Reflection 3    On the fence with Problem-Posing Education                               

     

        Paulo Freire’s ideas about the banking method versus the problem-posing method of education are very obvious from the chapter we read from his book “Pedagogy of the Oppressed” (Freire, 1970). Freire is against the banking method of education where the students minds are seen as empty ‘receptacles’ or ‘bank accounts’ that need to be filled and the teacher is the depositor who “deposits” this knowledge (1970, p. 72). The more full the teacher can make these accounts, the better they have done their job, regardless of whether or not the student actually learned the topic. Freire believes this is a major problem which causes creativity to be eliminated and students are unable to think and consider the reality in which they live, but rather, just accept it. Problem-posing education is what Freire sees as the answer to the banking method, which will liberate students through critical thought of the world around them and allow creative expression. Although Freire does make some very intriguing points about the downfall of the banking method, I am not sure I fully agree with all that he has to say about problem-posing education being the complete solution to the oppression that students are experiencing. There are statements that Freire makes in this chapter that I can agree with, but there are others that I am reluctant to side with, which, ironically, is exactly what Freire would have wanted - to be critically thinking about the information in front of me instead of simply accepting it. 

Reflection 2          Afrocentric School Debate

 
    In Edward Morris’ article ”"'Tuck that shirt in!' Race, class, gender and discipline in an urban school," Morris explores the differences in disciplinary action between race and gender at a middle school in Texas (Morris, 2005). Essentially, the findings suggest that black and Latino students were disciplined in an unfair manner when compared to white students who misbehaved in the same way. Morris suggests that these schools are reproducing and possibly even exaggerating inequalities of race, class and gender (2005, p. 26). Morris’ findings were particular intriguing to me as I read the article because I have never seen students be treated like that in schools I have gone to, which is not to say it didn’t happen, I have just never witnessed it. As I read, I didn’t understand how a school could so blatantly display acts of racism and get away with it. Maybe because the black and Latino students had a more hateful and less-conforming attitude when told to tuck their shirt in than the white students did or perhaps because the staff were slightly racist but couldn’t admit it to themselves? Whatever reason for their mistreatment towards non-white students, it was wrong. 

Reflection 1              The Impact of Cultural Capital
  

            From personal experience, I can say that class or gender-based cultural capital has impacted my education and also the education of my peers. An idea in the article "Bourdieu on Education and Social Cultural Reproduction" by Roy Nash proposes that working class students would not benefit as much as middle-class students if they were in the same classroom because they would feel alienated (Nash, 1990, p. 435). I do not feel that this is a plausible statement because benefitting from education comes down to the desire the student has to be successful, but it reminds me of an example of what I perceive as class-based cultural capital. At my high school, there were no university prep courses offered, but at the other local high school there was a program called the IB program, which was supposed to prepare students for post-secondary education and even count as possible university credits. I never had the opportunity to take the course because I couldn’t transfer to that school due to transportation reasons. My own school did offer advanced placement courses but they cost money, which my family could not afford. By offering the free IB course, that high school possessed a lot of cultural capital by providing students with higher education which would give those students more educational assets.  I feel as if this impacted me because although I know that I am a smart and hard working student, if my own high school had offered IB courses I, along with many other students, could have benefitted greatly. It seemed as if that school wanted to have class-based cultural capital by boasting that they have students that study at a university level, insinuating higher class. Through my high school not offering the IB program though, I feel as if my education has been impacted.