Paulo Freiire's The Banking Concept Of Education

In “The Banking Concept of Education” exerted from the Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Brazilian radical educator Paulo Freire analyzed an existing flaw in the educational system and discussed a new tactic, problem-posing, which he trusts will lead to a school system with a balanced teaching and learning environment between teachers and students. Freire argued that the flaw existed because of the lack of communication between teachers and their students, rather than a back and forth dialogue he critiqued they simply deposit the information to students who “receive, memorize, and repeat” the given material (318). He perceived that the banking concept limits the students’ ability to think for themselves, which he credited to the corrupt school system

Freire created an example of the problem-posing education in a classroom, which is the notion he proposed needed to be implemented in the educational system. Although Feire came off strongly in terms of his negative critiques on the banking concept, his model of problem-posing has been an example to many “educators around the world” (316). He is a radical educator who has analyzed the difference between these two forms of education. I find his appeal to ethos made his argument believable because he is an individual with experience; he analyzed the banking concept and tested the problem-posing model. Freire is not basing his argument off of someone else’s work; instead he has based it off of his comprehension of the concepts. This makes me believe that since he has done the work himself he is a reliable source of information on the education system. With that in mind, Feire is seen as a credible source who can inform readers, based on his professional experience, about the positive outcomes that the execution of the problem-posing method will

In his argument Freire makes the readers picture different aspects of relationships between teachers, students, and humans and the world. In order to reach out to the reader emotionally, Freire emphasized how the banking concept was similar to a bank, hence the name. An analogy he used was that, “education thus has become an act of depositing, in which the students are the depositories and the teacher is the depositor” (318). That was not the only comparison he made, Freire also compared humans to the world. He argues, “a person is merely in the world, not with the world or with others; individual is a spectator” (321). As a reader, these quotes stood out to me because of the amount of emotional emphasis Freire puts on them. The way Freire describes the banking concept made it seem as if students would have no knowledge if it were not for the teachers, but that is not the case. I agree on what he had to say about the problem-posing education: that it takes both teacher and students to learn from one another. His use of pathos was not limited to the previous comparisons, as it can also be seen through his use of diction. He continued to critique the banking concept when he signified it as a negative metaphor, “lifeless, petrified, reactionary and alienated process that places a burden on students” (323). His use of the term alienated signifies humans being isolated from their conscious relation