Paulo Freire uses the term Banking Model to criticize the traditional way of teaching and education. He describes it as teachers simply passing on an idea to the students. The teachers talk and lecture while the students are quiet and receive the information. He referred to the students as “containers” that teachers put knowledge into. It empowers the teachers at the students expense. It shows that the teacher is the one more experienced and has all the knowledge on this topic regardless of whether the student knows anything about it.
I have experienced this type of model many times in high school. Some teachers I had would not care to listen to anything the students had to say. They would think everything that they said was correct. I think this model has more negative aspects rather than positive. You might be able to learn something but it’s not the most effective and long term method of teaching.
Pedagogy and Power
Fiere talks about the “banking” method of learning. Every relationship has two parties and in this relationship one party is a narrating Subject (the teacher) and the other is a patient listening object (the student). This is a one way relationship, the students put nothing towards it. It turns the student into a box or container waiting to be filled. The more completely the teacher fills the “container”, the better a teachers he/she is. The more meekly the students allow themselves to be filled, the better students they are.
I don’t agree with this concept of teaching. It is implying that students don’t know anything and can’t input into the lesson and that teachers know all the knowledge and have the correct pieces of informations. I believe, at different ages, students have differents ideas that they can share, and smarts that teachers can learn. When I was younger, my mom (who is a teacher) always said, “Teaching is learning.” She would come home from work and tell me stories of things her students did, and what she learned from them.
I thing to get the utmost knowledge into students is to teach them using a more ‘friendly’ method of teaching.
Blog 3 – Pedagogy and Power
To Friere, the “banking model” is a form of teaching in which the teacher or educator, feeds knowledge to the student, and the student only receives knowledge. It is a one way relationship that empowers the teacher, disempowers the student, and prevents critical and creative thinking. Despite giving the educator the upper hand, this banking model is detrimental to both the student and the teacher. The student suffers because they are simply taking in information that will be useful for them on their exam, and aren’t necessarily retaining that information for the future. The educator suffers because they are simply talking and ensuring everyone comprehends, which leads them to dislike their jobs. Friere argues that there needs to a balance between the teacher teaching the students, and the students interacting with the teacher. I have had many experiences in grade school and in college with the banking model. Specifically in my first semester of college, I had a professor that would speak for an hour and fifteen minutes, ask questions to see if we understood, and continue speaking. This experience supports Friere’s “banking model” theory because since there was no interaction and all lecture, I learned very little in the class and it was obvious the professor wasn’t enjoying the experience too well either
Blog Post #3: Pedagogy & Power – How the Banking Method is Harmful to Many
When Friere published Pedagogy of the Oppressed in 1968, he explained how people pass ideas from one person to another, especially from teacher to student through the person who talks & the person who receives the knowledge should listen, memorize, & repeat this new found knowledge. Friere despised this idea because of it’s lack of creative thinking. This method is detrimental to teachers due to an abundance of young teachers who use the banking method end up despising what they do & quitting as most people who do if their job is just relaying words to young children with no fun. As well, banking method of education hurts the students because once you memorize a fact & use it for whatever you needed it for, the idea will just maneuver to the depths of your memory & will probably forget it unlike other methods where students can write things down & read them in the future or the ideas are relayed in a way where students will enjoy remember them for example many students like to memorize the 50 states & their capitals as a song for a test & plenty of people memorize songs. This method may be the best way to memorize work but if you end up just forgetting about it after your done with it.
Pedagogy and Power: Freire’s Banking Model
The banking model of education is Paulo Freire’s take on the version of education in which teachers play the role of a “narrator” that simply “deposit” information to their students who are their information “containers.” To Friere, this type of education is damaging to students since they become conditioned to listen, memorize, and repeat everything they’re being taught instead of truly grasping the concepts behind the topics that are being taught. The students also often end up not having the right kind of experience when it comes to the so-called “real world” after graduating.This form of education empowers teachers, as they are the ones in positions of authority, sharing the knowledge, and disciplining, whereas the students are the ones complying with sitting back, taking in the information, and being disciplined. This happens at the expense of the masses and society as a whole due to people’s lack of interest in asking questions and sharing their opinions since they have become so used to a certain method of only taking in the information that seems necessary.
In today’s education system, I think experiences with this model are inevitable. With the push for standardized exams and “Common Core” in elementary, middle, and high schools students are becoming more and more inclined to just take in information that is being provided to them without bringing up any questions. Much through my years as a student, especially in science and history classes, I felt as if I couldn’t do much but memorize certain things to actually pass a class. I could tell you that “the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell” but ask me if I actually understand what the means and I wouldn’t have a clue. The constant need for memorization led me further away from the actual information and more towards Robot-That Must Pass The Class. To me, this is one of the main reasons why I (and other students) become disinterested in topics that could have actually been interesting.
Blog Post #3: Pedagogy and Power
The banking model to Friere is a term he used for the traditional educational approach. He stated that students were like containers that teacher put knowledge in. A main criticism was that this technique often was a form of oppression towards the student. In other words while the teacher was active, the students were in fact passive. A simpler way to explain this approach is that often in this tradition teachers educate with monologues completely ignoring the student’s needs. The banking model empowers the teacher at the expense of the student, because the student regardless of prior knowledge in the subject is completely ignored. The assumption is made that all students are the same, therefore the individual person is non-existent in this model. Often this system involves the sole use of memorization and no other processes.
I think it would be safe to say that almost everybody has seen this approach used to teach. The banking model was especially popular during my elementary school years. I had many teachers that to gain authority rarely allowed student interaction. This was especially popular with the old school military style teacher. In college this is rarely seen, the few times I did encounter this style it was used in lecture halls with over 100 students (but I think that is expected).
Pedagogy and Power
According to Paulo Freire, the banking model of education can be thought of as students being empty vessels or containers in which teachers/educators must put new knowledge into those “containers” or students. Essentially, the teachers are expected to unload information into student’s brains, and it is then assumed that those said students will intake that information, memorize it, and then be able to regurgitate it. This is how Paulo Freire metaphorizes the education system. This model can be seen to empower the educators or teachers because in this sense, they have the ability to give forth any information that will fill the student’s mind or their empty container. Thus this model can be seen to disempower the student’s since they are not in control of the information that they are being filled with and expected to memorize.
I believe that throughout my academic career, I have experienced this model multiple times in which it had its positives and negatives. For me, one experience of the banking model that I encountered was when I first began to learn Spanish in middle school. In the beginning, for every class the teacher would give us new words to learn the meaning behind and then the different endings. For example, I would be taught that “descansar” meant to rest, and then be given a list of the different conjugations. During this time I was expected to have this information “deposited”, memorize it, and the recite it. I believe that for this kind of course, this model was an advantage because it is important to be able to memorize a word’s meaning as well as its conjugations, and repeat this information…just as one would with a word in English. Although, I think a negative of this learning was that I was never encouraged to memorize proper use or using it in a sentence. There was no critical thinking to the basics of this course, and therefore I personally had a difficult time learning the material. From this personal difficulty, my Mom would have to speak to me in Spanish and use the word in order for me to fully understand the word, and then I would have to create my own sentences; I was not always able to just memorize it and regurgitate it. 
Blog Post 3: Pedagogy and Power
What is the banking model to Friere? Who does it empower or disempower, and at whose expense? Do you have any experience with this model? If so, describe an encounter that you have had with the banking model and reflect on it, both positives and negatives.
The banking model is based off what Paulo Friere believes to be the traditional education system, in which the teacher “deposits” information into the students mind to simply memorize to later on spit right back. Freire believes that in this education system students are not truly learning as they are not allowed to actually think. The Banking model ultimately empowers the teachers and those in charge of the curriculum as they have complete power to “deposit” anything into the students brain whether it be fake or actual factual information.
I have had many experiences with this model throughout most of my my life. In elementary school we expected to memorize in preparation for the New York State Exams. In Middle school and High school we were again expected to memorize rather than learn for our regents, mid-terms, and finals. Personally the banking model has had both positive and negative effects in that in my math class memorizing the steps to solve specific problems and repeating them over and over again played an important and effective role in studying for an exam. The down sides to this model is that once the information is not needed the brain seems to depose the information which happens every year once the school year ends.
Blog Post 3: Paolo Friere’s Banking Model
The banking model to Friere is the idea that what a teacher says is processed in the student’s mind, which is how the student learns. This model empowers the teachers because they have so much authority that they can literally tell lies to the the student, and the student has to believe this. It disempowers students by making them ‘mindless’ students that listen blindly to the teachers. This model empowers teachers and disempowers students at the student’s expense by making them almost like robots that follow orders without hesitation. I personally do not have any experience with this model because my teachers have always been more flexible and willing to learn from us as well
My Art Story
What Is Art?
Often, art is perceived as simply drawing, sculptures, paintings, etc. However, art is in everything around us. Art to me is a form of expression on who you are and what you see. Art is being passionate for something that others may not understand. Its having a skill and putting dedication and work into it so that it best represents how you are and how you feel. My form of art that I used to express myself is in the art of makeup. I use it as a form of expression on how I feel or how I see beauty in this world. I hope to learn different ways on how to express myself in different forms of art and ways on how others use their form of art to express themselves.
