Essay #3 Final Draft

            The condition of the education system is one of the biggest issues facing our society today. Almost anyone, from teachers, to students, to parents, will agree that there is something not right about the way our public school systems are educating students. In the words of American comedian, author and social critic Lewis Black, “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that our school systems are broken—which is good, because none of us are!” Where once upon the time American students dominated the charts as some of the best educated, most inventive and successful in the world, we’ve slipped lower and lower. But what is the issue at the core of this, and what can we do to remedy it? It seems that many voices of renowned authors, teachers and critical thinkers are all saying the same thing; what we really need in schools is curriculum that focuses on teaching student how to think critically and analytically. Students need to be taught how to think, not what to think.

            Our current school system teaches with a simplistic method of rote memorization and dutiful regurgitation, or the “Banking Concept of Education,” as described by Paulo Freire, a Brazilian educator, in his book Pedagogy of the Oppressed.  The banking concept reduces students into mere containers and teachers into narrators. As Freire says, “…in the last analysis [of the banking concept], its men themselves who are filed away through lack of creativity, transformation and knowledge.” 
            The banking concept creates malleable, gullible individuals, as further highlighted by H. L. Mencken, author of American Mercury, who claimed, “The aim [of public school]... is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same safe level, to breed and train a standardized citizenry, to put down dissent and originality.”
            Being taught to simply accept and memorize “knowledge” in place of true understanding shapes a vulnerable individual. In a society that bombards every individual constantly with advertisement, entices with ‘free’ credit cards and pushes with visions of what life could—or should—be, if only you had this or that, vulnerability is dangerous. Vulnerability like that creates a nation with approximately 80% of its adult population in debt (americandebtadvisor.com).  If students were educated in a way that encouraged them to think critically, would they be less susceptible to societal attempts to mold them to this or that end? Freire asserts that the rejection of the banking method is the action of a true liberation. As he states, “In this process [the rejection of the banking-concept], arguments based on ‘authority’ are no longer valid; in order to function, authority must be on the side of freedom, not against it.”
            In short, to the critical-thinking individual, authority that seeks to bind is invalid. The critical thinker can examine assertions of what must or should be done (buy this, you need that, you can’t live with out this) and see it for what it is: an groundless assertion by an invalid authority. Can you imagine the next generation of educated American youth, and imagine them as critical thinkers? Can you imagine an entire generation impervious to the pull and push of the media-driven, advertisement-swamped world?
            Some may resist the idea of a new curriculum with a new idea at its heart, protesting perhaps first and foremost, the expense. Our government is in debt and our school systems are floundering under lacking funding, so obviously expense is a present worry. But if the banking concept creates a vulnerable populous inclined towards malleability and consequentially, debt, continuing the current method of teaching in the name of saving money simply facilitates the continuation of this (debt-filled) condition. Divergently, a critical-thinking generation would certainly be less inclined to bury themselves in debt in the pursuit of what society tells them they need. Such a generation would be a generation truly free, and truly strong, a generation that could lead American to a new beginning and a new freedom. For example, freedom from crushing and building debt, freedom from apathetic pursuits and freedom from a malleable populace. But such a generation can never exist without an education that nurtures the critical thinker. Which is why our country needs to create thought-centric curriculums and implement them as soon as possible.

            Critical thinking can help facilitate an empowered individual, but it can also help nourish a creative individual. The world today is a fast-paced, competitive environment, and the overall health and success of a country and its citizens is determined by how well they can play the world game. Can they put out the best products? The newest ones? Can they innovate and reinvent, and can they do it better then that one over there? When the education system is examined, it doesn’t seem to be creating individuals ready to excel creatively in this kind of a world. In the words of former educator John Gatto, who has over thirty years of education experience, “…our schools - with their long-term, cell-block-style, forced confinement of both students and teachers – [are] virtual factories of childishness.” Childishness does not seem like a trait that would help any individual excel in innovation and competition. Not, that is, the caliber of childishness that Gatto refers to—as in, petty and immature. Feminist author and social activist Gloria Jean Watkins—better known under her penname, bell hooks—also discusses public schooling in a less-then favorable light, observing that “Most children are taught early on that thinking is dangerous.”

Some may beg false at this juncture, pointing out that America is the leader in innovation and invention. We are, after all, the birthplace of success monsters like Apple and Boeing. Unfortunately, America is not “the” leader in innovation and invention. We’re straggling in 4^th place, as indicated by the 2013 GII (Global Innovation Index). Perhaps more significantly to note, the minds behind Apple and Boeing are not what would be categorized as products of the American public school system.  Bill Gates attended a prestigious and exclusive preparatory school and dropped out of college before graduating. Steve Jobs may have attended public schooling, but was evidently frustrated by it and only attended six months of higher learning. Thus, the shining stars of American success and innovation are not, in fact, products of the school system. Rather, as educators like John Gatto and bell hooks apparently believe our school system encourages immaturity and promotes a fear of thought, Bill Gates and Steve Job were successful despite the public school system, not because of it. This being said, can critical thinking promote creativity and encourage innovation? Absolutely. Authors Sylvan Barnet and Hugo Bedau emphasize that, “Critical thinking requires us to use our imagination, seeing things from perspective other than our own…”
The Webster Dictionary definition of innovate is to make changes by introducing something new. Correspondingly, the dictionary definition of Imagination is the faculty or action of forming new ideas, or images or concepts of external objects not present to the senses. Thus, one cannot exist without the other: one cannot innovate, or introduce something new, without the ability to imagine, or create, something new. Critical thinking is the facilitator and nursemaid to imaginative thinking, imaginative thinking is the mother of new ideas and subsequently, innovation. Innovation is the medium through which individuals of this modern world find success. So if America, as a country, wants to create a bright, successful future not only for itself but also for the children of this generation and those children’s children, it must cultivate those capable of critical thinking. Only then can a future of continued innovation and success be kept in grasp.

            Freire asserts that the escape from the oppression-ready populace created by the banking concept of education is “Consciousness as con-sciousness” or, to paraphrase, the ability to question perceived knowledge and critique what we are taught. As he says, education “consists in acts of cognition, not transferal of information.” That, then, is the proposed change at hand: education that facilitates students who think, not education that bombards the students with fact and asks them—no, orders them—not to think. Authors like bell hooks, social critics like Lewis Black, philosophers like Freire and educators like John Gatto are the ones raising their voices in request for this change and the implementation of critical pedagogy.  Those who have lived through the system and found it lacking are those who look towards a better future for coming generation. So as a country, we have a choice: to rise beyond the oppressive methods of our past and carve out a brighter future full of innovation, creativity, financial and personal freedom, or to continue down the worn, beaten path we currently traverse and eventually look back when its far too late on America the Once Great.

Works Cited:

Gatto, John. "Against School." Harper's Magazine Sept. 2003: Web.

Black, Lewis "Back in Black." John Stuart Daily Show. Politicsisstupid.com. Comedy Central. Television. Web.

Freire, Paulo, "The Banking Concept of Education," Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 1968: Print. 1-3. Excerpt.

hooks, bell. “Critical Thinking” Teaching Critical Thinking: Practical Wisdom, Sept, 2007: Print. 8-11. Excerpt.

Barnet, Sylvan and Bedau, Hugo, “Critical Thinking” Teaching Critical Thinking: Practical Wisdom, quote, From Critical Thinking to Argument

“Question: How Many Americans Are In Debt?" What Percentage Of Americans Are In Debt? Web. 04 Dec. 2013.

Manes, Stephen, Gates: How Microsoft's Mogul Reinvented an Industry and Made Himself The Richest Man in America.1994: Print. Web 04 Dec. 2013.

"Steve Jobs Biography." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, May 2012. Web. 04 Dec. 2013.

Johnson Cornell University, Insead, Wipo, “Global Innovation Index Ratings” Global Innovation Index 2013: Local Dynamics of Innovation. "EIU.com." EIU.com. Web. 04 Dec. 2013.