Mechanically Memorization = Lack of Critical Thinking

 I came to grasp the knowledge of specific characteristics of the "Banking" Concept of Education while I was in my country for six months. As I reflect on the experiences for that time frame and having since read Freire's "Banking" Concept on Education, the pieces started to come together on the meaning and what I experienced. He posits that "[i]nstead of communicating, the teacher issues communique and makes deposits which the student patiently receive, memorize, and repeat. This is the "Banking" Concept of Education, in which the scope of action allowed to the student extends only as far as receiving, filling, and storing the deposits" (Freire 87). While I attended school there, the professor's teaching style was to come into class, sit down, read the book or notes from a particular subject, and the students needed to write down what the teacher was saying. The professors would give verbal instructions for the homework and assignments we had, as well as preparation for tests. For instance, using the assignment on Freire as an example, the professor would say something like, read page 87 of the "Banking" Concept of Education, and come up with your own true or false, multiple choice, and fill-in-the-blank questions. The students had to be their own professors; at least, that was my frame of reference. This pedagogical theory helped me understand my own educational experience. As I read about it and remembered what I went through, I realized I was not too fond of this teaching style because my learning modalities are visual, kinesthetic, and tactile. Since I have those modalities, the narration of the "Banking" Concept of Education does not work for me; Freire posits it as "[n]arration (with the teacher as narrator) leads the student to memorize mechanically the narrated content. Worse yet, it turns them into "containers," into "receptacles" to be "filled" by the teacher" (Freire 87). This does not work for me because I like to explore a concept's reason "why." The "Banking" Concept of Education reinforces oppression, which can lead to dehumanization. The capability of "Banking" education minimizes students' ability to think for themselves because this concept diminishes creativity and prevents the development of consciousness.