The ability to critically think was one of Paulo Friere greatest thoughts about inquiry. The process of inquiry is what separates humans from other species. The desire for knowledge and innovation is what allowed mankind to make “one small step for man and one giant leap for mankind “during the first successful moon landing attempt; not just simply conventions and memorization. In The Banking Concept of Education Friere criticizes the educational system today and discusses his thoughts on what the possession of “true” knowledge really means. Webster’s dictionary defines inquiry as- the seeking of information by questioning; to ask. However, today many students actually seek out information rather than reiterate it including me.
In a classroom setting students and teachers are structured, much like an algorithm, to receive and deposit information. Freire defines the pupils as being passive “receptacles” or “deposits” for meaningless information. You could think of it like a machine and an attendant. The attendant pushes the button and the machine does whatever the attendant was it to do. Like Friere said, when a student thinks of 4 times 4 they don’t systematically know what they are doing. On the contrary, it is the reiteration of knowledge that gets kids to oppress the traditional education system.
Simply put the education system today is much like a big dictionary. Reading, memorizing, and blurting out definitions of concepts are the basic tools. Where nine times out of ten, they are usually hibernating deep within our consciousness.
The teacher-student and student-teacher are another set of issues that Freire brings up in his essay. The teacher’s authority and the student’s complete ignorance of knowledge is what allow these deposits of information to be made in the first place. Students equate authority with knowledge. Meaning someone with power must be wise or intelligent. Even during out childhood years we thought our parents as geniuses. Why, because of the control that they have over our lives. And this control is what subordinates student’s to the teacher’s mercy. Teachers are the epistemological authority in this system; students' pre-existing knowledge is ignored, aside from what was expected to be 'deposited' into them earlier. Freire phrases them as “adaptable manageable” human beings.
The ability to think is what separates the drones from the humans. Remember that!
I like how you point out that in the classroom we usually "ignore" student's pre-existing experience. This is something that, as a composition teacher, is easy and yet not useful to do. It is only through your other experiences (including other classes) that writing can really happen. This is why I encourage links to other classes and writing about something related to one's field.
ReplyDeleteThe equation of authority with knowledge is problematic, since many authorities disagree on some very basic aspects of human existence.