Applying Freire's Theory to My Own Experience
Samantha Schmitt
Brian Duckwitz
Banking Concept Essay
English 102
9/12/14
An Experience of My Own
The math teacher was babbling on about how this specific formula worked and halfway through her example I noticed that she had made a mistake. I hesitated a hundred times before raising my hand. It felt almost wrong because usually no one spoke up unless they had to go to the bathroom or get a drink which we all know that was just an excuse so we didn’t have to hear the teacher talk about something we weren’t interested in at that moment. According to Freire, we were taught within the banking system of education to accept our ignorance as justifying the teacher’s existence (319). In other words, students were “trained” in a way to keep their opinions and thoughts to themselves within a classroom setting. The teacher stopped and looked at me, questioned what I wanted. I pointed out the mistake and explained why it was incorrect. She simply laughed and replied, “Nonsense, I check over my work several times.” She moved on with her lesson, so I butted in for the many reasons such as that it’s unfair for the rest of the class to be writing down false work. Freire explained that society which practices the banking concept education is either misguided or mistrusting of people (323). If the students were to write down and memorize that equation with the incorrect solution they would have been “misguided” by the teacher and with making no assumptions about the matter they would have been taught wrong material that later in life could affect them which makes them “mistrusting”. The teacher then told me to excuse myself from the class. I stood up, red in the cheeks, unsure of what I did wrong and walked out of the classroom.
After getting home that day I realized this actually was a big deal. I felt as if I was getting punished for sharing my thoughts. Freire mentioned in problem posing education people develop their power to perceive critically the way they exist in
Brian Duckwitz
Banking Concept Essay
English 102
9/12/14
An Experience of My Own
The math teacher was babbling on about how this specific formula worked and halfway through her example I noticed that she had made a mistake. I hesitated a hundred times before raising my hand. It felt almost wrong because usually no one spoke up unless they had to go to the bathroom or get a drink which we all know that was just an excuse so we didn’t have to hear the teacher talk about something we weren’t interested in at that moment. According to Freire, we were taught within the banking system of education to accept our ignorance as justifying the teacher’s existence (319). In other words, students were “trained” in a way to keep their opinions and thoughts to themselves within a classroom setting. The teacher stopped and looked at me, questioned what I wanted. I pointed out the mistake and explained why it was incorrect. She simply laughed and replied, “Nonsense, I check over my work several times.” She moved on with her lesson, so I butted in for the many reasons such as that it’s unfair for the rest of the class to be writing down false work. Freire explained that society which practices the banking concept education is either misguided or mistrusting of people (323). If the students were to write down and memorize that equation with the incorrect solution they would have been “misguided” by the teacher and with making no assumptions about the matter they would have been taught wrong material that later in life could affect them which makes them “mistrusting”. The teacher then told me to excuse myself from the class. I stood up, red in the cheeks, unsure of what I did wrong and walked out of the classroom.
After getting home that day I realized this actually was a big deal. I felt as if I was getting punished for sharing my thoughts. Freire mentioned in problem posing education people develop their power to perceive critically the way they exist in