The Power of Christ’s Teaching Method in Contrast with the Banking Method.
Boys are always interested in fights and warriors and battles, and it was not different for the little boy. He was always excited to listen to the Bible stories. It was so fascinating to him to listen and imagine all those people having those different experiences and challenges. He was always excited to come to the next Sunday to listen to a new story from the teacher, and, besides that, he really loved the pictures on the board and to see his heroes from the stories. One of the stories the boy liked the most was about Daniel and his trust in the Lord, mostly because he was a simple guy just like him who had survived from a night with the lions. His list, of course, wasn’t missing the stories about the little David killing the giant Goliath with a rock and sling or Samson, the man with extraordinary power who fought against the enemy, delivering the people form the bad guys. After the lessons, they were taught to think how they could apply in their lives the stories. He also loved being there because after the lessons the students had time to play and have fun with each other. The little boy grew in this environment, learning the word of God every Sunday. The word of God had been planted in his heart Sunday by Sunday, and the boy grew in height and understanding of the scriptures. God was always present in the boy’s life through the example of his parents, who of course were not perfect but displayed God in their lives.
The story is of a boy’s faith in God, how he grew every day in his relationship with God. What made the difference in his life is obvious: growing up in a Christian family and going to Sunday school. The scriptures have already explained how children should be raised in the ways of the Lord, leading them to the knowledge of Christ: “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it” (Pro. 22:6). For the little boy, this happened in Sunday school. He listened to the stories and to the Word of God, and he learned to fear God. In Psalm 33:11 the bible teaches us to come and learn the fear of God. In Sunday school the children have the opportunity to have this time of learning and experiencing God through the example of Jesus. They listen to stories and questions and play games that make them think about Christ, which builds in them knowledge of Him. That process has the power to set the foundations of the word of God from even from the youngest age in a child’s life.
In Brazil every person that goes to school has an English class every year, but there are problems. The students learn how to write words correctly and how to recognize vocabulary, but they aren’t able to use that knowledge to communicate in real situations. What happens is that the students have a disconnection between the theory and practice. They learn to recognize words, sentences and rules, but they don’t know how to organize those elements into sentences of their own. The disconnection of the oral language with the written language makes the students learn just enough to pass the tests, but the knowledge is useless for real life. Such a way of teaching that has information disconnected from practice is described in the work of Paulo Freire as the Banking method (315-331). In his book he described how people try to stack information on students instead of teaching them to make a link with the real world to solve problems and in this way build a knowledge that will make a difference in their lives.
Generally speaking, teachers use the banking method to teach their students, dumping information in their minds without connection to the real world. We could compare the banking method to a person who’s trying to explain ice cream to someone who’s never tasted it before. Even if the person gives the best explanation in the world, with thousands of details and good imagery, this explanation will never substitute the power of tasting the ice cream. Another example is teaching someone about the danger of fire. Warning the individual about burns may keep him from touching the fire, but, in order for him to truly understand, he must experience the heat of the fire. Experience helps people to understand.
Jesus gave us the best example of teaching when he used parables to teach principles to his disciples. He helped them build their own concepts by interacting with them through questions and answers (e.g. Matt. 13). He helped them build those concepts one piece at time so they could truly understand. In the end, to complete His teaching, he let them go and practice what they had learned (Luke 9:1-10). Through this complete understanding with all their senses and practice, they achieved both understanding and knowledge.
As Jesus Christ demonstrated, Paulo Freire teaches that teachers and students should interact and in some way build knowledge together. The teachers are there to give the students directions about how to interact with the knowledge and come to understanding. Simply telling them what something is and how it works is the banking method, which lacks the experience part of learning. Letting the students discover what something is and how it works using curiosity to help them build the knowledge connects the learning to the real world.
The little boy had been taught in the way that Jesus Christ demonstrated. He received the learning of the word of God in Sunday school from his teachers telling him stories. He could ask the teachers about the questions he had, building onto the stories his own ideas about what they were teaching. He also could experience it in his life by the example of his parents. Watching how his parents made decisions and how they faced problems in their lives brought a new meaning to the teachings he received, and in the end, he could apply it in his own life with his little friends and have a complete experience from what he learned in Sunday Schools.
I can testify that Jesus’ method was the best method and that it worked because I was the little boy. I learned at a young age the word of God in Sunday school because I wasn’t given information alone but was allowed to apply the teaching to my life. And 20 years later, those teachings are still fixed in my mind. What I learned back then still affects my way of thinking. At this point in my life God is teaching me the importance of taking the time to be with Him, reading the bible and praying. The story of Daniel is a great inspiration about a man of God who was blessed because of his close relationship with God. He had a time with the lord three times a day, and God blessed his life, giving him wisdom and knowledge in those times. Just like Jesus taught, and just like I experienced, coupling information with experience and application will help students truly learn.
Work Cited
Freire, Paulo. " Banking Concept of Education." The World of Ideas: Essential Readings for College Writers. 7th ed. Ed. Jacobus. New York: Bedford, 2006. 315-351.
