Liberal v. Problem-Posing Methods of Education

1517 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The relationship between teacher and students

Education

Paulo Freire and John Henry Newman both present two different styles of education. Freire proposes the implementation of the problem-posing style. Problem posing promotes the teacher-student relationship being a cooperative relationship. Newman proposes and defends the methods of liberal education. Liberal education seeks to improve the mind and seek truth and knowledge for its own sake. Both styles favor freedom over order and thus both liberation education and liberal education were met with resistance when they were introduced. Newman was challenged by those who favor professional education. Newman wrote essays and showed how Oxford University could prepare students for both the workplace and society. Freire was challenged by the Brazilian government and showed that revolution is necessary for the advancement of the impoverished. Both concepts of education are different in some ways and very similar in many others.

John Henry Newman was a 19th century English theologian who was a part of the Oxford Movement and supports the concept of Liberal Education. Liberal Education is the active search for truth and knowledge by students. Newman defends his stance on liberal education by first defending the search for truth and cultivation of intellect. Newman argues that the cultivation of the intellect is an end that should be pursued for its own sake. To discover the meaning of truth is the task of intellect. Newman writes, "Truth of whatever kind is the proper object of the intellect; its cultivation then lies in fitting it to apprehend and contemplate truth" (Newman 168). Newman argues that in order to gain knowledge one must train his intellect for its own sake. He compares that being a student should be like a pro...

... middle of paper ...

...and Problem-Posing are two different concepts of education. Both concepts are designed to help the student and promote the acquisition of knowledge. However, both concepts are different from one another. Liberal education seeks to help one gain and appreciate knowledge for its own sake. Problem-posing education seeks to change society and how students are taught; they are expected to learn with the teacher. Freire and Newman have both developed theories that help students learn.

Works Cited:

Newman, John Henry. "Knowledge Viewed In Relation To Professional Skill." Schmersahl and

Sollenberger 168-188.

Freire, Paulo. "The Banking Concept of Education." Schmersahl and Sollenberger 66-80.

Schmersahl, Carmen B. and Michael Sollenberger, eds. Choices. 7th ed. Acton, MA:

Copley, 2002.

Sampson, Md. Davis, et al. The Pact. New York: Riverhead,2002

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of A Student's Guide To Liberal Learning

    801 Words  | 2 Pages

    James V. Schall’s, “A Student’s Guide to Liberal Learning” wants us to understand that the nature of the universe gives us opportunities for different things. He addresses that the universe allows us to gain new knowledge in any place that we might be. In Schall’s “A Student’s Guide to Liberal Learning,” he mentions “one that is capable of altering us to intellectual riches that are almost never found in universities or in the popular culture.” From this I understood that the universe always gives opportunities to acquire and learn new knowledge. The universe allows us to learn different things. For example, things that might be facts or simply random things that are interesting.

    Read More

  • Summary Of In Defense Of Liberal Education

    207 Words  | 1 Pages

    In Chapter 2 of In Defense of a Liberal Education by Fareed Zakaria titled “A Brief History of Liberal Education” Zakaria does just that he begins chapter 2 giving a history lesson on the history of liberal education. From its beginning in Ancient Greece, where lessons consisted of the studying of Homeric poetry to codes, values, and physical training. In the start, the people of Greece did not like the need for this liberal education. Zakaria talks about how Plato and Isocrates both had different outlooks on what should be taught. Plato “considered education a search for truth.” (Pg42) Where Isocrates believed that studying rhetoric, language, and morality (Pg43). Zakaria also talks about the liberal education in the Roman empire along with

    Read More

  • William Cronon's The Goals Of A Liberal Education

    760 Words  | 2 Pages

    Liberal educations benefit students in the long run, long after students have paid their loans. People are able to be informed on national topic, while also being able to be self dependent. Two qualities that are essential in the modern society. I believe it is important to have such a basic understanding of education and knowledge, just like what Nussbaum agreed too in her essay. However, I also believe the curriculum should be centered around making students a better person. Institutions should try to produce good people with the right intentions instead of just focusing on testing intelligence, similar to what Cronon focused on in his essay. If we can incorporate both of these important features into our liberal education system, then and only then, will we be thriving as a society. Graduates will have a good understanding of knowledge from an array of different fields, as well as having important traits that will carry on for the rest of their

    Read More

  • In Defense Of A Liberal Education By Fareed Zakaria

    900 Words  | 2 Pages

    But the best argument against a liberal education is perhaps the simplest. When students go to any college, they choose a major and take classes that are related to that major. However to get to those classes they have to take courses in , reading, writing, and history. I don’t think that Zakaria realises this. By the time these students graduate, they will be able to understand all of the technical aspects of their field, as well as being able to express their thoughts and ideas clearly. All of this without a traditional Liberal

    Read More

  • To what Extent the Progressive Movement was Successful

    1284 Words  | 3 Pages

    In addition, the Progressives were absolutely correct to improve society by education because by having an education, it will prepare an individual to earn a living, but also to prepare the student to play a useful role in a democratic society. With e...

    Read More

  • A Comparison Of John Henry Newman And Paulo Freire?

    1218 Words  | 3 Pages

    A well-rounded education is very important and much supported. Two supporters are John Henry Newman and Paulo Freire. John Henry Newman was a professor at Oxford University and an Anglican minister that converted to Roman Catholicism and became a Pope. He delivered several lectures in Dublin, Ireland, about the importance of a Catholic education. These early lectures on education were revised and published in The Idea of a University. One of those lectures, “Knowledge Its Own End,” is about two distinct kinds of education (Austin, 53). Newman believed that there was a need for education purely for pleasure and education that is needed to pursue a specific career. Paulo Freire is a Brazilian literature professor and philosopher. Freire

    Read More

  • The Freethinking Student of Dialogic/Dialectic Learning

    1052 Words  | 3 Pages

    Paulo Freire questions the theory that education is just a basic process consisting of just teaching between a student and teacher in Pedagogy of Hope. The text elaborates on the multiple components of teaching. Freire makes a valid point that the teaching style is an imperative factor in whether the student is able to comprehend the material. He lists four types of teaching styles. The first, authoritarian, the teacher is dispassionate to any input from the student. The second, permissive, allows the student full control of their learning with little to no teacher input. The third, intellectualism, is where the teacher is enamored and overwhelmed by the content of the teaching. The most important of the styles to Freire is dialogic/dialectic, engaging both the student and teacher in the content taught. This style is imperative to the students of today’s society because of the need to be free thinkers able to analyze critically and dialogic/dialectic is the only style with the capabilities to influence the mind.

    Read More

  • Liberal Education: Why is it important in today's workforce?

    1617 Words  | 4 Pages

    Why do college students need courses in the liberal arts? Is it beneficial or just a waste of time? Will it make them or influence them to become better workers once they graduate or will it just go down the drain and be useless? Student loans are increasing every year, and each student just wants to finish their degrees at a lesser price and a quicker pace, so they can start working and pay for those debts. In today’s society where some to most students are very much career – driven, they decide to specialize early on their degrees which means taking all the classes that are required in their respective majors. Students are only required to take minimal courses or subjects in the liberal arts such as humanities, philosophy, communication, etc. Also, students are more keen to focus on what they think or believe can offer high salary base pays professions especially in this current state of our economy. Even though students specialize early in the degree that they have chosen has its advantages, college students would benefit more if they are required to take core classes in the liberal arts to develop not only a well – rounded education but also prepare them for the real world. By taking subjects in the liberal arts along with their field of specialty, students will develop strong critical thinking skills that will be beneficial in problem solving once they have a job. They will also have competent oral and written communication skills that are necessary in any organization, and their creativity and innovation will be enhanced.

    Read More

  • The Banking Concept of Education and The Achievement of Desire

    1470 Words  | 3 Pages

    In this method of education, according to Freire, students never think critically or develop ideas. The second type of education is labeled “problem-posing”. Freire makes it very clear that he is an advocate of the “problem-posing” method of education. He believes in encourages communication and better comprehension of what the students are learning. “Yet only through communication can human life hold meaning…the teacher cannot think for his students, nor can he impose his thought on them” (Freire 216). Freire argues that the only real form of educatio...

    Read More

  • Summary Of David Foster Wallace's Commencement Speech

    1260 Words  | 3 Pages

    The commencement speech given by David Foster Wallace in the autumn of 2005, is a very deep speech that examines the whole idea of a Liberal Arts education at an extremely deep and intellectual level. In the 22 minute long speech Wallace talks about how higher education not only teaches you to think but “how to exercise some control over how and what you think.” (Wallace). Wallace later in his speech stresses the importance of this level of thinking by saying “if you cannot exercise this kind of choice in adult life, you will be totally hosed” (Wallace) What he means by saying this is that if you cannot think at a higher level and make sense of real world problems your life will become meaningless and you will become dead inside your head.

    Read More

  • Understanding Literacy: Learning Beyond Classrooms

    1031 Words  | 3 Pages

    Aside from school or Universities, our world is a huge classroom. All of us learned things that are not taught in school, but there are some methods that we follow in order to simplify and to understand more regarding the task of different fields of knowledge. In our society today, most people learn by mimicking others and their actions that are influenced by past experiences. There is knowledge that is handed down from mouth to mouth generation that never committed in writing. When I think about knowledge, the first thing that comes up with my mind is education. Education requires self-determination, dedication, and experience. According to John Henry Newman’s philosophy of

    Read More

  • The Argumentative Essay: The Value Of Liberal Arts

    633 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Hence you see why “liberal studies” are so called; it is because they are studies worthy of a free- born gentlemen. But there is only one really liberal study – that which gives a man his liberty. It is the study of wisdom”, said Lucius Annaeus Seneca, the Roman Stoic philosopher who lived during the time of Jesus Christ. Historically speaking, learning liberal arts we learn ourselves to be passionate, loyal, brave and what is more important, generous. The word “freedom” has been the fundamental component of any American Dream. Today we celebrate our nation’s independence and allowance to govern ourselves.

    Read More

  • Are Too Many People Going To College Analysis

    1360 Words  | 3 Pages

    “A high school graduate who has acquired Hirsch’s core knowledge will know, for example, that John Stuart Mill was an important 19th-century English Philosopher who was associated with something called Utilitarianism and wrote a famous book called On Liberty. But learning philosophy in college, which is and essential component of a liberal education, means that the student has to be able to read and understand the actual text of On Liberty”. (Murray

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Jonathan Kozol's Still Separate, Still Equal

    772 Words  | 2 Pages

    Two particular authors wrote their essays on education, and although they focus on two unlike subjects entirely, the authors describe specific goals that they wish to have achieved based on their observations and experiences; therefore, there is at least some form of similarity.

    Read More

  • Styles of Teaching: Banking Concept vs. Problem Posing

    1464 Words  | 3 Pages

    In conclusion the problem-posing style to education is not only the most effective way in helping a student retain the information, but it also sets everyone, whether it be the teacher or the students, at equilibrium. I am not just speaking from my point of view, but also from Freire. We both came to the same conclusion and based our opinions off our own experiences. This style of education is very effective in expanding the minds of the receiver by making them more interactive in their learning rather than the typical lecture and take notes. In this style of education people teach each other and the teacher is not the only one enlightening the class with their knowledge.

    Read More

More about Liberal v. Problem-Posing Methods of Education

Open Document