Freire and Rodriguez

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Electa Jackson Shannon Kennedy ENG 111-401 5 April 2014 Comparison Essay Education is looked at in depth by both: Richard Rodriguez in his essay, “The Achievement of Desire”, and by Paulo Freire in his essay, “The Banking Concept of Education.” After reading both essays someone can make the assumptions about different methods of education. The types of relationships Rodriguez had with his teachers and family were affected by specific styles of education. Based on Freire’s essay, “The Banking Concept of Education”, there are two types of education styles: the first referred to as a “banking” education, and the second type is referred to as “problem-posing.” In the “banking” concept information is deposited into students by their teachers. Freire sasys, “Education thus becomes an act of depositing, in which the students are depositories and the teachers are the depositors. Instead of communicating, the teacher issues communiqués and makes deposits which the student patiently: receive, memorize and repeat.” (Freire 216) Freire makes it clear in the second concept, “problem-posing” that he believes students never think critically or develop ideas. “Yet only through communication can human life hold meaning the teacher cannot think for his students, nor can he impose his thought on them” (Freire 218). Freire argues that the only real education is one that communication and understanding are pertinent. According to Freire’s labels, Rodriguez had a “banking” concept education. The idea that the teacher deposited into Rodriguez fits the majority of his experiences in the education he received. In Rodriguez’s essay he feels that “books were going to make him educated” (Rodriguez 342). He didn’t develop critical thinking skills, thoughts or ideas of his own. Early on in Rodriguez’s essay he illustrates the characteristics of an automation which confirmed
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