From 50 Years Ago: Paulo Freire’s Method of Education: Conscientisation in Latin America

Maria Mies

It is obvious that the so-called Freire method is not just a method or a technique. It is based on a new, or rather the renewal of a forgotten, concept of education. His criticism is directed towards what he calls the ‘bank concept of education’. The existing educational systems and methods correspond to the capitalistic system of society: children are considered to be areas of investment. In their young age, knowledge is deposited into them in the same way as one deposits one’s capital into a bank. In due course, when the capital has ‘ripened’, one expects enough interest to buy something else, i e, with a good deposit of the right kind of knowledge a man can buy material privileges, status, career, prestige, influence, etc.