Banking education had been so deeply engrained in my history of learning that it was hard to trust in those presenting to me and understand what they were conveying. The process of learning the module in small groups made this a touch easier. I was surrounded by a small group of students who struggled, just as I did, to really learn the module without the aid of banking education. As we practiced over and over again I could feel the material become ingrained in our minds and the realizations of reality overcame us. After we parted ways with our reliance on note taking, we saw the material for what it really was. We asked questions, we ingested the knowledge behind the module and discussed how we could teach to communities in the best way.
The module helped us learn the importance of recognizing our educational privilege and keeping our hegemony in check. What was very valuable in working with students was the realization that what we taught them through our dialogues and engagement with the module could then be passed on to others and a cycle of learning would ensue. Through each cycle, the learner would have the chance to become the teacher and simultaneously the learner again. Although we stood in front of this group of students as a teacher-figure would, we were always truly the students.
I think it is important to consider the environment we attempted to create in the purchasing of food. We used our privilege of being able to buy and supply food to our visitors as a gateway for establishing trust. When we visited Planned Parenthood in Detroit and they bought us shawarma, I realized how mutual that trust was and how they were extending their own hopes that we would trust in them as they had trusted in us. This was an essential moment in our relationship. Without it, I fear that, while the module, would have been taught, it would not be as powerful as it ultimately was. I think the second trip helped us achieve the status of being a ‘real humanist,’ which Freire describes as someone that “can be identified more by his trust in the people which engages him in their struggle than by a thousand actions in their favor” (Freire, 42).
As I leave this course I can see how my privilege leaves me the winner in every sense. I get to leave this class with a wonderful story to tell during interviews, I can stock up my resume with a nice little blurb that makes me sound very engaged and caring, and, most importantly, I get to leave these spaces and settings. As our semester ends and we worry about finals, we fail to recognize that the very people we have parted ways with will not be leaving this learning environment. While we go home at the end of the day, they live on in the midst of a struggle we can afford to forget about for a little bit. I think that this class has changed me in many ways but one of the most important ones is the constant considerations I will be left with as I look around and see social injustice wherever I turn.
