Struggles of The Vocation

In chapter four of Paolo Freire’s “The Pedagogy of Freedom,” Freire goes over the importance of the dichotomy of education. In a previous reflection, I have stated that education is not a one way street in which knowledge goes into the minds of students. It is instead comprised of the efforts of both the teacher and the students. Freire explains this well by saying that teaching “doesn’t exist unless there is learning simultaneously,” (Freire, 88). There is a mutual respect between the teacher and the student that must be upheld in order for the goal of learning to be reached. The teacher must engage their students with lessons and ideas and the students must engage with the teacher with questions and an open mind.

In my earlier years, I put no thought into just how much effort it took teachers to teach. I figured that school was just a place I went to so that people could tell me to do things and then I could leave. Freire provides an eye opening quote by saying, “There is something mysterious, something called ‘vocation,’ that explains why so many teachers persist with so much devotion in spite of the immoral salaries they receive. Not only do they remain, but they fulfill as best they can their commitment. And do it with love,” (pg 126). The effort put into teaching as a lifestyle is insurmountable. The teacher is not only guiding students towards knowledge, but is also looking for it themselves. My respect for teachers has grown now that I have gotten older. Nowadays, with the hopes of becoming a teacher, I understand what it actually takes to be a teacher. The creation of lesson plans, lectures, class engagement activities, and understanding of the many dimensions of the classroom learning experience is daunting. But even knowing this, I feel that I can fulfill this task.

I believe that our experience on Friday was also a difficult task. The MCCS students that we worked were disengaged and it took some effort to pull the least bit of interest out of them. After a while, they finally began putting in their input or ideas, but even then, I feel that they weren’t putting in as much as they could into the group effort. I don’t think that this is because of a lack of respect or a general disinterest in the work. Instead, I feel that they weren’t used to being able to come up with their own ideas of what they wanted to share. They were given a completely blank slate to fill up with their ideas and sometimes it’s harder to decide when there are no restrictions and limitless options. I feel that we are so used to putting out our own ideas and our own voices in this colloquium class, if not other classes. As far as I know, the MCCS students aren’t used to this kind of freedom. I feel that it was our responsibility to work with them and show them that they also had the freedom to express themselves that we have.