Michael Tresoikas
Randall Cream
WRT 120
03 October 2019
Students Learning at West Chester University
Throughout history, classrooms and teachers have been thought of as the ideal setting for learning and success. Many individuals, believe, to achieve academic success, you must choose this route. During my years in school thus far, I have always learned with the help of a teacher or educator. As I grow and become more mature, though, I realize that this is not the only way I can achieve academic excellence. In regards to Freire, his beliefs are that the standards for education are very simple. Teachers should be there to guide and help but the ultimate outcome should be left up to the student. The student must take responsibility for their success and what they need to do to achieve this. In order to do this students need to take the initiative to communicate with others, learning from them.
In the typical classroom, the teacher is the person that goes over the information with the hopes that the students’ are retaining it, as referenced by Freire, “ the teacher chooses and enforces his choice, and the students comply” (Freire page 1). In actuality, most students are not understanding it or retaining it due to their attention span, as well as boredom. In my past experiences in school and in the classroom, I have found that I learn best when I am communicating with others and learning as a group. Therefore students enjoy talking to each other and teaching one another as opposed to having a professor go over the material and the student possibly not retaining the information. This works well because the students understand each other, which in turn, can help boost moral. Students generally feel at ease when they are with their peers because they do not feel as intimidated which could inhibit their learning capabilities. When students talk to each and go over work, it helps them to retain the information and create a deeper bond with their peers.
As referenced by Freire he states how students have no say in anything and how teachers are everything in the learning environment. As stated “The point of departure of the movement lies in the people themselves. But since people do not exist apart from the world, apart from reality, the movement must begin with the human-world relationship” (Freire page 6). Frieire is expressing his beliefs about how students have no say in their own life, their own decisions, and their education. Due to the circumstances of our education system, students have no say, so allowing students to meet weekly will allow them to utilize their skills that they were stripped of. Therefore, implementing communication groups will help students prepare and thrive in school. Students should be assigned to groups in the beginning of the year and should meet every week to talk about what they obtained in class. Doing so will help students convey what they learned, helping each student teach the subject, letting them know if they are well-versed in it. Also,doing so will give students the opportunity to hear different perspectives and information they failed to obtain during class.
Alongside the weekly meetings, students will communicate outside of the classroom on a video project, of which they will work together. The video will consist of the students working together and using their creative side to help in the aid of learning. The video will be a project that will be about what the students learned in class, then taking the subject and expanding on the subject to show that the students are understanding it. As stated by Freire “The capability of banking education to minimize or annul the students’ creative power and to stimulate their credulity serves the interests of the oppressors, who care neither to have the world revealed nor to see it transformed”(Freire page 2). Having this group video assignment will give students the opportunity to express their creativity which they aren’t able to use.
In conclusion, students do not only learn in the classroom which has been done for decades but can learn successfully in many other ways. Students must be the one to empower and liberate themselves of the professor and the old ways of teaching ways. They can learn quicker, more efficiently from one another and to help retain the information better. Another form of learning is to actually do it, this is why hands on educating is an effective way of teaching. When you are physically doing something, you are learning it without even realizing. Lastly, we can get insight from each other about their past and learn from their mistakes. In reference to Freire, the role of the student is up to them and they have the freedom to change the learning process, they can form new ways of learning to emancipate themselves from the oppressor.
