Freire's Education Concept

Freire's Education Concept

Paulo Freire, born in Brazil in 1921, was a prolific and well-known adult educator. He dedicated his life to the eradication of adult illiteracy throughout Brazil and abroad, in essence freeing the poor from the oppression of ignorance. He worked in the capacity of university director, as well social service advocate. His role as public servant enabled him to connect closely with the urban poor. These experiences set the foundation for him to develop a means of communication with the disenfranchised and create his dialogical method. His most famous works include, “Education as the Practice of Freedom”, and “Pedagogy of the Oppressed”. In this text I will analyze his essay titled “Banking Concept of Education”.
The purpose of “The Banking Concept of Education” is to examine the general educational method commonly used in today’s society. The author will attempt to compare it to the functional structure of institutionalized financial banking. He takes the stance that the current system is dysfunctional, and proposes his theory on how to cure the ailing social norm. The tone of the text suggests that Freire’s audience is intended to be one of considerable intelligence. It is evident in the language that he applies, and in the concepts he uses to reinforce it, that he is probably stating his theory to colleagues or constituents of his field of expertise.
Freire opens in stating that by carefully observing the relationship between an instructor and his pupil, it can be determined that the association is strictly “narrative” (Freire 1). And because of this nature, the content being taught loses its lackluster. He begins to explain his analogy to “banking” by likening instructors to depositors at a bank and students to open depositories. Rather than teaching, the instructor dispenses bulletins which the students are to absorb and retain. Paulo Freire firmly remarks that narration “turns them into containers, into receptacles to be filled by the teacher” ( Freire...

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