Eric Pedroza

While Paolo Freire analyzed and described the type of education system we undergo, the only thing that I could picture in my head was my south campus classes at UCLA. As a south campus student I have had the privilege to sit through classes in, both, North and South parts of campus. As scary and ugly the education system that Paolo conveys only makes me wonder why action has not been made in a crusade to diminish this oppressed banking system that you and I participate in and pay thousands of dollars for. Sitting in my lecture classes in south campus the (a)-(j) list presented in the reading, clearly painted a picture of how my classes have been. Taken classes in north campus and south campus, there are evident differences; differences that are alarming but true. Since UCLA is research university, the main reason why faculty members are there are to, mainly, further their research in their field, which ultimately affect the world and are life-changing discoveries. Prestige is written all over our school, as a result this forces faculty members to have their students be their second priority. What is wrong with this? Everything! Education should be a system where everyone is constantly learning from one another and not learning from just one dictator who “knows” everything. As stated in the article, “ Education must begin with the solution of the teacher-student contradiction, by resending the pole of the contradiction so that both are simultaneously teachers and students.” Education should not be this “banking system” where teachers dispose information and students become “containers” to them. Evidently this banking concept of education exists in many of my south campus class where I feel oppressed and inferior to my professor, where I am forced to memorize and regurgitate everything that is said onto my work in the class. In the end of it all, I leave the classroom with “an empty mind.” Just as education is changing in contemporary society auto-modernism has become a very popular culture in higher education. As seen in north campus, this auto-modernism way of education allows the class to be run by the students in collaboration with the professors. Constant questioning and Socratic method of teaching has allowed me to think in different levels and understand many different points of views and further my creativity. Classes should not be all about the professor who dictates the atmosphere of the classroom; rather class should be something that students look forward to and not staying inside a room watching a podcast because like students have said, “Why should I attend class if the teacher does not teach new material and just goes over that the book has already stated and class is podcasted too.” Students should be eager and enthusiastic to attend a class where the faculty facilitates learning and students are engaged to question and participate attentively.