Project

 4:  Do  Paulo  Freire  and  Michel  Foucault  have  the  same  
concept  of  education  
 
Paulo  Feire  

Feire  in  his  description  of  how  education  currently  is,  and  
Foucault  in  his  description  of  the  Panoptican,  propose  a  similar  model  
of  education.    First  I  would  like  to  give  some  background  to  each  of  
these  writers.  

Paulo  Freire(1921-­‐1997)  was  an  educator  in  Brazil.    His  claim  to  
fame  was  teaching  illiterate  adults  to  read,  write,  and  think  critically  so  
they  had  power  over  their  lives.    This,  however,  is  not  the  part  of  his  
work  we  are  comparing.    What  we  are  comparing  is  description  of  the  
current  educational  system  before  he  tried  to  change  it.  

The  current  educational  system  of  the  time,  as  Freire  described  it,  
was  and  probbibly  still  is  a  system  of  control.    It  consisted  of  filling  
depositories  with  the  teacher  being  the  depositor.    It  is  memorization  
without  thinking.    There  is  no  conversation  between  teacher  and  
student.    It’s  called  the  “Banking  Concept  of  Education”.    Other  
descriptions  used  by  Freire  include  “the  teacher  knows  everything  the  
student  knows  nothing”  or  “the  teacher  disciplines  and  the  students  
are  disciplined”.    The  oppressors  use  their  ‘humanitarianism’  to  
preserve  a  profitable  situation”  (218)    It  decreases  creativity.    The  goal  
is  changing  the  consciousness  of  the  oppressed  not  the  situation  which  
is  oppressing  and  this  allows  them  to  be  dominated.”  The  more  the  
oppressed  can  be  led  to  adapt  to  that  situation,  the  more  easily  they  
can  be  dominated.”  Its  humanism  masks  the  real  effort  which  is  to  turn  
individuals  into  automatrons.”  (218)  

“Note  that  Feire  considers  everyone  receiving  the  “banking  

concept  of  education”  to  be  oppressed.    The  oppressors  use  the  
 Project  4:  Do  Paulo  Freire  and  Michel  Foucault  have  the  same  
concept  of  education  
 
banking  concept  of  education  in  conjunction  with  a  paternalistic  social  
action  apparatus,  within  which  the  oppressed  receive  the  euphemistic  
title  of  ‘welfare  recipients’.  They  are  treated  as  individual  cases,  as  
marginal  persons  who  deviate  from  the  general  configuration  of  a  
‘good,  organized  and  just’  society.    The  oppressed  are  regarded  as  the  
pathology  of  the  healthy  society,  which  must  therefore  adjust  these  
‘incompetent  and  lazy’  folk  to  its  own  patterns  by  changing  their  
mentality.    These  marginals  need  to  be  ‘integrated’,  ‘incorporated’  into  
the  healthy  society  that  they  have  ‘forsaken’”.(218)  

In  the  “banking  concept  of  education”  a  teacher  may  tell  a  

student  the  sun  is  purple.    The  student  may  look  in  the  sky  and  see  that  
the  sun  it  yellow,  but  if  asked  must  say  the  sun  is  purple.  

“The  more  completely  the  majority  adapt  to  the  purposes  of  the  
dominant  minority,  the  more  easiiy  can  the  minority  continue  to  
prescribe  to  them”.(219)    Now  look  at  Michel  Foucault’s  system  of  
control  which  includes  control  in  schools/education.  

Michel  Foucault  

Michel  Foucault,  who  wrote  Panopticism,  was  a  French  

philosopher.    He  saw  history  not  as  a  process  sequence  but  a  
repetition  of  powerful  ideas.    He  believed  good  doctors  or  good  
musicians  are  not  good  as  a  result  of  an  individual  gift,  but  are  the  
result  of  collectively  following  the  rules.    The  rules  are  the  
conscious  enforcers.    He  also  saw  the  strength  of  power  and  
knowledge.  
 Project  4:  Do  Paulo  Freire  and  Michel  Foucault  have  the  same  
concept  of  education  
 
The  rules  are  preserved  by  those  who  don’t  question  or  
think  critically(just  as  Feire’s  students).    A  person  thinks  and  lives  
as  not  merely  himself  or  herself  but  the  thoughts  and  rules  and  
ways  that  are  available.  

Discipline  is  very  important.    Efforts  to  produce  the  

disciplined  individual  were  sometimes  to  alleviate  pain  but  also  to  
produce  the  most  or  best  with  the  cheapest  cost.  

Foccault’s  article,  read  in  our  class,  begins  with  the  

discussion  of  the  plague  in  the  17th  century.    To  fight  the  spread  of  
the  plague  the  community  used  order  and  surveillance,  and  
rules(not  a  bad  idea).    It  kept  everyone  in  their  place,  i.e.  locked  in  
their  house  with  food  sent  to  them.    They  kept  lists  of  who  
belonged  where.    This  was  before  the  birth  of  Panopticism.    In  
education  it  could  compare  to  everyone  assigned  a  seat  in  the  
classroom  where  rules  are  enforced  by  the  teacher.      

 The  Panoptican  was  drawn  by  Jeremy  Bentham  using  

Foucault’s  principles.      It  has  a  high  tower  with  individual  rooms  
that  have  all  walls  except  one  looking  out  at  the  Central  Tower.    It  
floods  light  into  the  rooms  so  individuals  cannot  see  but  the  
people  watching  in  the  Central  Tower  can  see  in.    The  idea  is  
people  will  act  differently  if  they  think  they  are  watched  and  
actually  internalize  the  way  that  they  behave.    I  don’t  know  if  the  
person  watching  communicates.    The  people  being  watched  have  
no  communication  with  their    piers.    The  design  has  been  used  in  
schools  as  well  as  prisions,  hospitals,    mental  institutions,    
factories  and  the  military.  
 Project  4:  Do  Paulo  Freire  and  Michel  Foucault  have  the  same  
concept  of  education  
 
I  could  not  find  an  example  of  a  school  built  and  run  like  a  
Panoptican,  but  the  concept  of  exact  seats  in  classrooms  where  
exact  order  must  be  kept    and  the  classroom  is  run  by  a  teacher  
seems  to  point  in  this  direction.  

The  information  about  Foucault  has  been  a  little  confusing  

to  me.    The  way  I  understand  it  the  Ponoptican  for  prisons  and  
reformatories  has  introduced  a  kinder  gentler  form  of  punishment  
than  was  carried  out  in  earlier  centuries  where  public  torture  was  
the  norm.    The  Ponopticism  uses  a  form  of  coercion.    A  person  is  
in  a  cell  with  the  only  communication  is  to  the  person  in  the  
watch  tower  who  could  be  anybody.    Because  he  is  being  watched  
the  person  actually  becomes  self-­‐regulated.    So  they  are  
separated  from  society  and  they  self-­‐regulate.    Again  this  applies  
to  the  schools  except  there  was  probably  no  watch  tower  and  
there  is  no  cell.  

   In  our  class  we  have  included  surveillance  and  the  Internet  
as  Ponopticans.    The  Internet  is  a  form  of  a  Ponoptican  because  
you  don’t  know  who  has  access  to  your  information.    The    advent  
of  technology  has  also  made  it  possible  to  observe  and  track  
people  through  data  collection.  

   How  Feire’s    current  model  of  Education  and  Focault  model  are  the  
same  
 Project  4:  Do  Paulo  Freire  and  Michel  Foucault  have  the  same  
concept  of  education  
 
The  theories  describing  the  current  system  of  education  described  
by  Freide,  and  the  Panoptic  system  ,described  by  Foucault,  have  
similarities  in  they  both  show  a  way  to  configure  and  control  behavior  
and  thoughts.    Both  Feire  and  Focault  change  the  consciousness  of  the  
oppressed.    This  is  accomplished  by  the  “the  banking  system  of  
education”  and  “paternalistic  social  action  apparatus”  in  the  case  of  
Freide  or  coercion  in  the  case  of  Foucault.    They  do  not  allow  the  
student  to  question  or  have  his  own  thoughts.    They  do  not  allow  
him/her  to  discuss  information  with  other  students.  
  Another  similarity  is  they  both  require  discipline.      Both  systems  
have  the  ultimate  goal  of  the  greatest  productivity  at  the  cheapest  
price  for  the  oppressors.      Friede  says  this  is  done  in  the  educational  
system  by  making  automatons  out  of  people.    An  automaton,  according  
to  WIkopedia,  “is  an  operating  machine,  or  a  machine  or  control  
mechanism  designed  to  follow  automatically  a  predetermined  
sequence  of  operations,  or  respond  to  predetermined  instructions.  
Some  automata,  such  as  bell  strikers  in  mechanical  clocks,  are  designed  
to  give  the  illusion  to  the  casual  observer  that  they  are  operating  under  
their  own  power”.    Foucault  seems  to  have  the  same  goal,  makingouca  
people  absorb  the  information  and  react  as  requested  using  a  method  
of  survellience.  

In  summary  Friede’s  banking  system  of  education  and  Foucault,s  

Panopticon  both  encourage  memorization  or  doing  what  you  are  told  
without  thought.    It  encourages  staying  in  your  place.    Friedes  new  
concept  of  education,  problem  posing,  encourages  thought,  working  
with  the  teacher  as  a  partner,  and  working  in  teams.    It  may  be  better  
 Project  4:  Do  Paulo  Freire  and  Michel  Foucault  have  the  same  
concept  of  education  
 
than  Foucaults,  it  certainly  is  more  pleasant,  but  I  don’t  know  if  it  
actually  work  better.  

   
 Project  4:  Do  Paulo  Freire  and  Michel  Foucault  have  the  same  
concept  of  education  
 
WorkSited  Page    

Lisa  Burton,  2005,  David  Bartholomae,  Anthony  Petrosky,  Stacey  Waite,  

“Ways  of  Reading”,  Michel  Foucault,  “Panopticism”,181.  

Lisa  Burton,  2005,  David  Bartholomae,  Anthony  Petrosky,  Stacey  Waite,  

“Ways  of  Reading”,  Paulo  Freire,  “The  “Banking”  Concept  of  
Education”,216.  

WIkopedia,”Automotron”,Web