You Create Your Own Destiny

1672 Words7 Pages
You Create Your Own Destiny People often blame their shortcomings on others, and tend to not own up to what they have allowed themselves to become. When it comes to education especially, one will often hear students say, “oh I just had a really bad teacher,” or “my class was graded on a curve so it was unfair.” These excuses are all created due to lack of self determination, when in reality one can only blame themselves for their mistakes, or reward themselves for their success. Paulo Freire’s concept of “banking” is apparent in this situation. He introduces the theory that education is not objective. Freire believes that through teachers, students turn important education into pure memorization, and therefore cannot utilize the full potential of the knowledge given to them. In his essay, “The ‘Banking’ Concept of Education,” he writes that in order for students to avoid being turned into receptacles of useless knowledge, they must “meekly…permit themselves to be filled by the teacher” (244). One can easily allow themselves to be “banked” on, therefore oppressing their education, or they can prevent their mind from being fed useless information, and turn the information they are learning into useful knowledge. Writer Richard Rodriguez talks about how he was always striving for more and more education in his essay, “The Achievement of Desire.” He explains he was always, “too eager, [and] too anxious,” (598) to learn more in school, and was never satisfied with the knowledge at hand. Rodriguez exemplifies that he strove to be the best he could be, and was successful based off his own hard work. Even though there are many other factors that can influence your education, such as family or teachers, it is apparent that throughout the course of one’s educational career, they are the product of their own success and failures. Allowing one’s mind to be “banked” on can
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