Having established that change must happen in our public school system, Freire describes systems in place and the revolutionary systems that must occur to overcome the oppressive banking system in education. Through conquest, divide and rule, manipulation, and cultural invasion, schools have stifled the student's discovery of their self, development of their identity, and overall freedom.
Conquest
In a world where the conquerors dominate over the oppressed, a mythical world is created in which the people are expected to remain spectators and adapt to the "reality" presented to them. The oppressed think they have freedoms and live in a free society where they can enjoy human rights, generosity, and freedoms imagined and contrived by the oppressors. However, they are living in a world given to them by the conquerors. The vanquished are merely possessions of the oppressors and are viewed as lazy (Freire, 2003, p. 138-140). In traditional public school settings, even within some Montessori environments, this conqueror/conquered relationship continues to occur for teachers and students within the system. Children are made to think they have freedoms and rights, but in actuality, they live in a world designed by adults for adults.
Divide and Rule
The design of the public school system thrives on the idea of divide and conquer. Teachers and students are separated, weakened, and isolated by rules and policies meant to maintain a more divided population. Students are compartmentalized into classrooms and grade levels. Meanwhile, the teacher's day is overwhelmed with tasks and duties, preventing them from collaborating and communicating with their peers. These systems create conflict and deepen the rifts between humans. The oppressors will do whatever is necessary to remain in roles of power while appearing as defenders of the oppressed (Freire, 2003, p. 141-146).
Manipulation
Another instrument of conquest used to maintain dehumanizing power is manipulation, implemented to conform to the masses and steer all objectives in their desired way. Freire (2003) states that the younger or more immature the people are, the easier they are to control and dominate (p. 147). Oppressors will create an illusion for the oppressed that there is a way to ascend and rise above their lot in life through the creation of an "unauthentic type of 'organization'" to steer the people away from the formation of any true unity and organizations (Freire, 2003, p. 148). Teachers in public schools hold the power to steer all objectives in their desired trajectory in the same way that district leaders and government entities have created pathways, standards, and expectations with a complete expectation of conformity. The rigid page-by-page pacing guides and depository education model manipulate people and are designed to "keep the people from thinking" (Freire, 2003, p. 149).
Cultural Invasion
According to Freire (2003), a cultural invasion occurs when "the invaders penetrate the cultural context of another group, in disrespect of the latter's potentialities; they impose their view of the world upon those they invade and inhibit the creativity of the invaded by curbing their expression" and can happen overtly or physically and happen through economic or cultural means while appearing to be helpful to the oppressed. Anyone who has been invaded is expected to follow blindly all decisions, choices, and actions made by the invaders who remain the "authors" and "actors" of the invasion (p. 152-153).
In the banking system, this cultural domination leads to students being shaped by the reality created by authorities with an expectation of conformity and to adapt to all the precepts "set from above," including "not to think." Once the children grow up in this kind of reality and become adults, they perpetuate the cycle and patterns and become the ones who implement the same sorts of precepts and actions. The adults become the oppressors adopting their oppressors' worldview and do not consider other people's view of the world, thus perpetuating the systems (Freire, 2003, p. 155-156).
A Cultural Revolution
When the reality of the world lived in is in question, people can begin a transformational journey which can only happen through authentic and critical dialogue and communication between the leaders and the people and the willingness of all involved to have decision-making powers. Through cooperation, unity for liberation, organization, and cultural synthesis, revolutionary leaders can join the people co-equally, forming a commitment to building fellowship and community through acts of love (Freire, 2003, p. 158-163).
Cooperation
Through cooperation, people "meet to name the world in dialogue" to transform the world. The new reality is built on a commitment to freedom and discovery as "no one can...unveil the world for another" (Freire, 2003, p. 167-169). Reality transforms into a problem-posing system where the world is named and discovered through cooperatively solving problems and defining reality unveiling the world for each person to explore. In a problem-posing model classroom, students and teachers would work together to solve problems while having the freedom to explore and define one's worldviews and cosmic task.
In dialogical theory, at no stage can revolutionary action forgo communication with the people. Communication, in turn, elicits cooperation, which brings leaders and people to the fusion...(that) can exist only if revolutionary action is really human, empathetic, loving, communicative, and humble to be liberating. (Freire, 2003, p.171)
Unity for Liberation
For true liberation to occur, the oppressed must find a way to unite and "cut the umbilical cord of magic and myth which binds them to the world of oppression" (Freire, 2003, p. 175). Searchers for liberation must find a way to transform the reality gifted to them by the oppressors into their reality through cultural actions and organization.
Organization
Through the boldness of words and actions, people begin to unite and organize to take risks pressing at the boundaries of reality imposed on them by the oppressors. Organizing is "a highly educational process in which leaders and people together experience true authority and freedom, which they seek to establish in society by transforming the reality which mediates them" (Freire, 2003, p. 178-179).
Cultural Synthesis
Rather than an invasion, a cultural synthesis deliberately and systematically works to transform systems supportively and organically. The revolutionary leaders work side-by-side with the people to learn and become coauthors of the new reality. Together they confront problems and explore concerns, hopes, doubts, viewpoints, perceptions, religious beliefs, etc., to create real, concrete, and historical solutions. Cultural synthesis is the culmination of the people's work through cooperation, organization, unity, and liberation (Freire, 2003, p. 179-183).
"You say you want a revolution? Well, you know, we all want to change the world!" (Beatles, 1968). Next, we will explore how revolutionary leaders in the world of Education have already propelled us toward cultural synthesis and an educational revolution!
Beatles. (1968). Revolution 1 [Song]. Beatles. EMI.
Freire, P. (2003). Pedagogy of the Oppressed: 30th Anniversary Edition. The Continuum International Publishing Group, Inc.
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