Freire's Banking Concept of Education

          To understand what Paulo Freire meant by the term “narration sickness”, it is helpful to first understand the context in which he tied this phrase.  Freire believed many teachers within education use the concept of learning or teaching as the process by which an educated person transfers their knowledge directly to the uneducated or the students.  This process involves the listing of facts or narration by the teacher and the memorization of those facts by the students.  The narration doesn’t actively involve dialogue and doesn’t require any interaction of the listeners.  This very definition sets forth the notion that boredom can largely be involved.  Students especially, considering the many years that they must sit within classrooms, eventually become sick of just listening to a speaker rattle so that they can memorize and spit out facts.  In terms of the world coming down with narration sickness, since actual learning of concepts and how those apply to the larger picture doesn’t retain in students’ minds, the world inevitably sees this within the workforce and spanning out to affect other orders.

The renowned Paulo Freire, Brazilian educator and influential theorist.

            The No Child Left Behind Act mimics narration sickness through standardized tests since school funding and ultimately teacher’s jobs are on the line on the basis of good test results.  Not only has the United States seen mass cheating by teachers in order to raise student’s grades due to the act, teachers’ main goal is to get the students to memorize the answers so that they can succeed through the test.  No critical-thinking is involved.  This is the basic definition of the Banking Concept. 

            A specific example that stands out in my memory of the banking concept occurred in high school history and government.  The specific instructor taught all courses relating to history so throughout my Freshman to Senior year, I had the same teacher for those courses.  This teacher was the ideal banking concept instructor meaning that the flaws noted by Freire were employed by this teacher.  In particular, the history classes consisted of pages upon pages of pre-written notes displayed on an overhead projector while the instructor read through them.  No dialogue occurred within these courses.  The teacher chose which topics would be narrated within a class period and students were expected to comply. 

            This method of education was very disadvantageous to me because I did not retain very much information at all and I actually enjoy history.  I remember dreading going to the history classes because these were the longest fifty minutes ever.  Luckily, I have had the advantage to explore history in more inspiring and problem-posing directions since my high school career. 


              An excellent teacher in my past educational career was my Human Development instructor for a college course prior to USF.  Dialogue was strongly encouraged.  The instructor shared multiple stories of her life experiences every class period to relate the concepts and theories to real life.  She also had each student reflect upon their own life experiences and periods from birth to present and tie each to the text that was studied.  One of the most positive qualities about this instructor’s teaching method was that she spoke to the students as equals and her counterpart.  I do not remember one incidence in which she narrated.  Additionally, not only were hands-on projects initiated, but group work was regularly included.  I believe that this teacher was genuinely concerned with the comprehension of all of the students in the class.  Problem-posing education definitely was fostered.

            Considering the culture and principles of Athenians, they would definitely without a doubt embrace the concept of liberated or problem-posing education.  Both ideals of this type of education and of the Athenians encourage free thinking and exploration into subjects.  Both also maintain true knowledge as the goal.  As for myself, I am trying to employ more problem-posing concepts into my education.  This is notably different than in high school when I merely wanted to ‘get through’ the drudgery of school.  Since I have set clear-cut goals for my future, I am excited and believe it to be best practice for my upcoming life to critically think and examination solutions with intent.  After more thoroughly learning about the benefits from practicing dialogue within the classroom, I certainly try to continue advancing in my interaction skills.  Upon reflection, the classes that I am currently completing at USF are excellent environments for dialogue and I have noticed that problem-posing education is adamantly encouraged.  For this reason, I find attending class to be fun and educational.  No longer do I attend classes for the attendance points!