Cons of Banking System of Education - Essay Example

"Banking" system of education prevents people from becoming "truly human”. Banking system of education is defined as a program where knowledge is a gift that is possessed by those that are knowledgeable and given to those they considers knowing absolutely nothing. Basing on this definition, students are considered to know nothing in the system while the teachers are master of the entire knowledge. Consequently, students are taken to be ignorant. Teachers on the other side they are the know-it-all and the necessary opposite of the student. They are the one to transfer their knowledge from their thinking faculties to the completely empty faculties of the students (Paulo 2). With teacher domineering disposition, the student perceives themselves as the slaves where the knowledge they are seeking is the tradeoff while the teachers become their masters. The net result is that the student oppression denies them realization that they are knowledgeable and indeed that they are in one way or another teaching some of the concepts to the teachers who consider themselves the masters. In such system of education, “the human” part of the human being is suppressed. Arguably, such vertical relationship between teachers and the students will hinder the students from becoming truly human. This aspect of Paolo Freire will be seen with more examples that are robustly explained how banking system of education is detrimental to the true human behavior. Primarily, there is another education system that is completely opposite of the banking system. With this education system, cohesion between student and teachers is encouraged, unlike the banking system. This type of education is known as raison d’etre of libertarian education. The relationship in this type of education is horizontal where the students and teachers are at the same placement. Consequently, cohesion between the two is encouraged, and the true nature of the human being is encouraged. With the cohesion, the students are taught and at the same time, they can teach the teachers. In this system, there is no student nor teacher but the learning is an exchange between the two. This allows human beings to be truly human. It is not possible for any human being to be a know-it-all the way the banking system wants student to believe. Neither can one be completely ignorant and knows nothing the way the students are perceived to be (Paulo, p.10). Teachers should only control the process, but the learning should be an exchange between the student and the teacher. That is why Paolo Freire argues that the banking system prevent the human being from becoming human. Students, additionally, undergoes learning process that is not consistent with the way normal human being should be learning. Normally, learning the process follows a particular trend and pattern that enable students to take the lessons, digest, retain the knowledge, and retrieve when one need to apply to a particular situation arises. This is the normal way and how human beings are meant to learn. Such learning is only possible when the participants have the latitude to participate in the learning. It is only raison d’etre libertarian education system that can give this latitude to the student to learn. However with banking system of education, the teachers are very aggressive in teaching what they may not know well but does that in concealment and at the same time being very oppressive to effect the concealment of their inadequacy (Paulo, p.2). On such learning environment, the student is forced to cram what they are taught without understanding. They rote learn and become more robotic in their learning making them less human. Once they have deposited the material given to them through robotic learning, they cannot remember anything as it was cramming. Such learning is what Paolo Freire argues that the banking system education prevent people from becoming truly human. It is surprising that whatever people learn through experience can be remembered ten years down the line while what was taught in a banking system of education yesterday cannot be remembered. The capacity of the brain to store the knowledge is limited with the oppressive teaching. Such teaching is meant to make student believe that their teacher is versatile with everything that he or she teaches. This is the deception that exist with the banking system of education. A deception that that corrupted the truth human behavior by introducing robotic style of learning and teaching. Human beings are only described as human when they are in their state of mind. Consciousness is one thing that needs to be alert always. Any teaching that is in tandem with human behavior should keep someone alert. Once new things are taken into mind, the mind should not be reprogrammed into memorizing the content that is taken in with the banking system the content that is taught by the teacher is taken wholesomely and memorized. This transforms human being into being like container that is just filled with something. This reprogramming comes with the oppressive nature of the domineering teacher who will not allow one to think. It is within the nature of the human being to question some of the new things that happen to them. Banking system has emerged out to make students over-reliant on the deceptively all-knowing teacher that is oppressive to conceal what they do not know. Since the teachers are oppressive, the students recoil in fear of their teacher and eventually they cannot not exercise there cogitating faculties during learning. It is only in liberal learning that the session of learning is interactive between the teacher and the student. As the lesson, become more interactive. Interactive lessons have been characterized by enabling students to exercise their thinking as a human being. This prevents the tendencies of taking the lesson wholesomely as seen in the banking system. Wholesomely taken lesson have been occasioned by suppressing the critical consciousness. Most of the student in a class of a teacher who embraces banking system are not critical thinkers since they give out what was rote learned. Liberalizing the learning process and making the class more interactive is one way of bringing human behavior in class. Otherwise, with the banking system where interaction between student and teacher is limited by fear, the learning will prevent a student and even teachers from being human being as argued by Paolo Freire. The argument of Paolo Freire is valid backed with overwhelming evidence that on a personal point of view I agree with. Bases on the aforementioned argument I agree with the argument that the banking system of education prevents people from being human being. Human beings are critical thinkers, and they exercise their cogitating faculties when encountered with something new. Additionally, the human being is not all knowing since education is on the process of continuum. Learning will never end. Banking system of education makes an assumption on this nature of the human being. It brands teachers as all knowing while student to be ignorant. Banking system of education bases its teaching on suppressing the thinking capacity by instilling fear through oppression (Paulo 2). Surprisingly, the authentic teacher is authenticated with by the thinking of the students. Since the thinking is suppressed, teacher ceases from being human being and act robotically. To overcoming this nature in education system, the learning should be liberalized and made more practical. Learning should involve all senses by being interactive to allow thinking, questioning, and participation. A lively class makes students taking full control of learning to contribute some of the aspects that the teacher does not know. For that reason, the teacher should just lead the class in attaining the objective of the lesson and let the learning be interactive. The relationship between the student and teacher should be horizontal where latitude is given to the student to participate, and the fear of participation is suppressed. With such approach, the cognitive learning, practical and theoretical learning will be achieved. Interactive learning can well be achieved through use of problem posing education (Paulo 6). Reference Irwin, Jones. Paulo Freires Philosophy of Education: Origins, Developments, Impacts and Legacies. London: Continuum International Pub, 2012. Print. Read More