My reaction to the Freire article was that it was very truthful.
It brought up alot of topics that have been looked at as unimportant.
Knowledge is a very important tool in which everyone should be able to
use. No one should be held back from learning. Each and every person
has their own voice and should be able to use that voice.
As we talked about in class alot of college professors use the
Banking model of teaching. I have had a few classes that have used this
model. I am a person who learns better with more interactive learning
such as discussions, labs, and activities. I am not saying that I cannot take good notes but if I am not understanding what they are saying then the notes are not going to help me. I do not think that it is all the Professors fault. I think that some of it is because we the students are afraid to use our voice.
Why do we have this fear to use our voice in situations like
these? I think this fear has been slowly put into us by the information
we recieve. Just as we are told to obey laws and rules we are also told
to obey anyone of authority, but what if we know that the person who
has authority is wrong?
It is my philosophy that we are all Americans and we have the
Freedom of Speech. We should always use our voice. It is what sets us
apart from everyone else. It is what make each and everyone of us an
individual.
-- Stoller
I really felt Freire’s article was right in the way many teachers and
students interact. The banking system is obvious to see when you look
for it. I don’t think anyone can really say they have never been
treated like a container. We are all led to retain information for
just long enough to regurgitate it onto a test or quiz at some point
in time. I find these in my classes. Lectures have to be the worst
of this. You are forced to silently listen to what is said, take notes,
with no interaction at all. In many cause I think the professors
wouldn’t even care if you slept as long as they are not interrupted.
The only solution for these problems would be communication. This
would be communication on both ends. A place where ideas and thoughts
are shared would be necessary. If the students could experience what
they are taught and teachers would even allow themselves to be taught
from time to time.
-- Gorrell
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23 comments:
I agree with Freire's opinion on the teacher/student relationship. The teacher is usually the only one who deposits information. The student then stores it long enough to take a test and then forgets about it the next day. I do not agree with "teachers teach and students are taught." I feel that they both experience and learn different things. That makes them both capable of teaching one another something they may not of known other wise. I also feel the teachers have so much knowledge of what they are teaching, they do not explain it well enough for the students to learn the material. Students usually do not say antyhing about it because it can be very intimidating to tell a teacher you think their way of teaching is not good enough. Everyday of class my teachers read information off of a screen while I sit there hoping class is almost over. I think they should organize a more interactive enviroment for students to learn. That way students will not be sitting there half asleep not learning anything.
I thought the article made sense because we do have limited things to teach students but if a student is interested in something he/she hears in class, they have the right to research that subject furthermore outside of class. Students are also encouraged to raise their hand to ask a question when they don't fully understand something. It's not a matter of making someone feel intimidated, it is simply a folkway we have created in order to give a polite way of interrupting a lecture. I feel that the banking system of education is a way to prepare us for our careers later on because that is essentially what it is; taking in the information someone gives you, and knowing what to do with it.
-O'Neill
Freire's article captured what school has truly become, though I think that what he writes about is more relevant to secondary schools like high school and middle school. In those schools, there is more opportunity for the "teachers to teach and students to be taught." Schools are now so geared towards testing that some of the value of real education is lost. Educators are just concerned about "making the mark" or becoming a top school by having the most students pass the standardized tests. If some of that emphasis that is put on the tests gets put into making school more exciting and making the kids excited about learning, then maybe the whole banking model, that has become the norm, will get turned around.
I thought this article was a very straight forward observation. I have to agree with Freire in his thoughts about trying different approaches to teaching/learning outside of this 'banking model'. The banking model of teaching isn't necessarily a bad thing, for some students. For others it makes them feel more intimidated by schooling because they cannot learn in this fashion. I feel that teachers should offer other means of learning for students, or atleast help them figure out how to go about learning the material if the lecture learning process doesn't work for them. I'm not necessarily opposed to everything the banking model of learning has to offer. I find it to be helpful to not allow students to interrupt the teacher, sit quietly so others can hear, and focus lectures on the matters that they require for their course work.A teacher's job is to teach students the knowledge they need to know to move forward in life and their future careers, everything else is the responsibility of the student.
-Kave
The Freire article makes a lot of good points. I think teachers forget that students are not just receptacles and that the material they present to us needs to be taught in a way so that we know how to apply it later on in our careers. I sometimes also feel that teachers do not understand that the material is harder for us to learn because we have not been in that area of study for as long as they have. I believe that the banking model is good in a way in that it makes the student be responsible for their own learning. If they want to just get by in the class and memorize facts and figures then they can do that but if they want to do more than that they will have to find other ways to learn.
-Cordonier
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I thought the Freire article put the way students learn into a different perspective. It analyzed how the education process of learning was more of a memorization than actually understanding the concepts of the material. The banking system is a fantastic correlation between teacher and student interaction. The way Freire described teachers "depositing" information was an easy way to understand his concept. Then students use the information only when they choose to take it out, exactly like how a bank works.
-Shupe
I thought the Freire articles veiw of the teacher/student relationship was correct. Students go to school to learn from people more educated than themselves and the informaion is takin in without objection or debate. I feel the students memorized what they were learning reather than learning it. The teachers are just teaching the information they know, without teaching the students how to use it or apply it later in life. This exemplifies the banking stystem, where the teachers are the depositers and the students are the recepticles where the teachers drop the information.
I thought that the Freire article offered me with a perspective i have never really looke at before. Looking back on my educational career I can see the same pattern. I only hope that in the future this will change and teachers will adapt a new way for students to learn the material asked. Who knows maybe it will lead to a new rennaisance.- Irving
I have to agree entirely with both blog writers. But it also seems that if all teachers are doing this to us then someone should speak out for the students. I'm not talking about just students saying how crappy their teachers are, but i think some teachers should take it upon themselves to realize why every year their pass fail rate is decreasing. I know if I was teaching and had a poor rate of attendance from students, or 75% of my class failed the first test, I would take it upon myself to change my teaching strategy and try and make the subject as interesting as possible. Teachers are always basing everything on pass or fail, but if all of my students did poorly, I would feel like the one who failed. In conclusion the banking model of education is a great analogy to describe the method that most students follow of learning.
After leaving class on Friday, it seemed as if everybody had agreed to Freire's views that he had stated in his article. I most certainly do too, don't get me wrong, but in some sense, he is wrong. I agree with the fact that the students are containers and that we are just there to take in information and that is all, and the fact that people are arguing against that saying that students should have a word in too is also correct. But, because the professor, or teacher, is hired to TEACH or EXPLAIN certain facts, methods, etc. to us as students, then they have all the right in the world to speak over us. Maybe the fact that we had personal experiences or know quite a bit of information on the subject that we are hearing about can just personally help us. There isn't always a need to speak up. Now, if the teachers asks for comments, questions, or opinions, then that is the appropriate time to share. The artile states that students are just like containers, and containers are usually empty, but I think that the teachers are right if they teach us like we are empty because knowledge between students may be different and some may know things that others do not. If students choose not to engage the information that they are taught into everyday life or not to remember it past a quiz is their personal choice, but I do agree that information is just pushed into us.
-O'Roke
Even though I agree with Freire’s main points in his article, I don’t necessarily think that there is an alternative to the banking model of education. If teachers were to explain the background behind every topic, not much would get accomplished during class. Most people educated in math know that sine squared plus cosine squared equals one, but how many of those people remember how to derive this formula? Sure, knowing how to derive it might be more “creative”, but as far as the application goes, the memorized formula has much more usefulness.
Freire’s article seems to make the point that - we have a bad system, therefore we have bad students. I don’t think that the students can depend on the education system for everything. If the student doesn’t understand something, or is curious, how is the teacher supposed to know? The student has to take the initiative to ask a question and give their input to establish communication. If the student feels as if the curriculum is too slow, there’s nothing stopping him from learning about it outside of class. Ultimately, I feel that if there is anyone to take the blame, it should be the student who doesn't put forth the effort to communicate or learn.
-Jason Kang
I think that the Freire article is true in some cases and false in others. for the most part, teachers do seem to spit out information and expect students to grasp it without difficulty or confusion. Though most teachers tell their students that they should ask questions if confused, no one seems to want to raise thier hand in a class of 300 people. The one class in which the Freire article didnt apply was my poli. sci. class last semester when my teacher was always open to a students opinion and was always asking students questions. This class has made me want to pursue a political science degree and i believe that if more teachers take this approach, students would have a better understanding of what they were really interested in
My reaction after first reading the article was that Freire is crazy. I didn't really get what he was saying, but after thinking about it and discussing it he is right. I think the banking system is so true in the classroom. Teachers deposit the information and students reciece it and process it. Also, there isn't much communication between the teacher and student, especially in a lecture type of classroom. One thing I didn't agree with is that the teacher doesn't learn from the student. I think the teacher deffinantly can if there is communication going on and opinions being heard.
-slearn
I thought this article was easy to understand and to the point. Many of my teachers use the banking model and I feel it is unfair sometimes. I would consider myself a good student who always goes to class and takes notes, however sometimes just doing this is not good enough. If there was interaction going on in the classroom more students would benefit and probably have a better understanding of the knowledge the teacher is trying to pass onto them.
--Andrew
I understand the concept proven in this article. Although I see it as completely old fashioned and over the years I think it's easy to see there are just better ways of teaching. I strongly believe the teachers benefit from the students, not just the other way around. Very interest article though, I enjoyed the discussion on it.
The Freire article was somewhat controversial to me. Every educator has a different way of teaching and getting through to their students. Each student comprehends an educator’s tactics in different ways. Some may find it easy to understand what the educator is teaching while others may feel lost and confused. Some students just memorize what they are being taught but do not truly understand the meaning behind the material. Others learn the concepts behind the given material. These students are the ones who are able to learn the true meaning behind the material they are being taught. However in both cases I feel a student can be successful. It is up to the student on how they “bank” on the concepts of the teaching material.
- Evan Yearsley
Remember that when Freire says that the "teacher teaches and the student learns" and that the teacher has nothing to learn from the student, that these aren't things that he believes. He is relaying to you characteristics of the banking model, not things he personally advocates.
OK, that was way too many thats.
I actually like lectures. I think it's our job as students to interact and make class more interesting. Also lectures give professors a chance to teach us things that would not be in text books. It's important to get as much information and learn as much as you can in college. It's our job to be active in class and read. We need to apply what we are learning to our careers.
After reading Freire's article I was actually surprised on how true I actually thought it to be. Up until this point, I never really thought of students as depositories for information to be filled by the depositor(teacher). I always just thought that was how it was supposed to be. That teachers are supposed to be the knowledgeable one's who teach the eager to learn students. After reading this article I do see it differently now, and I am actually so surprised that I had never seen it that way before. For the most part all of my teachers and professors have followed the "banking concept" of education, but I would like to see a change. I DO want to learn, but I DO NOT want to be just a depository.
I believe the article we talked about in class is in a way true. I personally just sit there most of the time and listen to the teacher take notes and remember it for the test. After the test is over i tend to always forget most of the things that were on the test. I think most students, not all, do just listen to the teacher and store the information. Most of my teachers i believe use the banking model of education. I always tend to be reading off of power points and taking notes from them and just listening to the teacher lecture. My opinion of this article is that it does tell the truth is most ways and i didnt realize how true it was until i sat down and thought about it.
I thought Freire's article had several good points.In Virginia we had the standards of learning(SOL) test that we were required to take and pass, so we were taught to memorize what the teachers figured would be on the test.If a student learned about the industrial revolution and were tested on something else the school would assume the teacher had not taught us anything.The banking system of teaching has its flaws. However, maybe the real reason the banking system does not appear to be the best way of teaching is not because of how we are taught but how we are gauged on what we have been taught.
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