Pedagogy of the Oppressed

1. What does Friere mean by the Banking model of education? Please be specific.

The Banking model of education is to do with the relationship between teacher who is the subject and student which is the object. The teacher gives students information and facts which they feel is true and the students absorb this information, without questioning its relevance and how it may impact them on a day to day basis. The more of this knowledge the students absorb, the more likely they are to adapt to the world as it is. In the Banking concept, it is said that the teachers feel superior due to having vast range of knowledge and the students are inferior due to having no knowledge at all. In the Banking concept Friere explains that the more information teachers give to students, the better they are. Also the more information students retain, the better of a student they are (Freire, 1972). The attitudes and practices which keeps the Banking concept alive are: 

• The students are taught by the teacher (Freire, 1972).
• The students no nothing at all and the teacher knows everything (Freire, 1972). 
• The students are thought about by the teacher (Freire, 1972). 
• The students listens carefully when the teacher speaks (Freire, 1972). 
• The students get disciplined by the teacher (Freire, 1972).
• The students does as they are told by what the teacher says and their choices (Freire, 1972). 
• The students think they are acting but they are just part of when the teacher acts (Freire, 1972). 
• The students adapts to what is chosen for them to do by the teacher. They are not consulted in this process (Freire, 1972). 
• The teacher expresses their own knowledge to the students. They accidently mix up their knowledge with the knowledge the teacher gives (Freire, 1972). 
• The students are the objects of the banking model of education and the teacher is the subject (Freire, 1972).       

2. Have you had experience of this type of teaching, how do you feel about it? If you haven't how do you think you might feel about it?

PLEASE NOTE: I will not mention any names due to confidentiality reasons.

I have had a lot of experience of some elements of this type of teaching, especially in a non-school setting. For example, when I lived with my parent and step-parent over 5 years ago, they both told me what to do all the time. If I didn't do what they asked of me correctly then there was serious consequences for me. Some of the things I had to do for them was to clean the house every single day when I came back from school, walk the dog, organise the recycling weekly, take the trash out weekly, keep an eye on my younger step-sister all the time and many other things. I could never express my views or opinions on different subject matters to them because if I did then it would be classed as "back chatting" which was very rude in their eyes. I was never allowed to have a say in things, even if I was right. Due to my visual impairment, I was never aloud to go out on my own and learn about my surroundings. I was also not allowed to practise cooking. Life was very hard at this point in my life. My parent and step-parent were the oppressors and I was the oppressed. 

Looking back on the past, I did not like this way of teaching and how I was raised because I was not allowed to be my own person. I had to be the person that my parent expected of me. During this point in my life I felt completely worthless, a failure and I generally felt that I could never get the approval from my parent even though I tried my best in everything. I generally thought that I always made them both unhappy and that I was the worst daughter they ever had. 

This is just one of many experiences of how the Banking concept effected me. Due to being dictated to all the time by  teachers, specific family members and other people, I feel as if I have lost confidence and self-esteem overall in myself which now unfortunately is having a negative impact on my life.   

The Banking concept still happens today to a certain extent. It is wrong as everything is just one-sided and the oppressed are not given any freedom to flourish and thrive as individuals. Overall I believe that everyone in the world an in society will not progress and get the maximum out of life if they are either the dominant oppressor, the oppressed or are people that takes everything they learn or experience as at face value.

3. How do Friere's ideas chime with Augusto Boals theories of Theatre of the Oppressed?

As I briefly mentioned in the previous question, the oppressors are people that force their views and opinions on the oppressed. The oppressors force their views and opinions on the oppressed either through, violence, mental or emotional abuse, physically or a combination of most of these things. The oppressed people are people normally in either disadvantaged backgrounds, different ethnic groups, people with a range of disabilities and mental health conditions, the young and many more. These people are the ones that are dictated to and are forced to adapt to the world and take on the oppressors way of thinking (Boal, 2008).

This links with the Banking concept because the teachers or anyone else in some form of authority are the oppressors and the people who are not superior are the oppressed. However, there is a main difference between Friere's ideas and Augusto Boals Theories of the Oppressed. The main difference is that in Augusto's theory, the oppressors and the oppressed take action to either not be the oppressor or to rehearse solutions on how to solve a social or political issue through different art forms such as Forum Theatre.

From these two readings, the main thing to think about is to not fall into the trap of being the oppressor or the oppressed. In a workshop situation the facilitator must remember to not accidently apply some of the elements of the banking concept as they will either make some of the participants agree with everything they say, or some of the participants will rebel. I now fully understand why my lecturer made my class and I aware that as facilitators we cannot force our own views and opinions on the participants through what we say and how we use our language. I am a facilitator in the making and I must facilitate and guide a workshop, not teach a workshop.   

Reference List

Boal, A. (2008) Theatre of the oppressed. London: Pluto Press.

Freire, P. (1972) Pedagogy of the oppressed. London: Penguin Books Ltd.