 2 of the book “Pedagogy of the Oppressed,” Freire does a great analysis surrounding the banking model of education, one that I found to be quite insightful. This method reflects the idea of the teacher depositing information into the students who are considered to otherwise be empty. Freire (1970) describes this method as having a scope that only extends “as far as receiving, filing, and storing the deposits” (p.72,) which Freire (1970) then states “the more the students work at storing the deposits entrusted to them, the less they develop the critical consciousness which would result from their intervention in the world as transformers of that world” (p.73). Ultimately, due to the lack of scope descibed by Friere, the students are alienated and oppressed as they are not the arbiters of their conscience, only holding and then regurgitating information, and they end up only viewing the world as “the way it is” rather than seeing themselves as “transformers of that world”. The next interesting concept that caught my eye was in regards toliberatory education, which “must begin with the solution of the teacher-student contradiction” (Freire, 1970, p.72). What he is referring to as the teacher-student contradiction is the way that the teacher and student are presented to one another as the opposite and therefore through the banking method the possibility that students teach the teacher
is never discussed, this is a result of ignorance. I experienced many of these concepts throughout my life in the education system due to the banking method used in my schools, the method that is most predominant in the westernized world. 

I can remember struggling with school from the very beginning, first struggling with regurgitating information from reading. This only continued with more and more struggles as time moved on from provincial exams to tests and so forth. I always received low marks, all the way through the end of high school and I truly felt like I had been left behind. To analyze this with the use of Freire's concepts, I believe that I was alienated as a result of the banking model as I felt like I didn't have the access to my “deposits” which seemed to be the most important thing. Just like Freire argues that the educational system illustrates to students that this is the way the world is, I was given the illusion that I was stuck in a never changing world in which I didn't have what it takes, according to one teacher I had to be on drugs. Though I scraped by high school (and I mean just scraped by) and made it to university, I feel that the schooling system failed me in that it completely alienated me and I thought I was to do nothing more than work a dead end job for the rest of my life. I pushed forth to university a couple years upon graduating high school to prove I was better than what the banking system had led me to believe for so long.

A big problem that came as a result of being taught within the banking model was the lack of opportunity for creative expression, discussion, group work and one on one's/ relationships with the teacher. The teacher-student contradiction that Friere discusses in “Pedagogy of the Oppressed” is clearly illustrated here and is now quite clear to me when reflecting on my schooling experiences. For the most part there was the feeling that I couldn't approach teachers for guidance or discussion resulting from years of being reinforced with the idea that you take in the information and then regurgitate it, end of story, if your unable to do that then your not smart. As for university it has still been a fairly difficult experience, however I have become much more confident in myself and my ability as there is much more room for expression and creativity. As for the teacher-student contradiction, it is much more absent within the university than in say high school, but it's still there. Building off discussion, group work, relationships with professors, hands on experiences and so forth has been proven to more accurately portray an educating experience for me. I feel much more educated from the different methods encountered in post secondary education then previous schooling, where I felt alienated. This is not to say that university doesn't use the banking method as it is very much present, however it just eliminates certain aspects depending of course on professors and the class at hand. Because I have done better under a method that has eliminated some aspects of the banking method, I feel that eliminating it completely may show progressive results.

 Sensoy, Ö. (2011). Picturing oppression: seventh graders’ photo essays on
racism, classism, and sexism. International Journal of Qualitative Studies
in Education, 24(3), 323–42.