Reflection Three: The Oppression of Education

In many ways, education is seen as being unique based on the learning types of the pupils. According to Paulo Freire that is not what is occurring in the educational system as we know it. The curriculum is all the same and location and ethnicity of the students tends to be forgotten. I agree with Freire that education now serves to solidify forms of oppression in society.

In my experience in the education system there are aspects of our culture which are left out for various reasons but which seem to be relevant to me. For instance where I grew up in we were not educated in the fact that just down the road was a major community of black African Canadians and that they thrived within Hammonds Plains. You would think that it would have been a staple topic in the curriculum especially during Black History Month. We were unaware of this, and it was not until this year when I took a class on Black Canadian literature was I even aware of this fact. Now the community was within walking distance of the elementary, junior High and High School. Why, were we not educated on this topic?

There were selected topics based on the provincial curriculum which we were supposed to cover and I am guessing that none of my teachers or professors decided to stray away from the laid out curriculum to teach us about our surroundings. I am fascinated at how little we were taught regarding the general area with the schools resided. In being taught only certain aspects we as students are being oppressed in our own neighbourhood.

There are other ways of learning but shouldn’t our educational program take into consideration where the school is located before creating a curriculum? There are other reasons to take community into consideration when making a lesson plan. Depending on where the school is the pupils may have different ways of learning. For example in a University setting the ethnic background is vast. And not all cultures learn in the same manner. Therefore how does a professor create a lesson plan with which all students will benefit from? Disregarding the banking method of learning which means the professor just stands there giving a lecture assuming the students are absorbing the information they could use PowerPoint’s, videos, games and create group work which stimulates interpersonal connection. No one learns the same based on where they come from, and had we all been provided with the information of our surrounding community the discussions would have been even more creative. Students are being oppressed in the ways of learning, and the lack of learning is oppressing our thirst for knowledge.

The banking method only gives the students the fundamental, but when community is brought in, and alternative ways of providing the information are given then the students are more receptive. Had I been educated fully on the background of my own community I would not have grown up believing it lacked spark, or historical relevance. I believed it was only Hammonds Plains. But really there is an entire background of historical information which I was never privy to. My understanding of my community was oppressed through lack of knowledge which could and should have been provided to me.