Education is very important to most of us; it's the basis of our society. All teachers have their own approach to teaching, but if the material taught is learned, does it make a difference the way students learn it? Paulo Freire was on the right track with his ideas in his essay, "The "ÃÂBanking' Concept of Education."� He says there are two forms of education, banking concept and problem posing. I have been in school for just over 12 years and have received both types and I've come to the conclusion that both are effective ways of teaching, it just depends on what subject it is taught in.
Freire says that the "banking"� concept is where "education thus becomes an act of depositing, in which the students are the depositories and the teacher is the depositor"� (Freire, 349). The concept teaches students only to memorize, and not learn what is important about what they are memorizing.
American Education is in the Dumpster
English: Photo of Paulo Freire
Phila. Teachers on Capitol Steps, Wash., D.C., 5/1...It's true that not all students learn from only memorizing deposited information just to repeat them mindlessly. But I disagree with Freire when he says you aren't learning if you are being taught using the banking concept. There are some cases where this concept is useful. My math classes have always been taught using this method. Math teachers use the banking concept when they teach students a new math procedure or operation to solve a certain type of problem. But with the education system here, there is always an explanation of where the numbers came from and how everything works out. This method of teaching according to Freire is called problem-posing education.
Problem posing education, unlike banking concept, teaches students to use their creativity and learn through conversations with other students. It ""æbases itself on creativity and stimulates true reflection and action upon...