Paulo Freire & I (blogpostit/blogpost6)

One place where I put a post it note in the readings by Paulo Freire, is on page 104. He quotes, "Education thus becomes an act of depositing, in which the students are the depositories and the teacher is the depositor." He is saying that in today's society, teachers are simply throwing information at students, expecting them to memorize all the facts just to pass tests. Sadly, this is true. This is mostly true in high schools and middle schools. In my opinion, I see this type of "depositing" mostly due to state tests. Teachers are evacuated by their student state test scores and then given a grade. If the grade is extremely low, then the teacher might lose their job. My mom is an 8th grade math teacher in New York and she tells me all about how the state is basically screwing over teachers. Teachers are hired to educate students to become more well-rounded people and prepare them for the world. How can teachers do that if they are scared of being fired? To me, it just doesn't make sense. 

Another quote that I thought was interesting by Freire is on page 108. "Oppression-overwhelming control-is necrophilic; it is nourished by love of death, not life. The banking concept of education, which serves the interest of oppression, is also necrophilic." Freire is saying in this quote that the banking system is extremely oppressive to the students. I agree that it is oppressive because in the banking system, no students can really say what's on their mind or question theories that the teacher is explaining. But in a different system, which Freire calls "problem-posing", allows the students to reflect to each other and the material. I even believe that the banking system can sometimes oppress teachers. Some teachers are afraid of using the problem-posing method because the board of directors and/or the state say that they have to teach certain materials in a specific way. These teachers are then being oppressed because they can't have a say to how they are teaching and what they are teaching. Something needs to change.