Rough Draft

Sean Redding

WRT120

Student Power

            As Freire suggests in his analysis of education, progress results from a student’s own power, not from a professor changing their actions. It is the individual student’s responsibility for their own success, and at WCU, resources for student independence and individuality are plentiful. College as a whole is not just shaping pathways for student education, but also allows students to grow independent by living apart from parents on campus, independence in the classroom, and joining the countless campus activities that WCU has to offer. In doing these things, students are able to gain a whole new aspect on life.

            Different students learn in different ways. A key to performing successfully as a student is to identify your own learning style. At WCU, professors are expected to teach thousands of different students per week, and each student has a different way of learning. This means that the professor cannot be expected to teach in a way fit for each student’s mind. In instances like this, it is up to the student to study on their own terms in ways that are compatible with their own learning styles. “Problem- posing education, as a humanist and liberating praxis, posits as fundamental that the people subjected to domination must fight for their emancipation. To that end, it enables teachers and students to become subjects of the educational process by overcoming authoritarianism and alienating intellectualism” (Freire, pg 6-8). Students at WCU are offered many supports in their independence in education and in life, as WCU offers learning amenities such as success coaching, and tutoring. Students who use all of these given resources will definitely be able to improve and work independently in their educational process.

            Another way in which a student may achieve emancipation is by taking advantage of the numerous clubs and sports that WCU has to offer. In high school, students had the same friend groups for years and are now being thrown into college alone. While this may be stressful for some, it is also extremely beneficial to the emancipation process. Making new friends and joining clubs allows a student to find their own individuality and allows people to find other students who can relate to them. As stated by Freire, “The truth is, however, that the oppressed are not ‘marginals’, are not people living ‘outside’ society. They have always been ‘inside’- inside the structure which made them ‘beings for others.’ The solution is not to ‘integrate’ them into the structure of oppression, but to transform that structure so that they can become ‘beings for themselves’” (Freire, p. 2-4). I believe this quote clearly supports the reason that through finding individuality comes emancipation and independence.

            In conclusion, students have many opportunities to gain emancipation at WCU. Through understanding Freire’s ideas and analysis of education, I propose that students may be able to find their needed independence at West Chester University through the plethora of student clubs and organizations, as well as through learning and obtaining their own individual learning styles.