Froebel and Banking

Froebel is a German philosopher who is most known for creating what we now know as Kindergarten. Before Froebel the separation between infant, child, and adult was much more broad. Yet, Froebel had a revolutionary philosophy: children could develop social, developmental, and academic skills at a young age. He "designed open-ended instructional materials called the Gifts, with complementary Occupations" (Leblanc). Essentially, Froebel believed that children could develop essential skills with the right curriculum. Utilizing toys he created activities that greatly benefitted the students that teachers could introduce to young children. Everything he taught focused on building  a child's skills in a building block manner. Children would start small and learn the basics so, when they reached the normal age for schooling they would already understand the basic fundamentals of education. Initially, his philosophies were not well-received but after his death his vision was implemented throughout the world.

Freire's banking concept of education is a critique on the education system. From his studies Freire formulated that children were basically receptors of information. The teacher dictates the intended information while the child records and memorizes said information. Froebel would certainly be against this type of schooling. He wanted to promote social activity and engaged learning; not a feeder system of information. Students, especially young children, are not meant to sit and simply record information. Thanks to Froebel's ideas, we now understand that children need to be engaged in  an active learning environment. Learning the fundamentals is, of course, essential to elementary education but how we convey that information is extremely important. Children need to be slowly introduced concepts, to interact with their fellow students and learn on their own. If they are simply told what to do and what they need to know it will hamper their creativity and strip them of understanding some fundamental and developmental skills. It is strange now to consider that used to be such a foreign concept but it is great to see that so many schools are adapting Froebel's philosophy and understanding the importance of developing a child's cognitive and social skills.

Leblanc, Miriam. "Friedrich Froebel: His life and influence on education." Community Playthings. Web. 14 Nov. 2014.