Pedagogy of the Oppressed: Chapter 2

Pedagogy of the Oppressed: Chapter 2
Jared O'Leary
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This episode is episode two of a miniseries that unpacks Paulo Freire’s (1970) book “Pedagogy of the Oppressed.” This particular episode unpacks chapter 2, which discusses the “banking” approach to education that assumes students are repositories of information, and then proposes a liberatory approach to education that focuses on posing problems that students and teachers collaboratively solve. If you haven’t listened to the discussion on the first chapter, click here.

  • welcome back to another episode of the

    cska podcast my name is jared o'leary

    in this week's episode i am unpacking

    some scholarship

    in particular i'm reading chapter two

    from the book pedagogy of the oppressed

    by paulo freire if you haven't listened

    to the unpacking scholarship episode

    from two weeks ago

    which talks about chapter one i highly

    recommend starting there first

    and the reason why is because chapter

    two builds off of

    the discussions on oppressors and the

    oppressed

    that were introduced in chapter one in

    chapter two however which i'm going to

    chat about today

    we're going to talk more about well what

    does oppression look like in education

    and what can teachers actually do about

    it

    so in particular this chapter is going

    to introduce one of the

    more famous concepts that came out of

    this book which is the banking concept

    of education

    so to give you a taste of what this

    chapter is all about here is a quote

    from page

    the opening paragraphs

    of this particular chapter quote a

    careful analysis of the teacher-student

    relationship

    at any level inside or outside the

    school reveals its fundamentally

    narrative character

    this relationship involves a narrating

    subject the teacher

    and patient listening objects the

    students the contents whether values or

    empirical dimensions of reality

    tend in the process of being narrated to

    become lifeless and petrified

    education is suffering from narration

    sickness

    the teacher talks about reality as if it

    were motionless static

    compartmentalized and predictable or

    else he expounds on a topic completely

    alien to the existential

    experience of the students his task is

    to

    fill the students with the contents of

    his narration

    contents which are detached from reality

    disconnected from the totality that

    engendered them

    and could give them significance words

    are emptied of their concreteness and

    become a hollow

    alienated and alienating verbosity end

    quote

    all right so this kind of outlines the

    main point of this particular chapter

    so freya is basically arguing what many

    of the guests and myself have argued on

    this podcast

    in that education can be

    decontextualized

    from what kids actually want to learn

    and things that are relevant to them

    and in their lives and this can give it

    this lifeless feel

    and makes it so that it comes across as

    the teacher is

    filling the students with irrelevant

    information so let's explore this a

    little bit more in the chapter

    so freddy argues this turns students

    into containers or

    receptacles that are passively being

    filled with decontextualized information

    by the narrator or teacher this approach

    quote

    attempts to control thinking in action

    leads to women and men to adjust to the

    world

    and inhibits their creative power end

    quote from page 71

    this idea of narrating two students and

    students being the passive listeners

    is an approach that freyri refers to as

    a banking system of education

    where teachers are basically depositing

    information to students

    who are the passive recipients of

    knowledge so here's a quote from page 66

    that

    kind of unpacks that a little bit more

    quote in the banking concept of

    education

    knowledge is a gift bestowed by those

    who consider themselves knowledgeable

    upon those whom they consider to know

    nothing projecting an absolute ignorance

    onto others

    a characteristic of the ideology of

    oppression negates education

    and knowledge as processes of inquiry

    the teacher presents himself to his

    students

    as their necessary opposite by

    considering their ignorance absolute he

    justifies his own existence

    the students alienated like the slave

    and the hegelian dialectic

    accept their ignorance as justifying the

    teacher's existence

    but unlike the slave they never discover

    that they educate the teacher

    end quote so in other words building off

    of the stuff that was discussed two

    weeks ago from chapter one

    the teacher is essentially acting as a

    an oppressor

    and the student is the person who's

    being oppressed because there's an

    assumption that the students know

    nothing

    and that is the teacher's job to teach

    them everything

    so freyry suggests a liberatory approach

    to education

    actually involves acknowledging that the

    juxtaposition of student and teacher is

    false

    as students can be teachers and teachers

    can be students

    as myself and many of the guests on the

    show have iterated

    you learn a lot from working with kids

    they can teach you some really awesome

    things that you may have never even

    considered or known about

    and obviously the inverse is also true

    kids can learn a lot from you

    so we we need to acknowledge that that

    relationship

    exists and that both parties can learn

    from each other

    this is one of the reasons why i

    mentioned in previous episodes that i

    prefer to call myself a facilitator

    or somebody who facilitates so i design

    and facilitate educational experiences

    and i help kids learn in those processes

    however i am also learning alongside

    them

    and we are constructing the learning

    environment together we'll talk about

    that a little bit more

    in this episode in the episode two weeks

    from now okay so you might be wondering

    how is banking a form of oppression so

    freyri

    suggests that quote the more completely

    students accept the passive role imposed

    on them

    the more they tend simply to adapt to

    the world as it is

    and to the fragmented view of reality

    deposited in them

    end quote from page 67 and i modified

    the word

    they to students if we tie it back to

    what was discussed two weeks ago

    in the in chapter one if oppressors

    actually encourage

    critical thinking and transformation by

    the people they are oppressing

    this would likely result in a shift in

    power or a shift in a socially

    constructed way of being

    that is designed to serve the oppressors

    in other words by not teaching

    kids how to do critical thinking and how

    to transform

    their current situations teachers can

    perpetuate a form of oppression

    where students are unquestioning

    their position as the unknowing and the

    teacher as the person who knows

    now again tying back to the episode two

    weeks ago on chapter one

    the oppressors use language such as

    welfare recipient or incompetent and

    lazy to describe people who are

    participating in a program that is

    designed to make people

    want to integrate or be incorporated

    into what is considered a quote healthy

    society

    however this healthy society is actually

    one that continues to maintain this

    power imbalance

    so in other words oppressors view those

    who are oppressed

    as lesser than unless they are striving

    towards becoming

    a fellow oppressor or simply somebody

    who follows the

    rules that were set in place by the

    oppressor

    and only work toward the advantage of

    those who are oppressing others

    tying this back into the classroom we

    can say that certain ways

    of being a student are considered to be

    the appropriate ways of being a student

    while others are not

    as i mentioned two weeks ago some

    examples might include

    not questioning the teacher not being

    able to propose your own assessment or

    your own

    demonstration of understanding through a

    project that you choose

    or even as a teacher who is oppressed by

    administrators or standards or state

    policies or whatever

    not being able to teach units or lessons

    on subjects that are

    interesting to you and the kids that you

    work with within

    a given broader topic such as computer

    science these are all forms of

    oppression

    and the language that is used to oppress

    people often positions

    people who are not behaving as designed

    in a negative light and the people who

    are following the rules essentially

    are positioned positively this makes it

    so that

    students try and integrate into what is

    considered to be

    the appropriate ways of behaving as well

    as teachers to

    integrate into what are considered to be

    the appropriate ways of being an

    educator

    okay so if we go with the notion that

    teaching can be a form of oppression

    especially in this banking form of

    teaching that

    freyri is mentioning what can educators

    do about this to prevent this

    so freddie suggests liberatory educators

    can actually focus on

    trusting students and their creative

    powers through a partnership between

    students and teachers rather than a

    domestication of students

    and this is where freire introduces an

    idea of

    a teacher student with a hyphen in

    between and a student teacher with a

    hyphen in between

    that phrasing of a teacher hyphen

    student is basically what i

    refer to as a facilitator so somebody

    who takes on the role

    of trusting students and encouraging

    creativity

    and learning alongside and from students

    rather than trying to domesticate them

    into

    some way of thinking or knowing a

    particular topic or subject like

    computer science

    another way that we could describe this

    is epistemological colonization

    in other words we are taking over the

    ways of thinking

    and knowing that students value and

    supplanting our own

    again all of this likely occurring

    unconsciously by

    educators now interestingly freyri

    suggests that

    people who are educated through a

    banking approach

    are actually well suited to perpetuate

    the systems of oppression

    that were likely unknowingly oppressing

    the person being educated

    so here's a quote from page 70. quote

    the educated individual

    is the adapted person because she or he

    is better fit for the world

    translated into practice this concept is

    well suited to the purposes

    of the oppressors whose tranquility

    rests on how well

    people fit the world the oppressors have

    created

    and how little they question it end

    quote so in other words if

    you like myself have advanced degrees in

    education

    you likely have gone through many years

    of

    a banking approach that rewards certain

    ways of

    being a student and punishes others same

    thing for being a teacher

    community member etc although subtle

    these are all technically signs of

    oppression

    that influence the way that you teach

    and what you think of as quality

    education

    and when i say you i also include me

    within that the ways that i

    facilitate and the things that i talk

    about on this podcast are certainly

    influenced by

    other individuals such as freddy and

    other authors that i've already talked

    about

    and other theoretical frameworks in

    education that i may have not even been

    aware of that were influencing me

    and the things that i was reading or

    experiencing etc

    however that being said educators who

    are actually interested in helping

    liberate students

    from some of these forms of control need

    to do so in a way that is not another

    form of banking

    of liberatory practices in other words

    we need to make sure that we don't just

    say hey

    here's a problem i'm going to teach you

    what the problem is and how you're going

    to fix it

    which would assume that students can't

    come up with a solution on their own

    so here's a quote from page 72 authentic

    liberation

    the process of humanization is not

    another deposit to be made in men

    liberation is a praxis the action and

    reflection of men and women upon the

    world

    in order to transform it those truly

    committed to the cause of liberation can

    accept neither

    the mechanistic concept of consciousness

    as an empty vessel to be filled

    nor the use of banking methods of

    domination propaganda slogans

    deposits in the name of liberation

    quote and to add on that here's a quote

    from page 72 to 73

    and modify the first word quote

    educators must abandon the educational

    goal

    of deposit making and replace it with

    the posing of the

    problems of human beings in their

    relationship with the world

    end quote in other words rather than

    taking an approach of i'm going to teach

    you

    all the information skills concepts

    practices etc because you don't know

    anything

    instead going with a problem-based

    approach where you pose a problem and

    students will work through that problem

    with some guidance or on their own or in

    small groups whatever

    so by adopting this kind of an approach

    or these kinds of practices

    quote a new term emerges teacher student

    with student teachers the teacher is no

    longer merely the one who teaches

    but one who is himself taught in

    dialogue with students

    who in turn while being taught also

    teach

    they become jointly responsible for a

    process in which all grow

    in quote from page 73 so by taking this

    approach you get that hyphenated

    set of words the teacher student and the

    student teacher

    everybody is basically learning from

    each other and again i prefer

    the word facilitator rather than teacher

    student

    so some suggestions that freddy provides

    in terms of

    how to pose problems as a teacher

    student

    are quote the problem posing educator

    constantly reforms is reflections in the

    reflection

    of the students the students no longer

    docile listeners

    are now critical co-investigators in

    dialogue with the teacher

    the teacher presents the material to the

    students for their consideration

    and reconsiders or earlier

    considerations

    as the students express their own the

    role of the problem-solving educator is

    to create

    together with the students the

    conditions under which knowledge at the

    level of the doxa is superseded by true

    knowledge

    at the level of logos end quote from

    page 74.

    so in other words this is different than

    problem-based learning where

    there's one right answer and you know

    the answer in advance

    instead it's about posing a problem like

    a wicked problem as it's been described

    elsewhere

    or a real world problem with many

    solutions and having students critically

    reflect on it and work through

    some kind of a solution that will result

    in an action

    or transformation by the students

    there's a quote from page 76

    quote in problem-posing education people

    develop their power to perceive

    critically the way they exist in the

    world

    with which and in which they find

    themselves they come to see the world

    not as a static reality but as a reality

    in process

    in transformation so this approach

    drastically differs

    from what freddy refers to as the

    banking approach

    so here's a comparison of the two and

    this is a quote from pages 76-77

    quote banking education for obvious

    reasons

    attempts by mythicizing reality to

    conceal certain facts which explain the

    way human beings exist in the world

    problem-posing education sets itself the

    task of de-mythologizing

    banking education resists dialogue

    problem-posing education regards

    dialogue as indispensable to the act of

    cognition

    which unveils reality banking education

    treats students as objects of assistance

    problem-posing education makes them

    critical thinkers

    banking education inhibits creativity

    and domesticates

    although it cannot completely destroy

    the intentionality of consciousness

    by isolating consciousness from the

    world

    thereby denying people their ontological

    and historical vocation

    becoming more fully human problem-posing

    education bases itself on creativity and

    stimulates true reflection

    and action upon reality thereby

    responding to the vocation of

    persons as beings who are authentic only

    when engaged in

    inquiry and creative transformation in

    sum

    banking theory and practice as

    immobilized and fixated forces

    fail to acknowledge men and women as

    historical beings

    problem-posing theory and practice make

    the people's historia city

    as their starting point problem-posing

    education affirms men and women as being

    in the process of becoming

    as unfinished uncompleted beings in

    and with a likewise unfinished reality

    end quote so here's a quick summary that

    compares the two approaches

    so banking education is creating a false

    reality

    whereas problem posing education is

    looking at

    trying to deconstruct that false reality

    banking education does not engage in

    dialogue while problem-based education

    really is all about dialogue which we'll

    learn more about in the episode two

    weeks from now

    on chapter three banking education

    treats students as passive

    whereas problem-posing education focuses

    on critical thinking

    banking education prevents creativity

    while problem-posing education focuses

    on creativity

    and baking education does not take into

    account some of the

    contexts and like hegemonic influences

    or social pressures that are

    influencing kids and adults whereas

    problem posing education

    really focuses on the humanization that

    can occur

    through education which by the way

    freddy

    reminds us the readers that the goal of

    education should be humanization

    therefore we should not strive to flip

    the roles of oppressor and oppressed

    but should instead focus on humanizing

    everyone through fellowship

    and solidarity so in other words if

    you're in a cs education

    class the goal is to not make it so that

    suddenly the

    students are in charge and the teacher

    now has to

    listen to and report to the students

    but instead trying to make it more

    horizontal in terms of

    the hierarchical structure the students

    and teachers working collaboration with

    each other and learning from each other

    which again many of the previous

    interviews and

    unpacking scholarship episodes talk

    about that

    okay so as always i like to

    talk about some lingering thoughts or

    questions that i have whenever i unpack

    any form of scholarship for this podcast

    so the first thing that i want to point

    out is that i actually disagree with

    freddy's assertion that all teaching is

    positioning students as

    passive recipients so for example

    statements such as this quote from page

    the teacher knows everything and the

    students know nothing

    end quote here's another one from the

    same page quote the teacher thinks and

    the students are thought about

    end quote so those quotes are very broad

    statements

    without any evidence to support those

    claims

    so while i understand what the author's

    intent is i disagree

    i don't think i'm aware of any teaching

    where it is 100

    in that category and although it makes a

    point i think this creates a false

    binary about

    teachers and students that i just really

    don't think exists

    at least to this extent so a question

    that i have is in what ways do cs

    educators unintentionally fluctuate

    between a banking approach

    and a liberatory approach to cs

    education so as i've mentioned in other

    episodes

    freddy has heavily influenced my own

    facilitating and education practices as

    well as many of the people that i've

    read and studied with

    however i still unintentionally fall

    into forms of banking approaches at

    times

    and so just kind of thinking out loud on

    that i wonder where

    we as a field or as individuals within a

    field

    also kind of unintentionally fluctuate

    between

    the banking approach and liberatory

    approach to cs education

    so the question that i have then for the

    the field is

    how can we as a profession focus more on

    liberatory practices

    how can we become more aware of when we

    are unintentionally fluctuating back

    towards a banking approach so for

    example in conferences

    how can we better identify which

    sessions are promoting more of a banking

    approach

    which sessions are promoting more of a

    liberatory approach

    and how can we facilitate a dialogue

    between these different approaches

    now another more meta question that i

    have is when is freddy's book

    and my podcast episodes on each chapter

    a form of banking

    and when is it a form of liberation

    through critical thinking i'd like to

    think that by

    voicing out loud my critical questions

    and thoughts at the end of each one of

    the

    unpacking scholarship episodes that i do

    i like to think of this as a way of me

    thinking publicly

    and engaging in critical reflection

    practices and kind of modeling

    some of the practices that freddy

    discussed in this particular chapter

    however i can also see how some people

    might argue that this is yet another

    form of banking

    and if you feel that way let me know

    there's a contact me button on my

    website

    you can also come on the podcast and i'm

    happy to chat about this i sincerely

    want to know

    in what ways can we as a profession try

    and move away from

    the banking approach to education that

    freddy describes and moved

    more towards the facilitation and

    liberatory practices that

    has been discussed on this podcast which

    is why i tend to discuss it

    a lot with guests and in the unpacking

    scholarship episodes

    all right so that kind of concludes the

    summary of chapter

    two now again as usual next week is

    going to be an interview

    and two weeks from now i'm going to

    unpack chapter three of pedagogy of the

    oppressed

    and then two weeks after that i will

    conclude this little mini series

    with a discussion on chapter four which

    is the final chapter in the book

    i hope you are enjoying the first half

    of this unpacking scholarship

    mini-series and i hope you stay tuned

    next week for another awesome interview

    hope you all have a wonderful week and

    are staying safe thanks for listening

Chapter

Freire, P. (2000). Chapter 2. In Pedagogy of the Oppressed: 30th Anniversary Edition (Kindle, pp. 65–80). New York: Bloomsbury Academic.

Short Summary of the Book

"This book will present some aspects of what the writer has termed the pedagogy of the oppressed, a pedagogy which must be forged with, not for, the oppressed (whether individuals or peoples) in the incessant struggle to regain their humanity. This pedagogy makes oppression and its causes objects of reflection by the oppressed, and from that reflection will come their necessary engagement in the struggle for their liberation. And in the struggle this pedagogy will be made and remade." (pp. 43-44).

Some Of My Lingering Questions/Thoughts

  • I disagree with Freire's assertions that all teaching is positioning students as passive recipients.

    • For example, statements such as "the teacher knows everything and the students know nothing" and "the teacher thinks and the students are thought about" (p. 67) are broad statements without evidence to support the claims.

  • In what ways do CS educators unintentionally fluctuate between a banking approach and a liberatory approach to CS education?

    • So how can we as a profession focus more on liberatory practices?

  • When is Freire's book and my podcast episodes on each chapter a form of banking and when is it a form of liberation through critical thinking?

Resources/Links Relevant to This Episode

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