Issues in the Education System Series: Part I | Part II
When we walk into the lecture hall, we can easily identify the seats meant for students and the single podium that belongs to the teacher. Many of the lecture halls at universities are meant to accommodate hundreds of students at a time, the seats arranged theater-style.
And that’s what classes have become, a show to attend, lectures to passively listen to as students meticulously transcribe their professor’s monologue into their college-ruled notebooks.
Most lectures I have attended are exactly like that, an echo of the assembly-line education system conceived during the Industrial Revolution. Little or no engagement is made with the students, only the passive transfer of information into the notebooks and occasionally, into the minds of students. This system may have been appropriate in the 1800s, but in this information-driven age, it will lead to failure.
This is what Brazilian author Paulo Freire describes in his book, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, as the “banking system” of education. In this system, the students are the empty deposit accounts into which teachers deposit information. Here, the students know nothing while the teacher knows all.
True, teachers are meant to be knowledgeable in their field of teaching and are paid to teach. However, the method of instruction is just as important as the knowledge they have, because a passive system creates a passive student who adapts to the world instead of critically transforming it.
Sir Ken Robinson’s video on “Changing the Education Paradigm” addresses these issues that arise from such an out-dated education system. Here, Robinson provides a thought-provoking analysis on the current public education system and the need to reform it:
In this series, I will focus on issues in our education system and evaluate methods of teaching and learning. This will mostly consist of observations from my own experiences going through the public education system and at UCLA as a student and a teacher assistant.
If you have any recommendations you would like to share, feel free to post it in the comment section below. I can also be reached at webmaster@al-talib.org.
Thank you for writing about this! I’ve always wondered how this lack of human interaction and discussion in the classroom space will affect the larger work-force later on in life. Our memorize + chug philosophy in the classroom is failing miserably, and it’s created a type of mentality where the only motivation in a class is to get an A.
The rare handful of professors who engage and challenge their students to think outside of the box by applying concepts to the bigger picture are certainly attempting to change this. I think this is why the UCLA Freshman GE (General Education) Clusters play a part in helping change the way classes are taken. By taking a course over a year-long period, the cluster system gives students 3 inter-disciplinary approaches of 1 topic, adding to the student’s bigger picture of the topic.
JazaakyAllahu Khairan for the article. I will now inshaAllah have an excuse to show to my parents
But seriously, I definitely agree. I really hate the way the education system works. I know personally, I thrive in an environment where you have personal interactions with the professor or teacher and your classmates. It is collective learning. Nowadays, I feel like they’re trying to simulate “survival of the fittest” in the classroom.
I agree with you both. IA I am doing some research into the “halaqah” method of discussions so if any of you have any recommendations, whether it’s literature or ppl, please send them my way!
Thanks!
I can’t believe you know about Ken Robinson! He is the first person I thought of when I saw this article. Although his intent is to focus more on learning through artistic means (by employing your senses more), I still agree that the education system needs to be revolutionized. Thanks for bringing this up.
Allahu akbar. Amazing article Hana. Jazaki Allahu khairan. This is the biggest dilemma I am facing with UCLA’s education system. I guess I’m learning the hard way why people were so concerned about the large classroom sizes.