How Does Different Pedagogical Theories Impact Students?

In high school, my least favorite class was history and my favorite class was economics.

In my history class, I would sit down on my seat copying down whatever my teacher wrote on the board and memorize everything. I would get A's on the tests and exams, but nothing seemed real and all those information I memorized would just stay in my head as meaningless dates. As I read the essay, my experience with my history teacher sounded similar to the "banking" concept of education, which Freire explains, "Education becomes an act of depositing, in which the students are depositories and the teacher is the depositor. Instead of communicating, the teacher issues communiques and make deposits which the students patiently receive, memorize, and repeat" (pg. 87). Although this method gave me good grades, it took away an opportunity for me to think critically and truly learn. It felt as I was just a container used to store information rather than a participant in the learning process.

On the other hand, my economics teacher had a completely different approach to teaching from my history teacher. He approached learning as a mutual process between the teacher and the student. This created a dynamic and collaborative environment, where we did various activities that required critical thinking and had heated discussions about real-life events that correlated to the concept we were learning in class. In the essay, the problem-solving method is explained as when "The teacher is no longer merely the-one-who-teaches, but one who is taught in dialogue with the students; who in turn while being taught also teach" (pg. 93). My economics teacher was open to learning from us (his students) and made the class more interactive allowing everyone to participate in the learning process. This not only made deepened my understanding but also grew my interest in the subject of economics.

With simple memorization like I did in my history class, the class felt black and white. Everyone sat silently, like robots, taking notes and memorizing dates. But my economics class felt vibrant. Interaction with one another made the learning experience more engaging and valuable.