The Banking Model of (Korean) Education

After writing about the Matrix metaphor for learning ("I know kung fu") a few days ago, I got to thinking about how similar it is to Paulo Freire's "banking model" of education. In his book Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1970) Freire, a Brazilian educational theorist, described what he viewed to be an ineffective and disempowering model for education. In the "banking model", students were viewed as empty vessels, ready to be filled with knowledge the teachers. This model situates the students in a very passive role, and most importantly doesn't take into account any of the students' previous systems of knowledge or understanding, their motivation, or their identity. They merely, again, "download" the information from teachers into their brains. Not only is this "banking model" conception untrue, it makes for inefficient teaching and can lead to the further disempowerment of students. When the subjective experiences and knowledge of the students is de-valued, the teacher/student interaction is dehumanized.


Paulo Freire

I often hear native English teachers complaining about how education in Korea is very "lecture-based", "teacher-centered" and how it focuses too much on memorization. As outsiders to the Korean education system, these native teachers are picking up on differences between education in their home country vs Korea, and reacting negatively. But it's not always articulated exactly why this teacher-centered, banking model of education is undesirable pedagogy. Using Paulo Freire's critical lens, we can start to see past the classroom behavior into the values (or devaluation) underlying it.

Unfortunately, in an educational environment focused on high-stakes testing, teachers are under pressure to cram facts, vocabulary, and grammar into their students' heads (again notice the banking model/Matrix language here). Until the entire system, from tests to classroom methodology to teacher training, is reevaluated, flow of these forces will continue to reinforce an efficient, ineffective, and disempowering banking model for Korean education.