The Achievement of Desire by Rodriguez

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The Achievement of Desire by Rodriguez In Rodriguez’s essay, The Achievement of Desire, Rodriguez illustrates the characteristics of an automaton, thus confirming Freire’s views regarding the banking concept. Despite his classification as a "scholarship boy", Rodriguez lacked his own point of view and confidence, which led him to be dominated by his teachers and his books. In the eyes of Paulo Frerie, Rodriguez would be considered a receptacle. He was filled not only with his teacher’s information, but also with knowledge obtained from his reading of "important" books. Rodriguez is a classic student of the banking system. Early in his essay, Rodriguez shows signs of yielding to the ways of the banking concept. "I became the prized student," Rodriguez admits, "anxious and eager to learn. Too eager, too anxious - an imitative and unoriginal pupil" (Rodriguez 622). Rodriguez was simply absorbing narrated information from his teachers and books. He did not actually understand the knowledge he absorbed. Freire would claim that the "words are emptied of their concreteness and become a hollow, alienated, and alienating verbosity" (Freire 348). Instead of understanding the information Rodriguez retained, he depended on his books and teachers to fill him with their own ideas and beliefs. These deposits of information caused Rodriguez to become unimaginative, and essentially apathetic. After submitting to his teachers and to his books, Rodriguez slowly turned into what Freire would call an "automaton." He detached himself from his parents and siblings and turned to books for comfort. He submerged himself in reading and studying, and distanced himself from social interaction. Rodriguez became not only removed from his ... ... middle of paper ... ...ion as well. Rodriguez is not only an automaton, but also of a banking concept student. He is a container holding the ideas and thoughts of distant authors and impersonal teachers. Rodriguez does not have opinions or beliefs of his own. His mind is filled with borrowed information and is missing analysis, examination, and point of view. After reviewing Rodriguez’s education, Freire would undoubtedly classify him as a quintessential representation of a banking system pupil because in Freire’s words, "Education thus becomes an act of depositing, in which the students are the depositories" (349). Bibliography: Freire, Paulo. "The ‘Banking’ Concept of Education." Ways of Reading. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin, 1999. 384-359. Rodriguez, Richard. "The Achievement of Desire." Ways of Reading. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin, 1999. 620-641.

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