Oppressive Teaching

In his classic “Pedagogy of the Oppressed,” Paulo Freire identifies the educational practices and attitudes which mirror oppressive societies. Below is his list. How many of these practices is our own educational system guilty of practicing?
· Teacher teaches, students are taught
· Teacher knows everything, students know nothing
· Teacher thinks, students are thought about
· Teacher talks, students listen meekly
· Teacher disciplines, students are disciplined
· Teacher chooses and enforces his choice, students comply
· Teacher acts, students have illusion of acting through action of teacher
· Teacher chooses program content, students adapt to it
· Teacher confuses authority of knowledge with her own professional authority, which she sets in opposition to freedom of students
· Teacher is the Subject of the learning process, students are mere objects.