Chapter 2 of Pedagogy of the Oppressed discusses the “The Banking Concept of Education” and the negative consequences of this system. The concept of banking is pretty simple the teachers are the depositors of knowledge and the students are the depositories. Through this system students just receive, file and store these “knowledge deposits.” They don’t really think about what they are being taught they are just memorizing the information that they are given . I found this to be an interesting and well thought out way to describe the lack of critical thinking in the educational system. What I took away from this was that in order for students to really gain something from there education there needs to be more of a dialog between the students and the teachers. This is something that has come up in class before, education is not a one-way street where teachers just throw knowledge out for the students to memorize; it is important that students really think critically about what they are learning and question things that are unclear or don’t make sense to them.
Paulo Freire (1921-1997) in The Critical Pedagogy Primer (2004) discusses what it means to be an educator according to Freire. Educators are “learned scholars, community researchers, moral agents, philosophers, cultural workers, and political insurgents. One thing that I found very interesting is that Freire said that “teaching is a political act” and argued that educators should embrace this fact. He believed that teachers should “position social, cultural, economic, political and philosophical critiques of dominant power at the heart of the curriculum.” While I think it is important that educators not push their own political agenda on their students, I think that teachers should provide students with appropriate information and allow them the opportunity to think critically about their own situations and how they can work to better their own lives.
Devine Thoughts 
I totally agree that teaching shouldn’t be a one street. I think the teachers should reduce the time for teaching the students. Instead, they should let the students to discuss, raise questions, and new ideas.
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I liked the fact that you explained your interpretation of the “banking concept” because the way I understood it was exactly the same. That our role as educators isn’t limited to “spoon-feeding” students, and that giving them the space to think about what they learn and reflect upon it is one of the key parts of a successful education system. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
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Thanks for your post!
The best courses I have ever taken – that made me think with depth – were courses that were back and forth dialogue between student and teacher, and not lecture style. I do however think there is value in a teacher holding authority in the classroom in an effort to guide critical thinking in a manner that is reflective of both the student and the tools offered from the class to arrive at whatever consensus they make.
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Actually, if teachers taught students well, they might find out that the students’ thought process will be very similar to theirs, especially if the teachers are on the right patch. I doubt there will be any significant deviations.
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