A Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Waste
“A mind is a terrible thing to waste” is the motto for The United Negro College Fund. I remember reading these words on the way to City College. The message I got is that the mind is a valuable tool that can open up the world to a person, a young African-American person in particular, and education is an entrance to more choices and greater freedom but has the current educational system accommodated the potency of a person’s mind. If I asked Paulo Freire, he would definitely say no. Freire was introduced to poverty and hunger during his childhood due to 1929 Great Depression in Brazil. This monumental experience built up his dedication to improve the living conditions of the poor. At the time, literacy was a prerequisite to vote. Being able to vote meant one’s freedom and they hoped not to fall under primary, economic, social, or power reinforcement by the established authority and to be able to decide their own fate. Education provides more choices and a greater freedom.
Through his controversial essay “The Banking Concept of Education”, Freire views modern education, the banking education, as “an act of depositing” (257) in which “the students patiently receive, memorize, and repeat” (257). He claims that this way of learning is a misguided system that murders creativity and transformation. Hence, he proposes a revolutionary way of teaching, problem-posing education. Problem-posing education focuses on critical thinking and creativity, leaving behind memorization and repetition. After careful consideration, Freire’s complete refusal on the banking concept of education and his absolute support on problem posing education is not the answer to achieve the ultimate goal of education. None of the educational concepts presented by Freire are perfect. Nevertheless, we cannot discard the banking education and then convert entirely to the problem-posing education. The key is to compromise. By combining banking and problem-posing education together, we will be able to
Through his controversial essay “The Banking Concept of Education”, Freire views modern education, the banking education, as “an act of depositing” (257) in which “the students patiently receive, memorize, and repeat” (257). He claims that this way of learning is a misguided system that murders creativity and transformation. Hence, he proposes a revolutionary way of teaching, problem-posing education. Problem-posing education focuses on critical thinking and creativity, leaving behind memorization and repetition. After careful consideration, Freire’s complete refusal on the banking concept of education and his absolute support on problem posing education is not the answer to achieve the ultimate goal of education. None of the educational concepts presented by Freire are perfect. Nevertheless, we cannot discard the banking education and then convert entirely to the problem-posing education. The key is to compromise. By combining banking and problem-posing education together, we will be able to
Cited: Freire, Paulo. “The Banking Concept of Education.” Ways of Reading. Eds. David Bartholomae and Anthony Petrosky. 7th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2005. 255-270.