The school boards pass on what the state education board thinks the principals should pass on. Where does this list end? Paulo Freire comments on this form of education in "The "Banking" Concept of Education." Freire describes the banking concept as a way to deposit information into minds of students without teaching. Most of grade school is memorizing facts about numbers, language structure, scientific phenomenon, and historical events. In no way is there any form of teaching when students are expected to absorb information and then be able to recall that information at a given time on a test. We have another word for this: Computer.
"What did you learn in school today?" A most common question asked by parents to their children. You will find the most common answer, though smart-assed is "Nothing." Teachers are the authority, and the students are the inmates in this style of education. The structure is essentially the same as the prison. Students, isolated from any common collective, are targeted and formed by the teachers. Teachers view them as inferior and lower in knowledge, and in fact, students are. Much like prison inmates, the desk is their cell. Confined to the desk, they are only in direct contact with the teacher, and no other student. Many teachers don't allow talking among the students because it is disruptive to the learning process. Inmates aren't allowed to collaborate with each other because it is disruptive to the rehabilitation process.
This structure is visible in the inside of the classroom as well as the outside. When students are dismissed for lunch, single file lines are required of the children to maintain order and control. There are no seconds on pudding for desert, and very student's diet is treated the same to encourage uniformity among the community. Inmates and children have the same amount of rights in society: none. Because children are minors, they are not allowed to make judgment calls about their life or government that could change outcomes of situations.
