Banking vs. Problem Posing Education

The following paragraphs will address education as a practice of freedom as opposed to a practice of domination. Freire displays this in terms of banking education and problem posing education. Banking education facilitates domination while problem posing education facilitates freedom of creativity and transformation. These methods of educating were apparent throughout my secondary schooling education by way of teaching styles used by my educators and these teaching styles greatly affected the outcome of knowledge retained and empowerment gained from these educational experiences.

Banking education is discussed as an act of depositing where the educator is the depositor and students are the depositories. Instead of communication the banking method involves students waiting, receiving and memorizing information, then restating this information back with a goal to only obtain high grades on standardized tests, even though when instead students would gain more from being critically engaged and applying the information that they are leaning. “Banking” turns the action of leaning into only receiving, filing, and storing deposits.  This method of educating takes away the essential part of learning which is what makes us entirely human – the banking method takes away ones creativity and critical ability leaving only ignorance and inhuman, robotic reproduction of the given deposits. This leads to a conclusion that banking is a form of oppression, snuffing out all signs of the creativity and self transformation that makes education such a rewarding and personally fulfilling endeavour.


Based on my experiences I have had one instance of banking education during my secondary educational experience. My teacher was only a subject of our attention and us, as students, were nothing more than mere objects present to robotically absorb and reproduce concepts long enough to score a high grade with a method of testing that was standardized throughout the entire classroom regardless of if this was a way that was suitable for everyone to learn by.

This teacher wanted the pupils to naively accept all assumptions that were presented and fill our minds with taken for granted information without any chance for critical assessment. We were to assume this teacher knew all, and we knew nothing – much like the idea of banking where the student is nothing but a blank slate, awaiting a deposit of information. We were to receive information passively, and if we were to assess critically any aspect of what this teacher spoke of, the teacher would appear agitated and the pupil in turn would be treated poorly – displaying the aspect of domination, oppression and control that is associated with a banking method of educating.


Problem posing education is discussed as an act where the educator is taught while teaching and everyone teaches one another while being mediated by their surroundings and the world in which we live in. Students are critical about and engaged in what the educator is presenting as opposed to only listening and restating information. Problem posing education presents a method to develop power by way of perceiving critically and evaluating objectively not only the concepts presented to us by the educator, but our reality and surroundings entirely. Problem posing education methods present transferable skills and set students up for success by adapting many educational subsets to form a dynamic learning experience.


Based on my experiences I have been subject to plenty of problem posing educational experiences. One that stands out in my mind would be a secondary educator who allowed us options to adapt our curriculum to make it more engaging to each individual specifically such as options on different novels to read for assignments or different ways of presenting information. This teacher was open to any way we felt we could learn, and would actively work to facilitate success for all students. There was a caring relationship between educator and student, and students were provoked to critically assess any aspect of the curriculum and felt comfortable becoming openly engaged in course

From my experience of banking education, I did not take away any valuable skills or information because critical assessment of the material was not facilitated, and in this case was even perceived as a negative reaction to the course material and came with negative consequences. Based on the lack of critical engagement with the course material I only obtained the information on a short term basis – long enough to obtain a high grade on the test, and then the information ceased to be useful in my life and was disposed of by lack of repetition. By looking at this situation as an example of banking it displays a clear example of how this can lead to oppression and lack of creativity because if one only accepts what they are told this does not leave any individuality, transformation, progressive movement or creativity.  My experience with problem posing education was a highly beneficial experience, and I continue to experience this form of education. These sorts of experiences facilitate the ability to critically assess ones surroundings and promotes life-long learning. 


Banking education damages the true meaning of learning and inhibits the creative power of the students, submerging their consciousness, while problem posing education creates a classroom of tuned in critical thinkers who will be engaged in their surrounding and based on this, partake in life-long learning and progression within the self as well as throughout their surroundings.