Freire and Rodriguez Comparison

Banking Concept or Problem-Posing, Which is the Better Choice? Paulo Freire proposes two styles of teaching: the banking concept and problem-posing education. Through Freire’s lens, Richard Rodriguez would be seen as a banking student, but could later be seen as a problem-posing student throughout the course of his life. Both styles are still viewed today in teacher-student relationships. Freire describes the “banking” concept of education by saying that “Education thus becomes an act of depositing, in which the students are the depositories and the teacher is the depositor. Instead of communicating, the teacher issues communiqués and makes deposits which the students patiently receive, memorize, and repeat” (Freire 244). He uses the metaphor of depositor and depositories to relate to a bank. The organized mindlessness of business between a bank and its contents is portrayed as the style of teaching which is seen as ineffective. It is seen in his eyes as unfavorable because the student does not have an opportunity to form his/her own ideas and think critically. On the other hand, Freire proposes the problem-posing style of education. He explains how power and authority are both mutual between the student and the teacher when he says, “The teacher is no longer merely the-one-who-teaches, but one who is himself taught in dialogue with the students, who in turn while being taught also teach” (249). Freire stresses the importance of problems for the mind in order for critical thinking to take place. Because of the mind is at work, people are able to form their own opinions and ideas instead of just storing information and accepting it. Even though Freire recommends problem-posing education, the fact of the matter is that most people are faced with the banking style of teaching, like Rodriguez in his essay, “The Achievement of Desire”. According to Freire’s opinion, Rodriguez would be seen as a banking student because he doesn’t have his own ideas or opinions. Rodriguez strictly looks up to his educators because his parents are not well educated enough to follow as role models. He shows his deep admiration for his teachers when he says, “I began imitating their accents, using their diction, trusting their every direction. The very first facts they dispensed, I grasped with awe. Any book they told me to read, I read—then waited for them to tell me which books I enjoyed” (Rodriguez 549). His teachers “deposit” him information while he accepts the information and claims it as his own. He doesn’t bother forming his own opinion because facts and opinions from others are given to him. He also read many books so that he would appear to be intelligent when speaking and writing. Rodriguez shows that he didn’t read to comprehend but instead read to fill his mind when he says, “I vacuumed books for epigrams, scraps of information, ideas, themes –anything to fill the hollow within me and make me feel educated” (558). Even though Rodriguez has been taught by means of the banking style of teaching, he also practices the problem-posing style throughout the course of his life. The conflict between Rodriguez’s culture and education implies that Rodriguez is also a problem-posing student. According to Freire, a problem-posing student is one
Rodriguez becomes a problem-posing student in the sense that his experiences throughout his life become his teacher, which he realizes when he becomes a professional. His parents also play a role in his problem-posing education by letting him choose his path in life. Rodriguez was faced with the problem of not being able to succeed his full potential in school because his culture was keeping him back. Faced with this problem, he chose to separate the two worlds and focused on school rather than keeping his cultural side alive. While Rodriguez received “banking” style of education inside the classroom, the lessons he learned outside of the classroom were “problem-posing” education. Freire’s statement relates to Rodriguez when Freire says, “In problem-posing education, people develop their power to perceive critically the way they exist in the world with which and in which they find themselves; they come to see the world not as a static reality, but as a reality in process, in transformation” (Freire 252). Rodriguez at the end of his essay realizes that his parents “made his success possible” and turns his style from banking to problem-posing. He transformed into an educated professional with the help of both the banking style and problem-posing style of education, despite Freire’s focus on one style of education. Both styles of education are be used in our world today. Even though Freire feels strongly about the banking concept of education, he uses the banking style in his essay. His persuasive essay doesn’t allow the reader to consider both styles of education, causing no critical thinking or forming of opinions. Instead, the reader is forced to accept his idea that problem-posing is the better choice. The political implications of the teacher-student relationship imply that both styles are used in everyday situations. The banking style of education is best used when persuading the audience into an idea. Power could be distributed equally with the problem-posing style, and could be dramatically in one side using the banking style. Although problem-posing is better for critical thinking, people can still succeed in life when taught using the banking style. Banking concept and problem-posing are two different styles of teaching. In Freire's opinion, one can only succeed through the problem-posing education, but Rodriguez proves that wrong by receiving banking style of teaching inside the classroom. Both authors in reality use both methods throughout their life, therefore both styles are used universally everyday.