12th
Our Role Models - Part I
by Brian Geremia
Paolo Freire: A Refreshing Educational Role Model
Too often we hear stories of teachers who are frustrated with rigid, pre-determined curriculum, and students who have learned “the system” and do just enough to memorize the proper material for the upcoming test. Unfortunately, this has been mistaken for learning. Paolo Freire is a refreshing educational guide who shows us that learning is more than accumulated homework points and passed tests—that it can be practical and worthwhile, and that what seems complex can often become refreshingly simple.
In the 1970s, Freire forged a new way of looking at the educational transactions between teachers and students. He challenged the commonly practiced “banking” model of education, where students are perceived as empty receptacles to be filled with knowledge from an all-knowing teacher. In this top-down approach, instead of communicating with students, the teacher “deposits” information that students must memorize and repeat. Transferring knowledge from “knower” to “learner” strips the content of any meaning—it simply becomes stuff to learn (boring!).
Freire instead calls for a Problem-Posing Education where there are no longer teachers of students, but teacher-students with student-teachers. This approach embraces two-way learning, creative thought, and re-consideration of previously help assumptions. Because of the emphasis on creativity and innovation, there are endless opportunities for reflection that leads to prized “teachable moments.”
The educational establishment still relies strongly on the banking model through it’s structured, standards-based approach to learning. Academic Impact sees itself as providing “educational relief services” to those students who are looking to push the envelope and learn in more practical, effective ways.
For further information about Paulo Freire, visit:
The Paulo and Nita Freire Project for Critical Pedagogy
http://freire.mcgill.ca/
Paulo Freire Institute, UCLA
http://www.paulofreireinstitute.org/
