Education, including the way we teach and learn, is affected by how we implement social, political, and

cultural aspects in society (Rabbani. 2021). This statement reflects the situation in where I live. We are
famously known for our strong cultural lifestyle, and one of the basic cultural thing we do is respecting
the older people in every situation including in school. Respecting teacher is a must, especially because
there are many people who still believe that teachers knows everything and are good examples for the
students. This way of thinking builds a stronger teacher-centred method and culture. In the class,
students who can listen to the teachers and follow every instruction as expected are considered as the
good ones. Knowledge is delivered in one way and the students are expected to absorb and remember
as much as possible. This is what Freier describes as ‘banking concept’ in education (Diaz. n.d).

Critical pedagogy encourages the students to build their critical thinking towards the situation in their
environment, including the imbalance power and oppression (Lynch. 2019). This philosophy is the
opposite of the situation that I describe before. Since students are expected to listen, it decreases their
ability to have their own opinion and/or speak it out. They are used to wait for instruction to start
something, and this behaviour is brought to adulthood. It is a common situation to find someone lacking
initiative in the work place and is needed to be told what to do every time. As a place with high tourism
activities and blended with foreigners from western countries, this is a huge obstacles for both side to
work and/or live together comfortably in one environment. There are misconception from both parties,
local people often think that the western people are rude for being outspoken and the western people
often think that local people are lazy. While in fact, the western people are used to speak their mind and
opinion freely and the local people are not, as well as that local people are seen to have a lack of
initiative from the way that education is done, for example being taught to just “do as you are told”.
From this, I learn that oppression may happen unintentionally by the beliefs of a society. Here, the
oppression happens from the older people to the younger one, and it builds the behaviour and thought
that the younger ones have less chance to express and speak their mind freely.

As I work in an international school, oppressing the students’ feeling and opinion is a big violation of the
school’s culture and rule. Instead, we have to respect and listen to what they say as well as they listen to
the teachers. For some of the teachers, this culture may be pretty shocking, especially in some
occasions, it makes the students refuse to comply. At some point, like it or not, the teachers would use
their power to make the students listen and behave in their own way. A student may become scared of
a certain teacher because of we put our power towards the students just to make them listen and follow
the class. I personally think that the critical pedagogy and banking concept can work together with a fine
boundaries where and when to apply each concept.

References

Díaz, Kim. (n.d). Paulo Freire (1921-1997). https://ceoworld.biz/2021/03/31/the-influence-of-culture-on-

learning-styles/

Lynch, Matthew. (2019). How To Implement Critical Pedagogy Into Your Classroom.
https://www.theedadvocate.org/how-to-implement-critical-pedagogy -into-your-classroom/
Rabbani, Gaiti. (2021). The Influence of Culture on Learning Styles. https://ceoworld.biz/2021/03/31/the-
influence-of-culture-on-learning-styles/