Bot Freire and Gatto have similar ideas on how our public schools are being run.
Gatto taught for 30 years in the public school and studied the public school system. He brings up the purpose of mandatory public education of this country, referencing "Inglis" 6 basic functions, which concludes that students are "made to have reflexive obedience", make "children as alike as possible", "determine each students proper social role", sorted and trained in the "social machine merits", "tag the unfit", an "require an elite group of caretakers" to "watch and control a population deliberately dumbed down & declawed".
Freire talks about the "Banking Concept" going on in our schools. Which basically dumbs down the students by filling them with "contents detached from reality, disconnected from the totality that engendered them and could give them significance". "Students records, memorizes, and repeats these phrases with perceiving what 4 times 4 really means". "The banking concept of education allowed to students extends only as far as receiving, filing and storing the deposits". The last sentence, paragraph 5 he states, "Knowledge emerges only through invention and re-invention, through the restless, impatient, continuing, hopeful inquiry men pursuing the world, with the world, and with each other." shows that he believes that there is a chance for change and that we do have hope inspite of our educational system.
There is always hope, right? I wish I had read this twenty six years ago when I had my first child.
ReplyDeleteYou make these assignment seem simple by easily pulling out information and with the ability to mix it in your own words. I have a lot to learn. Thanks for the examples.
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