Individual Education

Douglass’s and Freire’s views on education are slightly different because of the situations each of them faced. However, in many aspects, the two men’s ideas are very similar. Freire saw the danger that traditional education can bring because students are only educated to the level that their teacher is educated. The “banking system” is used to deposit information the teacher has into students’ minds; therefore, the students can not learn beyond what is taught. Douglass, on the other hand, believes that through his individual education one can achieve freedom. Because Douglass was a slave he was not educated in the traditional sense but his specific education helped abolish his ignorance. Clearly, both men thought that the traditional ways of education were corrupt; Freire believed that society was purposely corrupting students’ minds and Douglass also believed that society was purposely corrupting the whites’ minds to make them believe that it was humanly acceptable to own another human life. Both believe that education leads to freedom, but the education must not be tainted by society’s rules because society can alter the individual learning a student will go through to become a free thinker.  Both men feel that ignorance leads to oppression. Freire considers the form of the “banking system” as a form of oppression because the student is under the dictation of the teacher, who supposedly only teaches certain ideas and themes to her students. As for Douglass, he considers the white man educated, because he was as a child, and the black man ignorant because he was not educated. Because of that lack of education he allows the white man to own his body; however, one would never see a slave owner owning an educated white man. Each man faced similar struggles in different settings but in the end they both believe that education will lead to freedom if that education is not tainted by societies’ general beliefs.