Picking Apart Education

The readings from this week played very nicely off of each other.  It was interesting to see how they both made similar points while at the same time in some ways had very different ideas, almost contrasting each other completely.  “The Banking Concept” by Paulo Freire introduced an interesting way of looking at and criticizing education today.  I found it interesting and partially agreed with his argument that classroom learning has become very monotonous in some places of learning and less interactive.  It is true that often time’s classes are taught where students are looked at as empty vessels where it is the teacher’s job to fill their minds with facts.  The argument he makes, saying that when this is taking place students are not truly learning but just remembering is a valid one in my mind.  There are many instances where students can score well on a test because they have memorized the material, but do they actually understand it?  It is a difficult question to answer.  Giroux’s reading, “Higher Education Under Siege”, overlaps with Freire’s ideas in this light.  He argues that the only purpose teachers have these days is to get kids into a small percentage of the job market.  Teachers are now only creating students for the corporate world.  The problem is that there is only space for so many people to operate at the high level jobs that they are being prepared for leaving public service jobs unfulfilled.  The fact of the matter is that only 30% of jobs require a college degree, leaving many students over qualified and out of work.  Giroux uses the term public intellectual, defined often as a college professor of some sort well educated in a certain topic that gives speeches and presentations.  He makes the argument that not all teachers must fit this mold and that there is a need for a different kind of educator.  Giroux believes that our countries practice of democracy is one that needs to be changed.  Instead of resting solely on a few people when it comes to decision-making, the population as a whole needs to have more say and be more involved.  The articles that we read for class this week bring up interesting points, although I do not completely agree with them both all the way, they make valid points and interesting suggestions as to how we could change our education system.