Prereading blog - The Banking Concept of Education

The reality imparted by a teacher utilizing the banking concept (knowingly or not) is boring. It can be described as barren, devoid of any life, energy, feeling or meaning. Facts are simply memorized instead of understood. The students become a container for that sterile information and is rated according to how well he or she can regurgitate facts. Education has traditionally been this way and it prevents a person from becoming truly human. Knowledge is dispensed from those who consider themselves "knowledgeable" that the students know nothing. This in turn is reflected in society with family, government & religion. Essentially, school prepares the student to "fit into place" in the "real world."

People are regarded as "adaptable beings" to be identified and then cataloged away. As the process continues, the student is less likely to think or act for themselves and not participate in events that would change their world. Banking Education serves the interests of oppressors who would not want to see the world changed,whether it be for capital gain or for some kind of perverse satisfaction. They seek to quell any attempt to stimulate any critical thinking that doesn't help their prescribed view of reality. Their only concern is to change their own reality for the selves instead of for everyone. If one is kept ignorant then they are easier to dominate and control. Those that are oppressed are dubbed "welfare recipients" because they fall outside of the idea of a "good, organized and just" society. They need to be integrated back into society that they have rejected.

Those who use the baking concept may or may no be aware that they are dehumanizing their students. Sooner or later the students may rebel when they realize that their whole education experience has been designed to keep them under control. A humanist teacher cannot simply wait for a revolution to occur, he/she must cause it to happen by encouraging their pupils to think critically in order to become more human. He/she should be trust in other people and their potential. An individual is not a conscious being, they are in possession of that consciousness. Objects do not define a consciousness, they are just things to interact with it. The baking concept perpetuates the idea that men and women are objects and tries to promote what Fromm would call "biophilly" but instead causes "necrophily." It promotes an unhealthy idea and obsession with the inanimate and mechanical. They corrupt that which is alive to dead and that having rather than being is what is important. They identify with a physical object and if that object is threatened, that such a corrupted person is threatened too. If the object is lost, missing or destroyed, then so is the person.

Problem posing education suggests that people can be free and must demand their freedom. This would be undesirable and possibly even a threat to "the oppressor" due to the person thinking and operating in their own self interest instead of the will of "the oppressor".

To me, this sounds like the book "1984" or even the movie "Equilibrium". I personally prefer the latter due to the oppressor losing their power and control and once again the people are free to express themselves without being forced into a drugged, mindless automaton state. I personally wonder how this can be implemented due to the oppressor tying to stifle out any resistance and rebellion but it sounds desirable nonetheless.