Metaphors for Education
Education is described almost as a sacred process in this quote by Mark Hopkins, pleading that, “We are to regard the mind not as a piece of iron to be laid upon the anvil and hammered into any shape, nor as a block of marble in which we are to find the statue by removing the rubbish, nor as a receptacle into which knowledge may be poured; but as a flame that is to be fed, as an active being that must be strengthened to think and feel–to dare, to do, and to suffer.” Hopkins uses two different metaphors to describe the ways in which young people are taught. One deals with the educators spitting out facts and ideas and the students absorbing everything without contradiction. This closely parallels Paulo Freire’s “banking concept of education” where Freire explains that teachers assume students are passive, take all control, and “force-feed” information to students. Banking encourages students to accept the world as it is, with a status-quo attitude. Different concepts are seen through the eyes of the teacher, and no new idea or light is brought on the subject.
Hopkins claim that the mind is “a flame that is to be fed, as an active being that must be strengthened to think and feel” can be described in another metaphor that two flames are brighter than one. In other words, two different ideas or perspectives, though they may differ, build the mind. The mind must be fed so to be able to grow up on its own, not oppressively shaped into something its not.
Freire’s idea on problem-posing is that learning is attained through dialogue between the teacher and student. The student doesn’t necessary believe every word spoken by the educator, but tests them and comes up with their own conclusion. This concept allows the student to think for themselves, to be able to make their own decision on what is taught.
