A good education enables the opportunity to learn new things and gain knowledge. Having a good education has been in many ways, viewed as essential and important. The importance of gaining a good education has been instilled in society for many years. To many, the only path to success is through education. To obtain a good education, teachers tend play a vital role. What students learn and how much they learn depend a lot on the way they are taught. In the excerpt "O Americano Outra Vez," by Richard Feynman and in the essay "The Banking Concept of Education," by Paulo Freire, two distinct methods of teaching are discussed. Although both Paulo Friere and Richard Feynman, believe that education should not be taught to memorize information, I
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He conveys his concerns over the way education is currently being taught through the sheer purpose of teaching to memorize. In the excerpt, Richard Feynman shows this by talking about his experience with visiting the Brazilian Center for Physical Research. He stated how he was able to sit in on one of the engineering lecture classes. In a lecture, there is no discussion, the professor would simply say a sentence, and then repeat it so that the students made sure they copied it (55). With the lack of thoughts, there is not room for questioning, trying to apply the knowledge, or ask questions. It is only copy what the teacher says because that is what you are going to get tested on. Richard Feynman stated that "the students had memorized everything, but they didn 't know what anything meant" (55). In stating this, he basically is trying to show how students are basically trained just to memorize and regurgitate what the teacher teaches them. This type of learning does not move beyond memorizing, thus causing students to not actually learn the …show more content…
Rabindranath Tagore explains how people learn at different paces during different time periods in their lives. He states that kids “learn innumerable facts within an amazingly short time” (42). Here he shows that kids have the capacity to simply memorize a lot of facts and retain the information. He then states that as we age and become adults, we become “slower” at learning (42). Through these statements, Rabindranath Tagore conveys that we should establish teaching methods that accommodate the aging so that students can efficiently learn. This means teaching to memorize in the early years and teaching to think critically in later years. Rabindranath Tagore is why both teaching to memorize and teaching to think critically are both important. In Richard Feynman 's excerpt, the students in Brazil, know the material, it 's just a matter of using what they know and applying it. Applying it in the ways Rabindranath Tagore discussed is essential to fully understand the material. Not only is understanding the material important, but to be able to relate it to life is important as well. With the world being unpredictable, we have to be able to think in ways that move beyond just knowing how to memorize.
He conveys his concerns over the way education is currently being taught through the sheer purpose of teaching to memorize. In the excerpt, Richard Feynman shows this by talking about his experience with visiting the Brazilian Center for Physical Research. He stated how he was able to sit in on one of the engineering lecture classes. In a lecture, there is no discussion, the professor would simply say a sentence, and then repeat it so that the students made sure they copied it (55). With the lack of thoughts, there is not room for questioning, trying to apply the knowledge, or ask questions. It is only copy what the teacher says because that is what you are going to get tested on. Richard Feynman stated that "the students had memorized everything, but they didn 't know what anything meant" (55). In stating this, he basically is trying to show how students are basically trained just to memorize and regurgitate what the teacher teaches them. This type of learning does not move beyond memorizing, thus causing students to not actually learn the …show more content…
Rabindranath Tagore explains how people learn at different paces during different time periods in their lives. He states that kids “learn innumerable facts within an amazingly short time” (42). Here he shows that kids have the capacity to simply memorize a lot of facts and retain the information. He then states that as we age and become adults, we become “slower” at learning (42). Through these statements, Rabindranath Tagore conveys that we should establish teaching methods that accommodate the aging so that students can efficiently learn. This means teaching to memorize in the early years and teaching to think critically in later years. Rabindranath Tagore is why both teaching to memorize and teaching to think critically are both important. In Richard Feynman 's excerpt, the students in Brazil, know the material, it 's just a matter of using what they know and applying it. Applying it in the ways Rabindranath Tagore discussed is essential to fully understand the material. Not only is understanding the material important, but to be able to relate it to life is important as well. With the world being unpredictable, we have to be able to think in ways that move beyond just knowing how to memorize.