Author: Ruthie

Ruthie Lohmann

Dr. Randall Cream

Writing 120

17 November 2019

Teaching without Teaching

Throughout history, millions of teachers have instructed countless students. Many teachers have disgraced the name, and the honor of this occupation has long been forgotten. Other teachers, however, have made unforgettable marks on their students, and their names are still remembered today. So what made these renowned educators so remarkable? In reading Paulo Freire’s The Banking Concept of Education and Walker Percy’s The Loss of the Creature, I came to understand what constitutes good teaching. Based on these readings, how can an educator change the way in which they teach at West Chester University and give the leaning back into the hands of students? According to Freire and Percy, good teaching enables students to learn through ‘communication.’ Good teachers are ‘partners’ with students in the learning process, and good teaching ‘avoids pre-packaged direct presentation’ and gives space for a student to ‘struggle for himself,’ though ‘inquiry’ as they learn at a collegiate level. These are all incredible thoughts in theory, but how can a teacher implement these ideas in the classroom? I will describe four methods that could apply these theories of teaching. Teachers should have discussion-based classes instead of lecture-based classes. Teachers should become collaborators with the student by giving feedback on their assignments first and then give a letter grade. Teachers should teach indirectly by using “living books” written by experts who are passionate about the topic. Teachers must give students the chance to wrestle through the material for themselves and take ownership of their learning through writing papers and giving oral presentations. This kind of teaching separates a mediocre and ineffective teacher from one who leaves a significant mark on the lives of their students which, in turn, enables these students to leave a distinctive mark on the world.

Teachers should utilize discussion as the primary means of teaching instead of lecturing the students. As the saying goes, “the one who teaches is the one who learns.” If we know this to be true, why do we still insist on lecture-based teaching? Recently, I experienced an instance in one of my classes at West Chester University that reinforced the reason why dialogue among students and teachers is so important and effective. My anthropology class began with a lecture and ended with a discussion. As soon as the lecture morphed into a conversation, a palpable shift took place in the room. Almost everyone became relaxed, and laptops and phones were ignored. Questions were being thrown around the room. The teacher sat on the desk in the most relaxed manner. At the end of class, he commented on how every class should be like this because, in most of his classes, the students just blankly stare at him as he talks. Freire says, “…a teacher can not think for the student, nor can she impose her thoughts on them.” Teachers can transition from a lecture-based classroom and incorporate a “dialectical movement” within the class by posing thought-provoking questions related to class subject matter and by equalizing the seating arrangement. Allowing time in the classroom to logically discuss ideas and opinions gives the students a chance to think about the subject instead of passively listening to taught material. It is in the thinking that students become personally engaged with what they are learning. And when they are personally invested in something, they tend to truly remember it. Furthermore, desks should be placed in a circle with the teachers sitting at a desk with the students. Facilitating discussions around this circular seating arrangement balances the dichotomy between the student/teacher relationship. When students feel physically equal with their teacher, the relationship functions more like a friendship, which in turn creates a more relaxed academic environment where uninhibited learning and understanding can occur.

Teachers should give feedback before giving a letter grade. Unfortunately, for better or for worse, grades are the tool universities and teachers use to track educational progress. This has led to many problems for students because they become more concerned about the grade and less concerned about what they are learning. Teachers must stop feeding into this unhealthy obsession with grades that leads to the breeding of automatons, and they should help the students learn for themselves. Percy says, “The highest role of the educator is the maieutic role of Socrates: to help the student come to himself not as a consumer of experience but as a sovereign individual.” If an educator’s role is to help the student learn for themselves, teachers need to recognize the individuality and humanness within each student by assigning homework which taps into the heart and mind of their students. Assignments should include personal reflections alongside necessary subject content. When teachers collaborate with the student over completed homework assignments, it gives the opportunity for reflection and improvement instead of quickly looking at the grade and moving on to the next assignment. Once the teacher receives the homework assignment, they should write positive and constructive feedback in the margins, and then, a few days later, give a letter grade. This way of grading removes the unhealthy focus on letter grades and puts the emphases of education back into the proper place- personal progress.

Teachers should present lessons indirectly by using “living books” written by experts who are passionate about the topic. Freire says, “Verbalistic lessons, reading requirements, the methods for evaluating ‘knowledge,’ the distance between the teacher and the students, the criteria for promotion: everything in a ready-to-wear approach serves to obviate thinking.” The last thing teachers should want to do in their classroom is to create automatons who cannot think for themselves. Teachers want to create critical thinkers who will become future leaders and not be forever fixed as “consumers receiving an experience-package” in the form of direct presentation. There are three ways this can be accomplished. The first way a teacher can teach indirectly is by reading a well-written, “living book” book in class and allow the content of the book to engage with the student, followed up by them writing a personal reflection on the content. Another way this could be implemented is by reading a longer passage of the said book, pause, and allow the students to turn to a classmate and narrate what they just heard. This puts the learning into the hands of the student as they reflect on what they just heard. Secondly, teachers should have students give an oral presentation on their reflections of assigned books. After the presentation, there should be an opportunity for questions, disagreements, thoughts, and time for students to share their opinion on the presentation. Lastly, teachers should assign topic-relevant books for homework and have students write an essay on what they learned from the book and how they felt about it. Instead of teachers giving direct assignments that look for specific answers, they should instead allow the student to discover through indirect learning as they engage with the material through writing personal essays, oral presentations, and written narrations.

Teachers must give students a chance to wrestle through material and take ownership of their learning.  Percy says, students should “enter into a struggle to recover…sight.” Teachers need to create a classroom in which students can invent, create, play, fail, recreate, and, in the end, hopefully, succeed in order to gain academic sight. I read about a school that was structured in this way. The school designated a classroom for inventive science, filled with all sorts of science books, microscopes, lab equipment, and supplies for every imaginable experiment. Science teachers were in the classroom overseeing but never directly teaching. One of the students wanted to make a vodka distiller. The teacher provided the supplies and gave the student time and space to accomplish it. Over time, and through trial and error, he did. The lessons learned through that process were innumerable. Teachers at universities could organize a classroom for this sort of process learning to take place, and designate times in class for hands-on experimental learning. This could be in the form of an inventive science classroom as I mentioned above, an outdoor experimental garden, or a woodworking shop which concentrates on student design and implementation from start to finish.  If student sight is the “maieutic role” of the teacher there is another, much simpler way, to allow for this to happen in the classroom. Educators should not directly answer the students’ questions, but, instead, ask them a question back, give them time in class to research it for themselves, or give them extra credit if they research the question outside of class and email in their discoveries. When information from the teachers is quickly given, it is quickly forgotten. Teachers should allow the students to discover and fail. This breeds curiosity, and this kind of curiosity morphs into hard-to-forget knowledge.

Teachers have a unique opportunity to sit in the front seat as students emancipate themselves from passive learning and become individuals who learn for themselves. The job of an educator is not easy or straightforward. Today, there are layers of methodology and state mandatory tests to quantify and regulate learning in students. Some call this accountability, but Freire calls it “necrophilous.” There is so much pressure for both teachers and students to perform and track progress that it extinguishes the life in relationships and learning. An educator can rise above this by becoming a guide and friend to students as they implement discussion based classes, collaborate with student in how they give feedback for assignments, teach indirectly by using thought-provoking and well written books, and by giving students space in their classroom to wrestle through material for themselves.  An educator who plays this discreet yet powerful role—by helping students gain academic liberation—becomes a teacher who leaves indelible marks on the minds of their students.

I enjoyed reading this! Your points are clearly defined and well written. Just make sure your are using the quotes for Freire and Percy in all your points to strengthen your argument –  I noticed quotes were not included in a few of your paragraphs. Other than that, great job!

Your  paper is clear and easy to understand. I like what you say: Having students teach other students allows for a better connection because there is no higher authority over the students. This is an excellent point. 

In your thesis, you mentioned a class that is not good, I wonder if you should contrast it with a class that is doing it better. You can play around with that a bit to see if it strengthens your thesis. 

Ruthie Lohmann

Dr. Randall Cream

Writing 120

10 November 2019

Writing Project 2 – Teaching without Teaching -Draft #2

There have been millions of teachers throughout history. Some should never have had the honor of that title and most have been long forgotten.  Others made such an indelible mark on their students that their names are still remembered today. So what made these unforgettable educators so remarkable? In reading Paulo Freire’s “The Banking Concept of Education“ and Walker Percy’s “The Loss of the Creature“ I came to understand what teaching should not be and learned through their avoidance of direct writing, what a good teaching ought to be. So what should good teaching be at West Chester University? According to Freire and Percy, good teaching allows for students to learn through ‘communication,’ good teachers are ‘partners’ with the student in the learning process,  good teaching ‘avoids pre-packaged direct presentation,’  and good teaching gives space for the student to ‘struggle for himself,’ though ‘inquiry’ as they learn at a collegiate level. These are all incredible thoughts on paper, but how can a teacher implement these ideas in the classroom? I have four ideas which can make this kind of teaching possible. Teachers should have discussion based classrooms instead of lecture based. Teachers should become partners with student by giving feedback on students homework assignments first and then, if necessary, give a letter grade. Teachers should teach indirectly and not directly by using living books written by experts who are passionate about the topic. Teachers need to recognize that students need to be given the chance to wrestle though material for themselves in order for them to take ownership in their learning- teachers can allow for this by the way they have students write papers and give oral presentation. This kind of teaching is what separates a mediocre and ineffective teacher to one who makes an ineffaceable mark on the lives of their students, and in turn, these students can leave their distinctive mark on the world.

Teachers should have discussion based classrooms instead of lecturing students on subject matter. As the saying goes, and I am not sure who says it, but, the one who teachers is really the one who learns. If we know this to be true, why do we still insist on lecture based teaching? Recently, I experienced two instances in my classes at West Chester that reinforced why dialogue among students and teacher is so important and effective. My Anthropology class began with a lecture and ended with a discussion. As soon as the lecture morphed into a conversation, a palpable shift took place in the room. Almost everyone became relaxed. Laptops and phones were ignored for a few moments in time. Questions were being thrown around the room. The teacher sat on the desk in the most relaxed manner. At the end of class he made a comment about how every class should be like this and that most of his classes the students just blankly stare at him as he talks. He, I would say, is an incredible lecturer. If anyone could hold the students attention, it would be him. His content is interesting, his presentation is engaging, and he clearly is passionate about what he is talking about. But even with all that, it wasn’t until converstlan happened that both teacher and students came to life. 

Freire says, “Yet only through communication can human life hold meaning…a teacher can not think for the student, nor can she impose her thoughts on them. Authentic thinking…does not take place in ivory tower isolation, but only in communication.” Teachers can shift their lecturing by creating a more dialogue friendly seating arrangement. Desks should be placed in a circle with the teachers sitting at a desk with the students. Instead of talking at the students, take turns reading a section of the class material out loud and pose a question for discussion. Sometimes students need help in getting comfortable first, that is when the teacher can break the ice with a student relevant question. The second time I witnessed this obvious shift was in my linguistic class. The students and I were talking in the lobby while we waited for the one class to end. One of the students mentioned how she needs to write an eight page paper on if college education should be free. She expressed that she had no clue what she was going to say. We all got into a lively discussion about this. We did not realize that the other class was finished and our teacher had to come out and get us. He became engaged in the conversation and we spent the first 10-15 minutes of class in dialogue about this topic. It was incredible. When we switched back to linguistics, everyone was more relaxed and at ease. And it led to a productive class. There is something about personally connecting with the students and the teacher that opens the path to deep cognitive leaning, especially when personal stories are shared and when the teacher takes an interest in the affairs of the students. 

(Work on this!)Teachers should do away with given grades before feedback. Unfortunately, grades are necessary in tracking who is learning what – but this leads to so many problems for the student. They become overly concerned with what their letter grade is. They are not learning for themselves but for the grade. Teachers first need to stop this unhealthy obsession with grades and concentrate on helping the students learn for themselves. How do teachers evaluate progress in a more holistic manner though? Give feedback first on any given assignment- then, if necessary, give a letter grade. That might look like meeting with each student to talk through the areas they need to develop. That might mean testing the students knowledge in different ways- through oral presentations, through essays on the material, and even through class discussion. Education is more about becoming. Percy says, “The highest role of the educator is the maieutic role of socrates: to help the student come to himself not as a consumer of experience but as a sovereign individual.” The goal then of the teacher is not that they successful transfer their knowledge to the student so that they can take a test and get a good grade. The goal of the educator is that the student learns the material for himself in order to take ownership and invest in his education for what it is and not for what they can get on a piece of paper.

Teachers should teach indirectly and not directly by using living books written by experts who are passionate about the topic. Freire say, “Verbalistic lessons, reading requirements, the methods for evaluating “knowledge,” the distance between the teacher and the taught, the criteria for promotion: everything in a ready-to-wear approach serves to obviate thinking.” That last thing teachers should want to do in their classroom is create automatons. Teachers want to create critical thinkers who will become future leaders one day. There are three ways this can be accomplished.  An educator should read living books in class which are written by experts who are passionate about the topic.They should then have students write personal reflections on the reading. As the teacher steps back and reads a well written books, it allows the content of the book to engage with the student in an indirect way. Teachers should read a longer passage, pause, and allow the students to turn to a classmate and narrate what they just heard. This puts the learning into the hands of the student while they reflect on what they just heard. Secondly, teachers should have the students give an oral presentation on their reflections of the books they read. After the presentation, there should be an opportunity for questions, disagreements, thoughts, and a time student can share their opinion on the oral presentation.  Lastly, teachers should assign topic relevant books for homework and have the students write a personal essay on what they learned from the book and how they felt about it, instead of giving the students a direct assignment which looks for specific answers. This allows them discover for themselves. When I had to read a book for my anthropology class, I had to not only write a summary of the book but give an oral presentation. This forced me to engage with the text at a personal and self-reflective way. As helpful as that was, teachers should take it a step further and not seek to get the right answer from the students in these papers, oral presentations, and written narrations, but instead allow the student to discover through indirect learning as they read the material for themselves.

Teachers need to recognize that students need to be given the chance to wrestle though material for themselves in order for them to take ownership in their learning. Edvard Grieg was asked by a famous Norwegian Poet named Henrik Ibsen to compose the music for a play he wrote called Peer Gynt. Delighted by the request, he accepted. It became the most difficult musical pieces he ever composed. He struggled through if from beginning to end. The end result: Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, Op. 46 and Peer Gynt Suite No. 2, Op. 55. This music became a raging hit in 1880 and 1881, and this music was what launched Edvard Grieg to fame. It is in the most difficult struggles that we learn that most and accomplish what seems like an impossibility. It is through the most difficult that a student becomes. Teachers need to give the space in their classrooms for this kind of struggle to take pace. How does a teacher accomplish this. Created a classroom where students can invent, create, play, fail, recreate and in the end, hopefully succeed.  I read about this school that was set up in this way. They had a classroom for science, filled with all sorts of science books, microscopes, lab equipment, and supplies for every imaginable experiment. Science teachers were in the classroom overseeing but never directly teaching. One of the students wanted to make a vodka distiller. The teacher made sure the supplies were there and allowed the student time and space to accomplish it. Over time, and through trial and error, he did. The lessons learned through that process- innumerable. Do you think this student ever forgot the lessons he learned through this process. I doubt it. Teachers in Universities can not necessarily organizer a classrooms in this way, but they can make room in their classroom for this sort of learning to take place. Maybe when dissecting a piglet the student could write a personal essay on the process to make it their own… (Finish!)

Teachers have been given this unique opportunity to sit in the front seat as students emancipate themselves from a passive style of learning to become sovereign individuals who learn for themselves. The job of an educator is not easy and it is not straight forward either. In the times we live, there are layers of methodology and state mandatory tests to quantify and regulate learning in students. The job of the educator can be accomplished through stimulating profound questions and conversation with students so the student engages intellectually in their education, through partnership with the students in the way the teacher evaluates academic progress, through presenting material indirectly through reading living books, and by allowing students to wrestle through material. An educator who teaches without teaching helps students to become, and this becoming is what produces leaders who make a lasting difference. 

Ethan, This is an exceptionally good start! I enjoyed reading what you wrote and wanted it to continue. The sign of a good writer.  I especially like what you said: “Humans learn more from their mistakes than from their successes.” Your thesis is good, but from what I observed in your subpoints, I think you could make it better. Beef it up a little and make it stronger. The Percy quotes are perfectly relevant to your subpoints.  

Jacob, Your thesis is strong and well written. Your two sub-points well support your Percy quotes. My only suggestion for you is to make sure your next two points are just as strong. If not, it could weaken an already terrific paper.  Also, make sure you edit grammatical errors:).

Ruthie Lohmann

Dr. Randall Cream

Writing 120

3 November 2019

Writing Project 2 – Teaching without Teaching

How does an educator teach without teaching so that the student can truly learn. What does good teaching in the classroom look like? How does a teacher get out of the way so that the truth of the material is the focal point and not the theatrics of the teacher? How can material be presented in a way that speaks for itself, content so rich, beautiful, so packed full of depth and meaning that it raises the student to a higher thought process? How can an educator assess the students academic progress without making grades the reward, but instead creating an environment which fosters a love of learning. Educators who take a more backseat approach in their classroom and are thoughtfully guiding the education of the students have the ability to place ownership of learning back into the hands of the student.

What is the role of a teacher?  Socrates, who is considered one of the greatest ancient philosophers, was sentenced to death because of his teaching style. He apparently corrupted the minds of his students with ideas. In his classrooms students were expected to question the teacher and question each other. Not so today. Teachers need to structure their classrooms in ways that promotes dialogue, questioning, exploration, and ideas which stimulate critical thinking. Stimulating thought through profound questions and conversation allows students to engage intellectually in their education. Teachers should act more like the facilitator of dialogue in the classroom which is filled with various facts, ideas, and opinions. A teacher takes on the role not of professor but of facilitator. This changes the dynamics of how students learn. If the classroom time is an hour and a half, the time should be broken down into smaller segments. The first 30 minutes of class should not be the teacher presenting a pre-packaged agenda filled with facts for the student to regurgitate, instead the teacher should lay out ideas, books, articles, podcast, and youtube videos. These are set out in the classroom for the students to read, watch, or listen to. For the remainder of the class time, the students and teacher together should pose deep and thought provoking question about the subject matter they are studying in class and open the floor for dialogue. Freire says, “Yet only through communication can human life hold meaning…a teacher can not think for the student, nor can she impose her thoughts on them. Authentic thinking…does not take place in ivory tower isolation, but only in communication.” Within the discussion the students should be encouraged to ask question of each other and the teacher, disagree, and look up facts from the information they studied in the beginning of class to support their thoughts and ideas. In all this the teacher is not standing in the center of the classroom, but blends into the classroom in such a way its difficult to distinguish who the teacher even is. The ideas that Socrates presented in class seemed to ‘corrupt’ his students. But I think a little ‘corruption’ from the teacher is essential for the students learning. All the subject matter should not be so politically correct and proper, so perfectly put together with correct ideas and rational thoughts. The world is a messy, broken, and sad place. The reality of differing opinions, corrupt leaders, backstabbing spouses, universities that embezzle money, popes molesting young boys, heaven and hell, sex, abortion, etc…should not be withheld from the classroom, but incorporated into the presented material as necessary..  If all the teacher does is stay predictable by following the same guidelines and course that all the other teachers are following the predicability in the classroom allows the students to check out and become uninterested in the material that is being discussed and debated. In all of this, the teacher is not looking to transfer information and knowledge to the student but to give the student the ability, through inquiry and dialogue, to think critically with fellow students and the teacher in mutual discovery.

The material being taught  in the classroom should not be given directly, but indirectly, so that the student can discover for themselves.  Teachers need to get rid of power points presentation. Teacher need to stop lecturing the students on exactly what they want the students to remember. Stop using text books that are a conglomeration of data, facts, dates, and pictures that have been gathered from unoriginal sources.  Use books and material written by people who are passionate about the topic. Use books written by the person who did the work to understand and master the given subject. Use original sources that raise the bar for the students to reach towards.  If the students are learning botany, teachers should bring in a huge variety of plants and seeds (along with all those living books) and give the students time to be in that space with the plants. Give them time to explore, pick at, tear apart, read about, and watch videos. If the students are leaning about ornithology, bring in the books written and illustrated by John James Audubon. Bring in living birds in cages to observe, go outside for part of class to find birds in the wild and study them for a bit. For a teacher to stand at the head of the class it automatically distinguishes who should be speaking and who should be listening. But if the teacher sits among the students at the tables and starts picking apart a seed to look at because they are curious what they will uncover for themselves they become co-investigators with the students of the subject matter.

Teachers should do away with given grades before feedback. Unfortunately, grades are necessary in tracking who is learning what – but this leads to so many problems for the student. They become overly concerned with what their letter grade is. They are not learning for themselves but for the grade. Teachers first need to stop this unhealthy obsession with our GPAs and concentrate on helping the students learn for themselves. How do teachers evaluate progress in a more holistic manner though? Give feedback first on any given assignment- then, if necessary, give a letter grade. That might look like meeting with each student to talk through the areas they need to develop. That might mean testing the students knowledge in different ways- through oral presentations, through essays on the material, and even through class discussion. Education’s main goal is not a 4.0 GPA. It is not so that a student can graduate and get a high paying job. Those things are nice in and of themselves. But education is more about becoming. Education is meant to drawl what is already inside an individual and give it a voice. Every student has been given this unique set of ideas, gifting, thoughts, passions, and drive. In the education system the students humanity gets lost because the numbers have become the focal point not the person.  A shift in the grading system is necessary. In these times, because of the educational system we have created, doing away with grades is nearly impossible. Freire says, “From the outset, her efforts must coincide with those of the students to engage in critical thinking and the quest for mutual humanization. His efforts must be imbued with a profound trust in people and their creative power. To achieve this, they must be partners of the students in their relations with them.” Grades dehumanize the student. Instead of looking at and celebrating all the student has learned, grades focus on what they have not learned. Because teachers are required to grade students, students are tempted to cheat on their tests so that they achieve the ideal grades so they can get accepted into good colleges, so they can then get a good job. But what then? What kind of person has this educational system now created? Something has to change. 

Julia- Terrific start!

1 praise- I like what you say in your thesis: “There are other classes to take that open up students ideas giving them more knowledge and challenges to complete.” This is helpful to keep in mind, especially when we don’t prefer a class- looking to see what we can learn from it is a good practice to establish. It is also helpful to see how seemingly unrelated topics/classes actually do relate.

1 constructive- your first sub-point can be a little tricky to practically implement. I would make sure to give strong supporting ideas and application to go with that point.

Percy quote- The quotes are great! I think they go well with the two points you have.

Grady, This is a really good start. Your thesis is engaging and draws the reader in. I would have liked to see the two sub-points clearly defined in this proposal. I can see how your first quote compliments your thesis, the second quote might be a stretch. If you use the second quote, make your supporting arguments reinforce the main idea of the quote.

Topic Proposal: Teaching without teaching

Team: Ruthie Lohmann

Working Thesis: 

Intelligent educators have a responsibility to know what is effective and what is unhelpful when it comes to teaching in the classroom. But how does an educator teach without teaching so that the student can truly learn. How does a teacher get out of the way so that the truth of the material is the focal point and not the theatrics of the teacher? How can material be presented in a way that speaks for itself, content so rich, beautiful, so packed full of depth and meaning that it raises the student to a higher thought process? How can an educator assess the students academic progress without making grades the reward, but instead creating an environment which fosters a love of learning and seeing for the love of learning and seeing? How can a teacher tie in all subject matter so that the student becomes a thought filled human that connects all aspects of life in meaningful and critical ways? Educators who take a more backseat approach in their classroom and are thoughtfully guiding and directing the education of the students have the ability to place ownership of learning back into the hands of the student.

Four supporting ideas:

1) The teacher should be the least obvious person in a classroom and subtly use their influence and their knowledge of the subject to direct and guide the students in the learning process through a knights of the roundtable kind of structure. Not one is greater than the other- all are equal. But one obviously facilitates. Teachers also should be co-learners with the student and not be afraid to not know something. 

2) The material the is being taught should not be given directly, but indirectly, so that the student can discover for themselves. Use books and material written by people who are passionate about the topic instead o fusing dry and boring textbooks. There should be trips the students take to discover things about the matter they are studying. 

3) Teachers should do away with given grades before feedback. Unfortunately, grades are necessary in tracking who is learning what – but this leads to so many problems for the student. They become overly concerned with what their letter grade is. They are not learning for themselves but for the grade. As a teacher we need to stop this unhealthy obsession with our GPAs and concentrate on helping the students learn for themselves. How do teachers evaluate progress in a more holistic manner though? Feedback first on any given assignment- then, if necessary, give a letter grade. That might look like meeting with each student to talk through the areas they need to develop. That might mean testing the students knowledge in different ways- through oral presentations, through essays on the material, and even through class discussion.

4) Teachers should work to connect all subject matter in the classroom. Teaching one concept in isolation and not tying them into other subjects is like a doctor who looks at just the symptoms of his patient without looking at the whole person. This type of content connection produces critical thinkers and learners. 

Two quotes from Percy and Freire:

1) “The highest role of the educator is the maieutic role of Socrates: to help the student come to himself not as a consumer of experience but as a sovereign individual.” Percy

2) “From the outset, her efforts must coincide with those of the students to engage in critical thinking and the quest for mutual humanization. His efforts must be imbued with a profound trust in people and their creative power. To achieve this, they must be partners of the students in their relations with them.” Freire

Juliana and I had a lively discussion on how humans learn better when they take an interest in a topic rather than being forced to learn based on what the ‘experts’ tell them to learn. Not to say ‘experts’ don’t help people in the learning process. But if they don’t take a personal interest- then the ‘predetermined experiences’ which are set up by the ‘experts’ will fall flat and lifeless in the learner’s mind and will soon be forgotten. As soon as a student takes an active interest in information and ideas, the learning becomes concrete. We talked about how difficult the Freire article to read and write about. Because we had to work hard to understand it, and the information wasn’t straightforward, we had to engage with his writing in thought-provoking ways. We had to wrestle with ideas and ask questions. In the end, Freire found a permeant place in our minds. Yes, we had to read and write about the article because our professor ‘predetermined’ us to engage with it. But it was up to us to take an interest.

Freire writes about two systems of education: the banking system and the problem-posing system. In his article, he points out all the flaws with the first method and gives his solution to those flaws in his second method. His main point was to help us readers see what an oppressive educational structure looks like and steps we can take to transform that structure into a better and more effective one.

In this writing, I will attempt to address a students responsibility in their learning apart from their professor’s actions at West Chester University. According to Freire, this can be achieved in a few ways. Students learn through direct application, communicating with others, thinking critically about what they are being taught- held up against their own experiences, and they learn through acquiring deep understanding by asking questions.

Set aside all the professors, teachers, and educators at West Chester University. Set aside the ways in which these educators teach, test, and, tract their student’s academic progress. Set aside generations and generations of instilled ways of acquiring knowledge. My question is: How does a student emancipate themselves from the ideas of what learning has been throughout their own educational journey and take ownership in the acquisition of knowledge for their own sake at West Chester University? According to Freire, a student is not only a student, but a teacher as well. Each student has a deep well of personal life experience, thoughts, and ideas that are worth sharing with others. This sharing takes place through communication and discussion. A student has the ability to make choices when it comes to learning or not learning. As soon as they meekly and blindly accept all the teacher says, they morph from critical learner and thinker to a passive and static automaton. It is the student’s responsibility to not allow this to happen.

I will attempt to address how to take these rather abstract ideas and apply them to students here at West Chester. As human beings, we have been given this innate desire to learn about the world in which we live as it relates to us and each other. We learn through processes and those processes are not achieved in isolation.  Sometimes we need to reprocess and then reprocess it again in order to understand. We were not made to be dumping grounds for information though, nor were our brains meant to be categorical piles of educational facts. Nor were we meant to learn by ourselves and without others.  To be human means that we ask questions, wrestle through those questions with others and see how to apply the answers to those questions to ourselves of the world around us. Freire says, “For apart from inquiry, apart from praxis, an individual can not be truly human. Knowledge emerges only through invention and re-invention, through the restless, impatient, continuing, hopeful inquiry human being pursue in the world, with the world, and with each other.” In applying this to student power at WCU, learning is a lifestyle, not a method. A few practical applications would be: Spend more time in a friendly debate over a cup of coffee with a classmate to wrestle though complicated theories from class. Come to class over-prepared to participate in class discussions.  Be ok to sit in a place of not knowing, so that knowing can follow. Too many students are afraid to open their mouths in class, for fear of being wrong. Meet with professors over lunch to talk about ideas. Taking responsibility and action for our education at West Chester University keeps away mechanical and habitual ruts in our learning and brings the material alive as we practically engage with the fresh information.

Topic Proposal: Topic 3

Team Selection: Just Ruthie Lohmann

Working Thesis: An educator and student are on the same path to a life-long acquisition of knowledge and understanding through discovery and rediscovery of information as it relates to their own distinct experiences and how this new perceived awareness relates to the world in which they live.

Two Quotes from Freire to back up my Thesis:

1) “The problem- posing method does not dichotomize the activity of the teacher-student: she is not “cognitive” at one point and “narrative” at another. She is always “cognitive,” whether preparing a project or engaging in dialogue with the students. He does not regard cognizable objects as his private property, but as the object of reflection by himself and the student. In this way, the problem-posing educator constantly re-forms his refections in the refection of the students. The students- no longer docile listeners-are now critical co-investigators in dialogue with the teacher. The teacher presents the material to the student for their consideration, and re-considers her earlier considerations as the students express their own. The role of the problem-posing educator is to create, together with the student , the conditions under which knowledge at the level of doxa is superseded by true knowledge, at the level of logos.”

2) “Problem- posing education affirms men and women as being in the process of becoming- as unfinished, uncompleted beings in and with a likewise unfinished reality. Indeed, in contrast to other animals who are unfinished, but not historical, people know themselves be unfinished; they are aware of their incompletion. In this incompletion and this awareness lie the very roots of education as an exclusively human manifestation. The unfinished character of humans beings and the transformational character of reality necessitates that education be an ongoing activity.”

Jason R
Juliana B
Timothy T
Riley B
Maddie B
Mahammad R 
Ruthie L
Jake H
Sean R
Nick P
Christian P
Michael R
Jake D
Gabby L
Leah S

Today we discussed whether the banking system of education or the problem-posing method of education is more effective for educating humans. We all seemed to agree at the end that the problem-posing method is a much more effective way to educate. We talked about how high school methods of education are just like the general education requirements for college.  We talked about how this posed a problem for most of us. We sat through high school being filled with information to memorize. We memorized this information so that we could pass tests. Then we forgot the information as soon the tests were done. What is the purpose of memorizing information we are soon to forget? Seeing how we can apply what we are being taught to our lives or see its importance would help us take an interest in the content- thus helping us to retain that information.  General education classes we are required to take in college can feel the same way. If feels like a waste of money when there is a disconnect as to why we are learning what we are learning, especially if it has nothing to do with our field of study. Making those personal real-world connections can really help us learn. We are not robots, created to learn information so that we can just work a job, as one of the students eloquently said today. Quality of living life after all our learning plummets, if that is the end goal. 

In responce to Nick

Nick and I both thought using the term “necrophilic’  was an extreme way of communicating this idea of the ‘banking concept of education’. Why would Freire choose to use this terminology when talking about education? In re-reading the preceding paragraphs, it made more sense to me. I still don’t think the term necrophilia is used correctly in this paper, within the definition that I found. If necrophilia is more defined by Fromm’s quote on page 3 then I can somewhat get behind his ideas on this. Fromm’s idea:  control in education kills. That the banking system of education is more ‘nourished by the love of death, not life’.

Freire says that the banking system of education treats the student as objects. Object’s don’t have life. Something that is dead doesn’t grow. A teacher who is so oppressively controlling kills all things creative and beautiful in their student. Freire goes on to say that this kind of oppressive domination ‘attempts to control thinking and action’. It reminds me of Germany in World war ll, when Hitler brainwashed the Germans to hate anyone who wasn’t purely German. Unfortunately, he succeeded. Did that mean that it was a good thing? Any type of education that destroys a love for learning, attempts to control the student’s ability to reason and think deeply, only benefits the teachers and school, and creates automatons is, in my opinion,  a deeply failed education system. 

Nick

Ruthie