Unbelievable Ideology!

Friere talks a lot about how education is a narration ( by the instructor) and facts and figures being deposited into the student. His description of the role of a teacher and a student sound exactly like the concepts of a bank. He understands that the student could transform the knowledge and become “collectors” and “cataloguers” .

He describes knowledge as always inquiring, questioning, and pursuing the unknown like Krishnamurti. However, Friere almost talks as if education is not the route to go to if you want to have knowledge and utilize what you learn to create something new of it. He views the role of the teacher as ignorant because he or she assumes that the students have no knowledge. Thus, they validate their existence by showing their absolute need to be there. Friere insists that teachers always fail to see that the students teach them. I disagree, in this day and age teachers can admit that they themselves learn everyday and learn from their students as well. To say that teachers consider themselves the ultimate masters of education is completely incorrect and unintelligible. He give no alternative to education as far as I am concerned.

I find some of his arguments impertinent. His wording and ideology can be very hurtful and ruthless. Especially when he says teachers are depositors and students are receptacles that store. Also, his use of the word education is too broad! What kind of education is he referring to? Is he trying to write off education as a waste and a complete brainwash? While some of his arguments are interesting, he lacks sympathy. While Krishnamurti encourages individuals to challenge life and its unknown truths and he has faith in humans to some extent. Friere is tough and is a bit dehumanizing himself. He assumes that teachers view students as objects. He believes teachers are oppressors that only seek to mask the unknown truth. What Friere fails to understand is that it is not the fault of teachers for teaching certain material in a planned format. It is the authority above them that chooses what is appropriate and what goes above the “limits”. I personally, would not view teachers as oppressors because they do not get to make the major rules and structures that make oppression exist. I believe the problem is hierarchy. The very notion that educators rank low in the hierarchy of education in technical terms, suggests they are not as important to value or get the appreciation they deserve for investing their time and effort into students. If not school, then what would children do with themselves? Go on a road to self discovery? Friere makes teachers seem like they are major threats to society and that they play the biggest active role in conformity. He treats teachers as if they are robots and inhuman as possible. I believe it all depends on the mind of the student and what interests them. From there they decide what they are aching to find out about. They have minds to inquire what they wonder about.
He himself can be crude because he insists people may realize that life is full of lies with their journey to “become” fully human. (On, “the crude mind”!)