Class Reflection 6

1.What new ideas are you taking from these readings or discussions in class?

New ideas: this is not new, but I am seeing this chapter with new eyes. I think the
presentation of the banking model is a powerful tool for discussion, but that it lacks nuance. Is
it the case that in their totality, these practices represent an oppressive system? Certainly.
However, not all the practices seem equally harmful. For example, as far as choosing
program content, there is more that goes into this topic than either oppressive teacher choice
or liberated student choice. What I have considered more is the degree to which we, as a
society, are tolerant of “oppressively-skewed” school for children of the least advantaged SES
and more “liberation-skewed” school for children of the advantaged. In other areas, such as
who is talking and who is listening, there is less justification for an extreme view.
2.How do these ideas interact with those in your philosophy of education statement?
1.Do they align with your current thoughts?

The idea that “the oppressed are not 'marginals,' are not people living 'outside' society. They
have always been 'inside' – inside the structure which made them 'beings for others.'” (Freire
p. 74) still makes lightbulbs flash in my mind. This is precisely the type of selfish (or at least
self-serving) thinking around the issue of selective enrollment schools that fundamentally
prevents progress. Neighborhood schools, then, become schools for other people's children,
and we will never demand the same for them as for our own.

2.Do they change your thinking?

I am not sure they change as much as re-energize my thinking about this issue.

One thing I now consider differently is the idea that one cannot use the old methods to teach
liberation. The implications for this idea are profound. Teaching in a traditional school involves
compromises to ideals. The idea that traditional methods must be discarded for the pursuit of
liberation is provocative, to say the least.

3.Can you push against/ challenge them?

I think there are many arguments that challenge this sort of thinking: is one charged with
policy-making or with the teaching of children in classrooms? Is this one person's agenda? Is
it permissible to potentially expose students to risk if they become truly aware of their
circumstances? These issues were all on display in the recent CTU strike in Chicago as my
fellow union members were accused of selfishness for demanding nurses and social workers
in every school, reducing class sizes, and fair pay for teaching assistants.