Palo Freire’s essay “The Banking Concept of Education,” and Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave,” both make the point that very often students as well as others believe what they are told. It becomes a concept in their mind of what is right and wrong and what is factual in this world. Throughout Freire’s essay the teacher is the supreme authority who knows everything, while the students are to learn from and trust the teacher. Plato’s essay talks about ignorance and learning explaining you can’t go through life with a closed mind. The understanding comes from what you perceive and your senses. There is no authority telling you what to think. The point that both authors portray is there are authority figures in life who we believe tell us the facts and there is what we as people perceive from our senses. It is for us to decide what is right and wrong, and who is correct.
Palo Freire’s banking concept of education consists of the students receiving the information, repeating it, and memorizing it. They then repeat the process again. This concept limits the ability of a student to think freely on their own. It’s controlling their thought process and altering their ability to learn in a critical way. Humanists highly agree with this idea that students will eventually be alone in this world and they need to know how to handle it themselves. The students taught using the banking of education method will not be prepared for what is to come, and they will be unable to think on their own.
Plato’s “Allegory of the cave,” argues and different point of view. He portrays the students are full of knowledge, while the teachers are there to help guide and act as a support system. Plato’s ideas come from what you perceive as factual. He believes we learn through reasoning and this is the correct path to take in order to do so. With an open mind and learning through reason students will be prepared for situations to come.
Through the eyes of a student the teacher is authority. Although it is not factual that the teacher is better than the student. Students simply need to participate to their ability while learning. Believe it or not the teacher also learns from the student. It works both ways. We need to seek learning and not let this perception get in the way of our education. It is a thought perceived by many. The best thing to do is be active and learn from others.
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2 comments:
Kim, the following is from your second paragraph. I think it is a very useful, well-posed insight. It reads: "The point that both authors portray is there are authority figures in life who we believe tell us the facts and there is what we as people perceive from our senses. It is for us to decide what is right and wrong, and who is correct."
This statement could be evolved into your own statement for a synthesis paper where you discuss some of Gregor's troubles as they relate to his inability to decide what he should and shouldn't do in life. Think of the symbolism of the bug. What does Kafka want to say about the man who is crushed under the weight of boredom and responsibility?
This was a really interesting synthesis. You picked up on stuff in Plato’s message that I hadn’t seen and it really made me think. You made a good point about how students respond to authority and what happens when they no longer have someone telling them what to think and do.
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