Paulo Freire is against the education system he classifies as the "banking concept of education". Instead, he supports the idea that education should be a collaborative process in which teachers and students work together and think critically. He classifies the banking concept as an environment where teachers are the narrators and the students are the recorders. Freire has also proposed a new solution called problem-posing education where the teacher and student become one; each teaches the other and both have the chance to think critically as well as give one's interpretation of the subject. However, both systems are not entirely perfect and therefore both have advantages and disadvantages in the education system.
The banking concept of education has received many criticisms especially from Freire himself. Freire describes this as when the teachers directly fill the minds of their students with information and the student themselves accept it without any questioning as oppressive.
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English: Photo of Paulo FreireTo put it differently, the teacher informs, and the student listens in return. The students are not allowed to challenge the authority and the credibility of the teacher. Therefore students have no freedom or active participation in education.
There is, however, a time in which banking methods are necessary and advantageous. The acts of recording, memorizing, and repeating phrases may have their advantages after all in certain situations. This is especially true when teaching in an elementary school or to younger children. The students need to learn the basics first before using it to think and formulate their own views and ideas. For example, when teaching basic math equation, teachers ask their students to memorize that 1+1= 2 or 1x2=2 and so on. In this situation, it is appropriate to use the banking concept because there is no point denying accuracy of the equation. In other words, students...