English 101
Rhetorical Analysis of “The ‘Banking’ Concept of Education” by Paulo Freire
Todd May
Paulo Freire does an excellent job of communicating with and convincing his audience that the current educational system has problems in “The ‘Banking’ Concept of Education.” His goal in the essay is to show people who have something to do with education – whether they are a student, teacher or parent, that the current form of education is an awful way of teaching. He refers to it as the “banking” method. After he shows how awful it is, he poses an alternative way to teaching which he claims eliminates all of the problems. He calls this method the “problemposing” method.
To explain the banking method Freire gives several examples that most people can relate to and understand, such as simple math problems or geography. Students are taught that four times four is sixteen, but they are not necessarily taught how or why it equals sixteen. In the same way, students will be taught what the capital to a country or state is, but they will not know why it is important. Freire uses logic to draw several conclusions from these and numerous other similar examples. One is that students are just like empty jars that need to be filled with the teacher’s infinite knowledge. Another one is that students should be passive, meaning that they just take in the knowledge the teacher gives them. They do not question or think about what they have just learned. Another conclusion he was able to derive was that since students are empty and do not know anything, then students and teachers are complete opposites.
So far all of his logic has been sound, but there is one section in his essay where he takes it too far by claiming the knowledge teachers give is a gift. He comes to the conclusion that “In
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the banking concept of education, knowledge is a gift bestowed by those who consider themselves knowledgeable upon those whom they consider to know nothing” (Pg 257). The knowledge given to students is called a gift when it really is not a gift. If knowledge from the teacher is a true gift, then the teacher would not expect to get paid or compensated for teaching.
The reason Freire uses that word “gift,” even though it has a deceptive meaning, is because it is a simple idea most people understand. This is an example of Freire appealing to the audience’s emotion, or pathos. He also claims that the teacher’s “task is to ‘fill’ the students with the contents of his narration—contents which are detached from reality, disconnected from the totality that engendered them and could give them significance” (Pg 257). In this he is saying that the information people learn through the banking method does not relate to reality, but he does not give any information to support that idea, and his claim is biased because at least part of what most teachers teach is connected in some way with reality and not all teachers teach content which is disconnected from reality. It would be amazing if a teacher never taught anything connected to reality. Overall, he gives an excellent argument against the banking method although there are a couple points where he exaggerates the points he is conveying.
Now that Freire has convinced his audience that the education method needs to be changed, he presents his solution, the problem-posing method. He suggests that instead of the teacher being the only one with knowledge that fills the students, that the students learn from the teacher while the teacher also learns from the students. In this method students are encouraged to contemplate what they are learning, ask questions, and interact in class. This way they do not become objects, but they become human beings since they are using their minds to think. Freire thinks that “Students, as they are increasingly posed with problems relating to themselves in the world and with the world, will feel increasingly challenged and obligated to respond to that
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challenge” (pg 263). Since the students are learning actively in class and not just following along, the teacher does not dominate over them but they are more like equals, each learning from each other. He states “The teacher is no longer merely the-one-who-teaches, but one who is himself taught in dialogue with the students, who in turn while being taught also teach” (pg 262).
Throughout the essay Freire does an excellent job of captivating the reader and convincing him or her that the educational system needs to change, but when evaluating everything he has said, one realizes that Freire only has degrading comments for the banking method and only has uplifting comments for the problem-posing method. Both of the methods have to have both positive and negative sides to them, but he only presents the side that helps prove his point so that people are on his side. Another thing that Freire fails to mention is the students’ mindset. The way students think is just as important, if not more important, than the way the teacher teaches. A student who is not very motivated to learn will probably be worse off with the problem-posing method than a student who is motivated to learn and learns by the banking method. So even though one of the methods of learning is better than the other, the student’s motivation plays a huge role in the type of education the student is most motivated to learn within.
In this essay Freire does not mention any of his past experiences in education to convince his audience of his authority. He started his career teaching and developing teaching methods to help people learn to read and write in poor areas around his hometown. Later in his life he acquired positions teaching in the United States and Europe. Eventually he worked for the government in Chile training teachers. Since this is just a short essay from one of his books, he may talk about his past experiences in some other place of his book, but it would definitely help his readers understand how much he has gained from experience.
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When discussing the banking method, Freire uses words like “lifeless,” “petrified,” and
“sickness” which give the reader the feeling that the method is negative. He says “The contents…tend in the process of being narrated to become lifeless and petrified. Education is suffering from narration sickness” (pg 256). When discussing the problem-posing method he uses positive words like “freedom.”
Even without his past experiences in the essay, Freire has written a very convincing essay. He did leave out a couple sides to some of his ideas, but by leaving them out his argument is more convincing because the reader does not think about the advantages to the banking method or the disadvantages to the problem-posing method. Freire uses pathos to help persuade the reader. An example of him using pathos is in the way he uses the right words in the right places all through his essay to help give the banking method a negative feel, and then uses positive words when describing the problem-posing method. Freire also does an excellent job using logos. The essay uses quite a bit of logic to get from all his examples or ideas to his conclusions, but it is done very well so that he does not commit many logical fallacies. Finally, he demonstrates good use of ethos in the way he uses examples other people can understand to create a common ground between him and his readers. After all that, Freire is an excellent and crafty writer who can communicate his ideas in a clear and persuasive manner.
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