Here at West Chester every professor teaches differently and just as they teach, we students all learn and grow as individuals differently. This creates the problem of not being fully understanding important material being passed onto the students. A prime example of this is Criminal Justice 110, the beginning criminal justice class, we learn from a powerpoint and lecture, and rarely hear relevant life content of criminal law and justice.
Freire talks about the need to break away from the typical forms of teaching or the “Banking Concept” of education. This can be done by the students and ultimately for the betterment of each and every student by changing the way classes are taught. In Criminal Justice, there needs to be much less power points, lectures, and memorization of laws. Professors need to draw into the students interests by day to day examples of crimes, court cases, laws, and then ultimately open up for discussion to better the students understanding.
There are changes that need to be made to CJ 110 in order to allow students to truly grasp the necessary materials to learn, the class needs to stay the length of 50 minutes that it is. This allows enough time for learning to occur without losing the attention span of an average student. The class needs to start off with only a small amount of time for lecturing and power points, but then break into a discussion of real life examples and court cases to truly remember and grasp materials. Students learn and retain information a lot better when they can relate it to real world examples and remember important information by associating it with stories of criminal justice. “Through dialogue, the
teacher-of-the-students and the students-of-the-teacher cease to exist and a new term emerges: teacher-student with
students-teachers. The teacher is no longer merely the-one-who-teaches, but one who is himself taught in dialogue with
the students, who in turn while being taught also teach. They become jointly responsible for a process in which all grow.” (Freire Pg.4). My class fails to realize is that more often than not we all have our own experiences to share and learn from throughout the class instead of pure lecturing. Once the floor is open for discussion then the professor can use students own experiences to add in the relevant amendments, laws, ruling, statures, ext. that pertain to the class as well as the individual.
Once we can break away from the “Banking concept” of education in CJ 110 then, its raises a simple 50 minute knowledge dump into a true class where the discussions and debates from professor to students. Then the students will be empowered and actually care about the class and material because they have a personal connection with the information, or can at least remember and associate it with different things instead of words on a screen.
‘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 Pg. 2). Allowing free flow discussions and course material will allow the students to feel comfortable with the professor and ultimately truly stimulate their minds by not feeling oppressed and more of an equal to the professor.
I agree with Sabrina some of the points made in the draft I have questions about. 50 minutes is definitely not enough time for court cases. The thesis is also unclear. Overall the topic is great with more in-depth analysis it can be even better.
I agree that the criminal justice class should be changed from lecture and powerpoint reading to application of the content to life so that the students can get the most out of the course. However, will 50 minutes be enough time to teach information and get into in depth discussions about court cases? Maybe have some classes solely for lecture and others solely for discussions. I like how you said that through personal connections, students will feel empowered and care about the class. What kind of engaging activities could be done with court cases to allow students to apply the information to reality, rather than just reading and discussing them?