ts. Freire isopposed to this “Banking theory” (p. 357) because he feels that it is inhibiting to the mind. In hismind, problem-posing theory is the proper route, due to the fact that it actively engages aperson’s own ideas and personal thoughts and makes him analyze and question reality.Freire classifies standard systems of education to be a banking system. This label is usedin a literal sense, in that Freire feels that a human brain is like a vault. In the banking systemteachers deposit information in the student and it is to be expected that the student will retain theinformation until a withdrawal is requested, at which point the information will be regurgitatedback in the same form that it was put in, without any processing of the information. This ideaassumes many things about the teacher-student relationship. Among these assumptions are that:the student begins education with a clean slate, the teacher knows best or knows all and that thestudent has nothing to contribute to his own education because he or she knows nothing. Oneother assumption in the banking system is that a person is not considered to be a conscious beingthat interacts with others; he is considered to be a spectator, not someone who is able to make adifference. Problem-posing education is Freire’s solution to the problems posed by the bankingsystem of education. The main premise of this type of education is that people are considered tobe an integral part of the world, that interact with one another. Freire emphasized dialogue ineducation, or a coexistence of student and teacher in which both parties are giving and takingfrom the education. Unlike in a banking system where material is presented for the sole purposeof having the students absorb it, Freire feels that ideas are conveyed to students for their analysisof it, because their opinion is as important as the teacher’s. According to Freire, bankingeducation limits and...
