Education in America
Essay Preview: Education in America
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The United States has been teaching its students for countless years now. Todays education process in the United States is that of the banking process. Paulo Freire gives light to a new and advanced process by which America should learn by, one that will prove to be an investment for the nations society, and soon will.
For years now we have been learning in Americas institutions for the first eighteen to twenty-five years of our lives. Always being taught by our teachers and professors, hoping that what they say will give us light to a hopeful future. Students generally sit in a classroom and absorb or bank, to put it in words of Paulo Freire, the information given or taught by the teachers. According to Paulo Freire we take information given to us by teachers and categorize the information away for later use. Freire contends that when knowledge is passed vertically from teacher to student in the banking concept the knowledge is stored in the brains and cataloged away. An inefficient way to learn that holds us back from reaching our full potential.
We, the students, never question the validity of the information. We simply understand that the teacher is right and we take for granted what the teacher gives us. Who says that all information is actually valid, how do we know until we, the students, actually do it. If a student reads in a text that a certain plant when eaten tastes sweet and another tastes bitter the students are then supposed to take for granted that what the text says and what the teacher says are correct. So how do we genuinely recognize two different tastes? Test it out for ourselves in a group session.
Researchers report that, regardless of the subject matter, students working in small groups tend to learn more of what is taught and retain it longer than when the same content is presented in other instructional formats.
Barbara Gross Davis, Tools for Teaching
Group work allows multiple input into one area of study or topic and thus allows the group to come to a consensus or understanding on that topic.
Group work has been tossed around for years now. In the medical field is where group consensus originated. Doctors found that having an opinion of a legion of doctors as opposed too just having the opinion of one doctor is more beneficial to the patient. The same has expanded into the business sector. Businesses encourage and often require meetings or group sessions to discuss various topics. In these meetings many ideas or viewpoints related to a common topic are laid on the table. These topics are then evaluated, reviewed, contemplated, and then put into effect. The outcome is an idea that is not only beneficial to the one who thought of it but also a benefit to the whole corporate entity. Group work allows good points from various angles to come together and form the most favorable situation.
The idea of group work has been increasingly integrated into the learning process today. Teachers now allow more group work among students. Allowing to do so gives the students more freedom and thus a cushion like feeling that gives them the comfort to talk amongst others and toss ideas around. Group session gives students a better sense of security when