Teachers as Mentors in Critical Pedagogy :: Teaching Learning Essays

Teachers as Mentors in Critical Pedagogy The young world history teacher stood stern and erect before her students. Around the side of her arm she wore a black cloth. "My name is Ms. Aping. When you are responding to me, you will direct me standing up as Ms. Aping, ma’am. You are not to speak unless I request for you to do so. I will teach you what you need to know, and I expect you to learn it well†¦questions are quite unnecessary. If you fail to abide by my rules you will spend a great deal of your lunchtime with me. Understand?"†¦ An awkward silence followed, then voices raised, "Yes, Ms. Aping, ma’am." My voice was among the reluctant echoes in response to this teacher who was clearly exerting the same right and power of a dictator. I later discovered that my teacher was only executing a realistic performance. The scenario, however, proved quite disturbing as well as revealing. Why was it that not a single student stood up to disagree with the teacher? I doubt any of them felt that her extreme an d absurd regulations were right or even permitted, but not one person had the courage to go up and question her style of teaching and authority. Our educational system, while wanting to educate and strengthen its youths’ minds, has horribly done the opposite through an almost misguided perception of how teachers are supposed to teach. For the majority of our academic learning careers, we have been exposed, to some extent, to the "banking" concept of education described by Paolo Freire. At the youngest age, when we were perhaps considered the most unknowledgeable, we were fed a vast amount of information by our teachers, and were expected to receive and memorize this knowledge and accept it as true. As young elementary school kids, we were taught that Christopher Columbus was the first human being to discover America, only to find out later, that information was not true. These half-true facts, taught to children, are quite acceptable though. It is simple for a child to learn and memorize that Columbus first sailed the ocean blue and founded America for the rest of the world. On the other hand, much energy is needed and confusion may arise for them to acquire and comprehend the immigration of Native American Indians into America, much before the arrival of Columbus, and the possible voyage of early Vikings from northern Europe to the southern coast of present day Canada.