Blog #6

"Nothing is more exclusive than the academic club: its language is highbrow, it has fancy badges, and it worships tradition," Rose writes in chapter 3, "It limits itself to a few participants who prefer to talk to each other" (58). He then acknowledges Father Albertson - along with other teacher/mentors at Loyola - for opening this formidable club to him. How do Rose's experiences with his teacher/mentors reflect Freire's portrait of education (the banking-concept education he criticizes and/or the libertarian model he advocates for)?

In chapter 3, Rose discusses the relationship between himself and one of his professors, Mr.Johnson. Mr. Johnson was not a user of the "banking system" that Freire referred to in his writing. Mr. Johnson created a world of comfort for Rose who was a struggling learner at the time. Rose enjoyed being in Mr. Johnson's class because Mr. Johnson was not only giving him information, but was teaching him ways to learn and re-use what was being taught in class. On page 49 of LB Rose says, " He (Mr. Johnson) did for me what Mr. MacFarland had done for literary history: he gave me a directory of key names and notions." I feel like Rose became more comfortable with his learning in his philosophy class because of his instructor's ability to start his learning process at a low level, then increase the intensity of the instruction in small intervals. This is not a model of the banking process that Freire discusses. Students are taught in Mr. Johnson's model that it is okay to start small, just so long as you learn what you learn well. Where as the banking model perpetuates fact-learning and memorization.