Essay 1 Final
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Naranjo 1
Jessica Naranjo
Professor H. Alvarez
English 1A
5 October 2023
O’ Consciousness
Here is a question that will have you evaluate your whole life. Were you one of the many
that fell into oppression? Distinguishing the difference from critical consciousness and
oppression, has an effect on one's perspective on education. In the ‘Banking Concept of
Education’ written by Paulo Freire, implicates that knowledge is a social currency and teachers
deposit their knowledge into students. It was clear in Peter Weir’s film
Dead Poets Society
, that
implication can be true. In the film, the clash between traditional and conservative values taught
at Welton Academy and the liberation teachings of John Keating distraught the not only the
Headmaster Gale Nolan but also few of the other educators when they question Mr. Keating and
his method of educating his students. The four pillars at Welton Academy are
“
tradition, honor,
discipline, and excellence.”
T
he pillars not only discourage but makes it become unlawful for a
student to exercise a critical political consciousness.
In comparison to Paulo Freire explicitly
demonstrating critical pedagogy to challenge passive oppressed learners to examine the power
structure in the classroom. It is demonstrated when he characters, Todd and Neil, both expressed
their meek characters in the beginning of the film demonstrating oppression and due to John
Keatings method of teaching, they become independent, critical liberating thinkers at the end of
the film. In my opinion John Keating could have been played by Paulo Freire.
The power structure is determined by the educator in the classroom and how they educate
the students. In Paulo Freire’s pedagogy,‘Banking Concept of Education,’ he states,“It is not
surprising that the banking concept of education regards men as adaptable, manageable beings.
The more students work at storing the deposits entrusted to them, the less they develop the
Naranjo 2
critical consciousness.”(Freire 2) Oppressed people will act like the oppressors themselves due to
the fact of what is being deposited into their consciousness without thinking critically of what is
being deposited. In the beginning of the film, Professor Keating challenges his students to
question the social, political normality by having his students rip out the introduction of their
poetry textbooks. In the other classrooms that the students attended, they read traditionally from
their textbook, storing all the information that was given to them. I agree with Mr. Keatings
method because he challenges his students to think what poetry means to them without being
told what is means.. The situation is that the teacher gets to decide what information the students
get, how they get it and when they get it. Using this method, the students are treated as mere
objects without feelings, desires, willpower, dignity and knowledge. The students remain docile
unthinking, predetermined subjects to the moldings of the wiser adults, who are the creators',
possessors and dispensers of all necessary knowledge. They are passive reciprocals of
information. In the film, Mr. Keating tells his students, “Now in my class you will learn to think
for yourselves again. You will learn to savor words and language. No matter what anybody tells
you, words and ideas can change the world.” The impact of the power and privilege can have in
our lives, changes how to approach life decisions and how the individual view people.
The danger of conformity leads students to become passive oppressed individuals that
limits their potential to have critical reasoning. Freire expresses,“The more completely the
majority adapt to the purposes which the dominant minority prescribe for them (thereby
depriving them of the right to their own purposes), the more easily the minority can continue to
prescribe.”(Freire 4) Freire calls this prescription. Individuals that are adaptable and manageable
have no consideration to critically think what is being prescribe to them. I believe it is due to
their upbringing, if they don’t do what they are told they are considered disobedient individuals.
Naranjo 3
In the courtyard scene, Mr. Keating educated his students to critique the dangers of conformity.
At first the three students walk at their own pace then they subconsciously start to walk in sync
with one another assuming that is what was expected of them. However, the lesson was to
maintain their own beliefs in the face of others, to trust that everyone is unique. We are told at a
very young age they we are our own person but at the same time we are told to abide of what is
being brought to our attention. “The knowledge that enables such a critique of the situation,
ideology, and self, must include understanding of the dialectical, permanent tension between
consciousness and the world, between subjectivity
and objectivity.”(Glass) Trying to not be
deceived by all the information we are told to believe when the people are educating are aiming
for us to be blindsided.
Communication goes a long way by simply having dialogue with students, bringing in
liberation and freedom. When taken away the student-teacher dynamic becomes systematic and
prescribed. Paulo Freire expresses, “Authentic thinking, thinking that is concerned about reality
does not take place in an ivory tower isolation but in communication if it's true that thought has
meaning only when generated by action upon the world the subordination of students to teachers
become impossible.”(Freire 5) Essentially I strongly agree with this statement true generosity
and communications consists of fighting for things that nourish the false generosity that
demolishes the need for people to extend their hand. In the film, Mr. Keating And Neil had a
conversation where they discussed what they love to do.“You are not an indentured servant. If it's
not a whim for you, you prove it to
him by your conviction and your passion. You show him that
and if he still doesn't believe you, well, by then you'll be out of school and you can do
anything
you want.” Mr. Keating expresses to Neil. Here’s an example how educators and students can
communicate toward dismantling the system of oppression. Neil shortly after him staring in a
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Naranjo 4
performance committed Suicide due to his father not supporting his decision James Blackburn
explains. “In other words the role of the educator is not to educate the oppressed and the
transitive sense but to create space in which the oppressed educate themselves and each other
dialogue on what fear alternately called mutual consternation is thus not limited to the single axis
educator participate”(Blackburn) Simply by just having a conversation can have an effect on
one's life. Educators have the upper hand to make a difference in ones life.
In conclusion, Paulo Freire made it known that demonstrating critical questioning to
reasoning not only challenges but also opens the eyes of the individual to not be deceived on
what is being deposited into our lives. Mr. Keating, a phenomenal educator makes a difference in
the education system that Welton Academy has to offer. A power structured classroom
demonstrating manipulation by the educator can interfere into becoming critically conscious. The
students at what went Academy had to demonstrate reflection then motivation to act on
revolutionizing their future. Paulo Freire revolutionizes oppression in education to change our
systematic education. The school issues directives to educators and the curriculum and in manner
in which it is administered while the students are expected to follow unquestionably a culture of
silence of conformity ensures the students are compelled to accept that at what when nothing else
matters as long as you do what you are told to do without protest professor Keating enables his
students to not only recognize their own individualities but harness them into collective unit that
is capable of challenging the status quo. The final scene reveals his success. Critically think
consciously to end oppression to revolutionize what Freire had started.
Work Cited
Naranjo 5
Blackburn, James. “Understanding Paulo Freire: Reflections on the Origins, Concepts,
and Possible Pitfalls of His Educational Approach.” Community Development Journal,
vol. 35, no. 1, 2000, pp. 3–15. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44258814. Accessed
24 Sept. 2023.
Glass, Ronald David. “On Paulo Freire’s Philosophy of Praxis and the Foundations of
Liberation Education.” Educational Researcher, vol. 30, no. 2, 2001, pp. 15–25. JSTOR,
http://www.jstor.org/stable/3594336. Accessed 24 Sept. 2023