In class, which is now over as the semester ended, I read a book by Freire, in which he described the ‘Banking’ model of eductation. This is the current type of education we have across the coutnry. The teacher knows. The teacher teaches. He or She lectures, goes through problems, demonstrates a principal, and the student learns. While I’d likely agree that this trains students to be objectified, and at the very least fails to nurture autonomity in students, I have another point today.
It’s boring! This may be an obvious problem, but if it is so obvious and so often complained about, maybe it is a noteworthy point. For, if a student is bored, then their attention is not being captured; their abilities are not being used, and as we have a natural propensity to do, to be active and fulfilled, we then turn to whatever will entertain us. And as the entire class is slowed for the slowest to learn, the faster are left spending more and more time daydreaming, thinking about other stuff, talking durring class. Students are thus trained to do two things at once. We work on what needs to be done, and listen with one ear, and dream with the other. And as we wander, we wander. It’s boring, and there’s a reason why kids complain; because it’s painful, because it’s harmful.
