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Jessica Corona

Professor Fernandez

English 1S/1T

November 11, 2015

The Answer to Educational Freedom

Freedom is protected under the first amendment as freedom of expression, freedom of

right to assemble, freedom of speech, freedom of the right to petition, freedom to amass, freedom

to express an opinion, and right of free speech. Freedom is guaranteed in the constitution's first

amendment, yet school deny freedom to student with their curriculum. Although we are

guaranteed freedom Paulo Freire in The Banking Concept of Education and Andrew

Simmons in The Danger of Telling Poor Kids that College is the Key to Social Mobility

discuss how students are denied intellectual freedom. I believe that they are correct students are

denied freedom because education is set and taught thru a concept in where students get

deposit information without the ability to critically think. Students are taught without the

student-teacher relationship which in my opinion is one of the biggest problems in the

educational system. A possible solution to this problem is the problem-posing education

introduced by Freire. Problem-posing allows students the opportunity to critically think and be

conscious of their surrounding. Adapting critical thinking skills and consciousness will open

doors to a different world where students can transform and evolve through their intellectual

freedom.
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A teachers ability to communicate effectively with students decreases the more he/she

deposits information instead of building a relationship where both can learn. Education loses its

importance without communication between the student and the teacher because students get

denied the opportunity to independently and critically think. In the text The Banking Concept

of Education, educator and philosopher, Paulo Freire expresses how the banking concept

dehumanizes students and makes them into containers of information. When students arent

engaged in a lecture they lose comprehension. For instance in a classroom where a teacher writes

on the board and asks students to copy the information into their notebooks without having a

class discussion students will store the information , yet fail to connect with the material. This is

the banking concept of education, in which the scope of action allowed to the students extends

only as far as receiving, filing, and storing the deposits. (Freire, 39) What Freire means by this

is that the banking concept forms a block between a student and a teacher, resulting in the

minimizing of their consciousness, since the information can only be successfully transmitted

through the relationships and connections the individual draws from the material to their own

experience.

Problem posing education is meant to solve the misunderstanding that only teachers are

allowed to teach. Problem-posing education as explained by Freire is meant to eliminate the

students dehumanization by having information formulated through dialogue between the two

instead of deposited. 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. (Freire,

47) In other words Freire states that its important for students to connect with the material being

taught on a personal level and on a deeper level, for when a student connects with the lesson they
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begin to evolve and begin a process which Freire refers to as the process of becoming.

Problem-posing education was also developed to allow students to learn not only from the

teachers but from one another, and most importantly to allow the students to teach the teachers as

well because students are also capable of teaching. Therefore, when students teach they are given

the opportunity to be human and remove themselves from being alienated a term described by

Freire as the process in which students become a hollow verbosity. In my opinion the

problem-posing education will open the door for students to become more creative and develop a

conscious which will allow them to challenge themselves and others.

Being conscious means being aware of and responding to one's surroundings. When a

student is conscious of what he/she is learning then he/she is allowing themselves the

opportunity to grow and develop. A major part of developing is critical thinking because critical

thinking allows a student the opportunity to analyze, questions, comments, and respond to a

material allowing the student to connect with the material. This formation is what makes,

transforms a student. The more students work at storing the deposits the deposits entrusted to

them, the less they develop the critically consciousness which would result from their

intervention in the world as transformers of that world. (40) I support Freires theory that the

banking concept deprives students from developing a critical conscious in which students

creativity is oppressed by the oppressor (the teacher), therefore denies them the opportunity to

develop and transform. I believe that its important for a student to be conscious of what he/she

is learning in order to develop and transform. For example when I learn something new I like to

apply it to everything like Sherman Alexie describes in his text Superman and Me on the exact

moment that he first understood the purpose of a paragraph Alexie describes that when this
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occurred he began to see the world in the form of a paragraph. This knowledge delighted me. I

began to think of everything in terms of paragraphs. (Alexie, 28) The same happens to me, and I

believe that this can only occur if a student is conscious of what he/she is learning or has learned

because in my opinion that is the start of a students transformation.

Intellectual freedom allows students to follow their hearts and follow their passion. In

school students are denied intellectual freedom because teachers minimize the importance of it

by reducing the students exposure to the real world. While growing up I was always asked the

same question, what did I want to be when I grew up? Like most children I always said I wanted

to be a doctor, a lawyer, or simply anyone with a wealthy career. In his text The Danger of

Telling Poor Kids that College is the Key to Social Mobility Andrew Simmons discusses how

students need to develop and transform in order for them to experience an intellectual

awakening. Simmons expressed that the less fortunate students grow up believing that the

importance of school lies on how much money he/she will make in the future. According to

Simmons due to the difficult lives these students(the poor/less wealthy) live, they never get the

opportunity to obtain this intellectual freedom.The message is that intellectual curiosity plays

second fiddle to financial security. (Simmons, 53) I definitely agree with Simmons because

throughout my academic years my parents, my family, and my teachers all encouraged me to

pursue school. The biggest reason for this great encouragement was to become rich my father

would say. I can vividly remember my dad telling me in spanish mija ve a la escuela para que

nunca tengas que trabajar como yo (daughter go to school so you never have to work like me).

My dad went around all the time preaching on how I needed to educate myself in order to be

successful one day to have the biggest house and the nicest cars. In school I remember teachers
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talking about the importance of school and how much that was equivalent to in dollars. I felt like

my priority was focused on the financial portion of school. When I grew up I understood what

Simmons explains and refers to as intellectual freedom. As an educated adult I realized that

sometimes we have to do things for ourselves. In other words students should pursue their

dreams and follow their intellectual passion, but to an extent.

Simmons makes a great point about intellectual freedom, and to some extent he is correct

teachers deny students the opportunity to explore their intellectual creativity, yet I still disagree

with his overall argument because Im a student that lives in the bay area where everything is

overpriced and where intellectual freedom cannot pay my bills. In his text Simmons argues that

students should pursue their passions and follow their heart when electing a career. People are

privileged to follow their hearts in life, to spend their time crafting an identity instead of simply

surviving. (Simmons, 55) The way I interpret intellectual freedom is as an unreachable dream.

In other words following your dreams and having the career you always wanted is nearly

impossible because people always have to take the time to think of survival. I believe that there

is a fine line between financial hardship and intellectual freedom because one cant survive from

dreams and Im living proof of that. Im in college and working full time and at times it can get

extremely difficult. If it was up to me I would quit my job and study full time following my

dreams, yet its impossible because I would be unable to survive. Although Simmons makes

great points none of the points are realistic because there is no way that anyone can survive in the

real world with only their intellectual freedom.

All and all I believe that schools should respect the freedom students deserve and adapt a

better curriculum with a student-teacher relationship in order to eliminate the Banking Concept
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discussed by Freire. Along with the student-teacher relationship another possible solution is the

problem-posing education giving students the opportunity to critically think and be conscious of

their surrounding. A very important, yet controversial point mentioned by Simmons is

intellectual freedom. Although Simmons makes great points I believe intellectual freedom can be

both positive and negative. In the perfect world if one was to put all of my suggestions in place

they would form the answer to educational freedom.