To empower is to give someone power: to restore their authority and strength. On paper the idea is simple, but to go out into the community and implement it can be a daunting, complex task that varies among individuals. There is a delicate balance to be struck between those who give power and those acquiring power, for each cannot fulfill their duties without the other. Traditionally, the role of the teacher can be equated to that of the oppressor and the students to the oppressed. In banking education systems, socially constructed rules reinforce the teacher’s domination over the students. The teacher simply deposits knowledge and information into the passive students, a hallmark of banking education. Alternatively, the problem-posing system of education gives a way for the students to overcome their submissiveness, for David to overcome Goliath (Gladwell). “Education must begin with the solution of the student-teacher contradiction, by reconciling the poles of the contradiction so that both are simultaneously teachers and students” (Freire 72). In the process of empowerment, education is the mechanism of focus and within this education there can be no teaching without learning. For the first time in my education I had the pleasure of experiencing a teacher who challenged the traditional definitions of education and presented a global thought process in a way that cultivated confidence, trust, and accessibility allowing students more control over their education.
A majority of this course I centered my reflection on my impact on the community: what could I do to prevent my privilege from making me inaccessible? How can I leave a lasting impression in this community despite our short time together? I’m an educated, middle class, white woman who has faced no significant struggles in life. What gives me the right to go teach about the hardships of the HIV epidemic? Particularly, if I go to communities that have more knowledge and experience with the disease than I do in the future? My educational privilege has once again given me the ability to do things that I should not be entitled to. Once I came to this realization, it was a catalyst for reflection on how reciprocative the experience was. The work we do in this class has selfless intentions. Not that going to Central Academy was near the severity of actual front line work, but we did our best to accommodate to the needs of our site. Despite our attempts, we gained just as much, if not more, from teaching this special group of students. The biggest hurdle was how to gain trust with people you have just met. My educational privilege gave me the opportunity and a platform of respect, but I believe it was the new style of teaching that really helped me gain the trust of my students, just as our teachers gained ours.
