Allegory Of The Cave And The Banking Concept Of Education Summary

In both Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” and Freire’s “The Banking Concept of Education”, the two authors focus on a similar topic: education and delusions. In Plato’s Allegory, Plato discusses a scenario where prisoners, except for one who escapes, are inside a cave that impairs their ability to view the outside world. His writing is an allegory discussing his views of education and false beliefs with the use of the cave and the prisoners. Freire discusses two different styles of education: the banking concept and the problem-posing concept, while hinting a preference on the problem-posing style. I will evaluate Plato and Freire’s arguments regarding education and outline the similarities between the two writings. Although the two authors take …show more content…
He uses the cave and the prisoners as an allegory to showcase the education system. Plato presents the cave where prisoners, except for one, are trapped. Using the one escapee, Plato states, “Any one who has common sense will remember that the bewilderments of the eyes are of two kinds, and arise from two causes, either from coming out of the light or from going into the light, which is true of the mind’s eye, quite as much as of the bodily eye” (570). Here, Plato explains the two different sides of education. He presents an example of a person going from light and reality to the dark cave as a scenario of where one who is knowledgeable and willing to question information, is facing ignorance in the near future. Contrary to the first example, he poses another example of someone leaving the cave and the dark, and entering reality and light as an example of an ignorant prisoner who is being confronted with reality. Plato explains that for someone coming out of the cave, there is confusion due to the new experience of seeing light and facing reality. Equivalently, for someone going into the cave, it is still a whole new world and experience for them. The contrast of darkness to light and vice versa is an example of two different types of education and how our eyes have the ability to perceive the world differently due to one’s setting and environment. Throughout “The Allegory of the Cave”, Plato uses the cave and …show more content…
Freire explains in detail the two different styles of education as, “Banking education attempts, by mythicizing reality, to conceal certain facts which explain the way human beings exist in the world; problem-posing education sets itself the task of demythologizing” (265). Throughout Freire’s passage, he underscores the effects and outcomes of the banking education with a negative connotation. With the difference in Freire’s tone and diction when discussing the two systems, I am able to see Freire’s extreme bias over the problem-posing method as he constantly praises the problem-posing education. I agree that the banking method doesn’t allow students to critically think and teach skills that are necessary for the future. Although students believe that they are ready to face reality, they don’t possess the skills due to the banking method. Connecting this with Plato’s cave, as the escapee struggles to adapt to reality for a period of time, I am able to understand that the cave is similar to banking education. Both the banking education and the cave are not what humans should experience if they are wishing for skills to help them with reality. Instead, Plato and Freire encourage critical thinking as a style of learning, thus Freire promotes the problem-posing education and Plato advocates for prisoners to step out and face