I first read Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed my senior year of college. Freire is a South American educator and in many ways a theologian. I was on the verge of graduating in under three years and wasn’t ready to deal with the real world yet so I added a Political Science major to the History major I had almost finished. I ended up taking classes that at the time were a big thorn in my side, but looking back I seriously under-appreciated some of them – but I’m amazed how some of those classes are the ones I remember the most (at least the ones I showed up for).
I kept Pedagogy of the Oppressed because it had some serious depth to it and I experienced it even then as a hope giving work in political and education theory that was seeking to find ways to liberate people from being marginalized and oppressed by power dynamics expressed throughout culture and society. I just came across a reference to it in one of the books I’ve been reading by Robert Pazmino dealing with the nature of what is transformational education:
“Transformation is a liberating education that treats learners as subjects, as active agents, and not as objects or passive recipients of the wisdom shared. Students are thus viewed as active, creative subjects with the capacity to examine critically, interact with, and transform their world.
Transformation is also described as problem-posing education, which encourages freedom for students in cooperative dialogue with the teacher and other students. In contrast to transformation education is banking or problem-solving education, which imposes knowledge on passive students. In banking education, the teacher assumes an authoritarian role, prescribing what the students are to learn and how they are to think and behave.” (Pazmino, pp. 78-79 referencing Freire).
You might read that and write it off as some nice statement about how we should teach and communicate in empowering ways as opposed to static and boring ways. But think about liberating and transformational education as opposed to banking education as it relates to some of the following areas: empowering ethnic minorities who are studying, working, or serving in a majority culture context; passing on the Christian faith to the next generation, and raising up leaders who can make a transforming difference in this world.
Teaching and trainings that are controlled by people in power will most likely reinforce the way things have always been done and the status quo unless their is a commitment to releasing some of that power to free others up to contribute as equally significant voices in the community. Finding ways to truly empower people and help them learn and grow is something we need to think about just as much as what we want them to know. Otherwise we run the risk of conforming potential leaders into the majority culture’s image and we lose the opportunity to grow and change corporately from new ideas, new perspectives, and perhaps fresh courage and boldness.
It’s worth stating that if your way of doing things resembles “banking,” you’re directly or indirectly perpetuating some deep problems and issues that result in some form of oppression or powerlessness among those under your leadership. “Bankers” act, lead, and educate as if their voice is the only one that matters. “Transformational” or problem-posing educators or leaders lead with a pursuit to nurture and empower voices at all levels.
Even the most controlling leaders I’ve ever met never at a heart level would want to intentionally have a silencing and controlling legacy. So consider a shift from problem-solving to problem-posing in how you get things done. Think about shifting from banking to transformation.
Executing a lot of this is a different matter, but I’m motivated to keep learning and thinking about how to make sure everything I do has transformation and empowerment as its goal.
What are ways you are choosing transformation over banking in your leadership context? Do you see other areas where some of these thoughts pertaining to how we teach are evident? How do you see the execution of a transformational approach being lived out in your context?
