Friere - Banking v. Problem Solving Models of Education - Essay Example

The minds of students are considered to be empty in absolute ignorance, and it is the duty of the teacher to fill them with knowledge (Freire, 2004). The banking model immobilizes the people within existing frameworks of power since they accept that meaning and historical agency are owned by the oppressor. Therefore, education should be a means of liberation rather than solely a knowledge impacting process. The common sense of the poor people, which constitutes knowledge, is not less important than scientific knowledge of professionals.

The education system requires reciprocal trust and communication between the educator and the student. This gives the educator a chance to learn and the student gets a chance to teach. This makes education a communion between participants in a mutually educating dialogue instead of the unilateral action that benefits the student only. The teacher should intervene in the educational situation as a way of helping the student overcome the paralyzing aspect of his or her world. This should result to critical thinking as a process of solving problems in the education process.

This will be vital for reducing the oppression on the poor due to ineffective learning processes arising from the banking model of education (Freire, 2004). Freire proposed a dialogical problem posing education method where the teacher and student become co-invigilators of knowledge. The problem-posing education gives an opportunity to the oppressed to explore their problem as a reality to be transformed. This contrasts the banking model that suggests that the situation in the society can be fixed by nature or reason.

The content of problem-posing education cannot be determined through the expertise of the teacher but arises from the reality experienced by the student. The educator does not answer the problems, but helps the students critically think of the problem in order to make a mutable awareness of the society. Once the students view the society