HW 50

Pedagogy of the oppressed, Paulo Freire

This article deals with the oppression caused by the "banking" model of education. Friere explains the banking model as the form of education in which students are simply fed information and forced to memorize with out truly exploring it or understanding it. The banking system obviously being the system used by almost every school in the United States. He goes onto to conclude that not only does this system of education keep us stupid but it keeps us oppressed and it intentionally keeps us oppressed. It what disrupt the flow of the system if most people did not go through this form of education. He also explains the problem posing style of education which is more like the kind of education we receive in SOF. In this form the teacher and student are more equals and learn from each other rather than the teacher deciding the students education and the students simply following instructions given by the teacher.

Freire in favor of the problem posing method of education and is very critical of the banking model of education. He makes very valid points in showing the ways the banking model of education throws people in to an never ending cycle of oppression. If one is never taught to think critically then it becomes natural for one to accept their oppression as part of life. I agree that the banking model constricts us from being able to think for ourselves and therefore is a tool and essential necessity of the greater system.

Gatto - Six Lessons

Gatto explains what is expected of him as a teacher by authorities. He breaks down the role of a typical teacher into six different things. He explains them as six different lessons that his students are supposed to learn. All the lessons have to do with discipline, sorting, and lack of individuality. He shows how the system of teaching in which the student controls all of the students education and basically speaks to the students while they sit there and listen doesn't educate students it turns them into robots or puppets to fit in to society later on with out causing a problem.

The biggest lessons that schools teach us are not for our benefit but more so for the benefit of the ones who run our society. It is more useful and very easy for an oppressor to have a worker who does not complain and simply goes through the motion rather than have a person who thinks critically about their situation and the ways they are being exploited. We are in school for all of our lives as children and throughout those years we are molded to fit into society and these six lessons that Gatto talks about are the exact lessons that turn us into the robots that follow and do what we are told. Those are the same six lessons that teach us to accept everything around us and not question it. This relates directly to what Freire speaks of, these are the six lessons that help the oppressors keep us oppressed.

Lisa Delpit

She argues that the reason so any minority students fail to receive a proper education is because they are not part of the culture of power. She believes it is necessary to learnt he culture of power to truly become educated in this education system. Although she says that it is not necessary to adopt this culture fully one needs to know it and be a part of it.

I disagree strongly with her opinion. Her solution to racial inequalities of the education system in United States is to essentially have people of other cultures to conform to the culture of power which means the white culture. Although she justifies her statement by saying ones culture does not need to be discarded she is still telling people to conform to white culture to become educated. This kind of solution is simply putting a band-aid on the problem. If we were all to learn one culture and that was the culture that led to success than it would in fact be a cultural genocide or it would be a fake sense of education because students would be learning in ways that are true to a culture that is not theirs and therefore what they are learning would have no significance to them.