Oh Gatto... not only does he state the obvious in 6 lessons but he does it in a way so the reader feels like wow I feel stupid... His first lesson is essentially saying keep the kids on a leash. Then he goes on to explain how we are a species of demand. We are told to do something, we proceed to do it, we are told to stop, we listen. In his third lesson he advocates that students are sneaky and a watchful eye is necessary. The teacher is in charge and what they say goes. Fourth lesson is that determining factor of the students knowledge, the teacher's higher power instructs and the teacher proceeds. In his fifth lesson he opens our eyes to see that we should always have self respect, and to wait for the insult coming our direction. Lastly in his sixth lesson he reminds us we are under constant watch like hawks looking for prey.
I couldn't not smile while reading this text. Although what he is saying sounds horrible you can't help but laugh. I guess because we are so used to living our life based on the same six lessons every year that we are immune to it. We never truly understand how basic the teaching structure is and how it is practically mocking our intelligence. The description of this makes us sound like completely uneducated human beings and in some ways we sound like animals being tamed.
Freire on the other hand did not state the obvious but more so pointed out a concept. The idea that without the teacher the student is nothing. Our brains are just mindless objects sitting there rotting away. So the teachers come in with their watering cans and bring life to our brains. For without them it would be useless. Since the teachers know everything and we know nothing, it is extremely necessary that they are in our lives. They recite the most valuable information from their brains, we process it and spit it right back out to prove we understand what's going on.
I don't think Freire's banking system really defines a students knowledge. Yes, it will show that the student is good at memorization and retaining. However, the ideas circling throughout the students head are not their own but merely something their teacher was taught and that the teacher before that was taught. It is a never ending cycle of the same information circling. In many schools though especially ones who aim for high SAT scores and high test grades the banking system most definitely comes into play. Do these kids have their own opinions though that they can support with evidence and have reason for their beliefs? Probably not.
Delpit is on the completely opposite spectrum of education verses Freire. She doesn't think testing can measure the knowledge but more so hurt discovering it. She believes it is the teachers job to be the observer and study the student to find the brilliance inside of them. Delpit feels as if the best possible way to understand the student is through the arts. Not only to gain a better understanding of the student but to bring out a new side to the student. In her mind no student is unintelligent they just might not have had their brilliance discovered yet.
It is very quick to understand that Delpit is in it for the student. She creates a curriculum not for the masses but for the individual. Maybe the core problem with education is if everyone is expected to understand the same material then of course some will be left in the dust. Since we all think differently and react differently to things presented to us of course some will understand certain things better then others. That is not to say though that those people are stupid because in a different situation the tables could be completely turned. The only idea of hers that I am a little opposed to is why can't the student be a part of deciding what their strengths and weaknesses are. It's not that she judging the book by its cover but she is making the overall decision for what is in the students best interest.
Mr. Fanning came in a not too long ago to speak to our class. I left class that day feeling really different about our school. The way he explained his ideas made me understand why SOF does certain things. He said "SOF does things that are good education. We embody the student as an individual. You should question everything." It is quite apparent that himself and the other teachers actually do care about our ideas. They are willing to work with us to discover them and try to support us through discovering what makes us interested. He then went on to saying, "Perfect education is a lifetime education." Just because once we graduate and go out in the world does not mean we will ever stop learning.
Part of me feels as if the students who go to schools where testing is a number one priority will be less likely to question things, to have the urge to learn new things for the rest of their lives. Merely because they are taught not to discover but to maintain a set in stone understanding. So even though they might end up at top schools whose main focus is the number, doesn't make them any better than the rest of us. In many ways our lives will be much more meaningful because we will pursue things that have significance to us. We will go into fields that we can spend the rest of our lives discovering and although some of these "robots" might do the same... it will be at a completely different level of learning.
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