Freire’s article discussed the current school system as a “banking system”, where information is deposited into the students in order to be regurgitated at a later date and proposed a “problem posing” system that would encourage critical thinking instead of regurgitation of information. Freire claimed that this banking system dehumanizes students and discourages individuality. I agree for the most part with the opinion of the article. A system of education that treats its students like ATM machines, does nothing more than dehumanize them enough to fulfill their role in our mechanical society. Public schooling was initially brought up during the renaissance by “humanists” in order to produce educated citizens who would be able to take part in their civic duties. I don’t think these “humanists” understood the dehumanizing consequences of molding prospective citizens into memorizing and repeating machines. Education should be about letting students reach their full potential as critically thinking humans instead of turning out robots to maintain the state of society.

Le Guin

Human/Nature

MacCormack/Ghnaim

I wanted to point out the differences between left and right, west and east. These metaphors were present throughout the entirety of the work. Some quotes:

"She kept her hand pressed over the right eyesocket".- pg. 62 (hurting her eye)

"… only the long west (left) held a great depth of pale radiance. Eastward (right) the plains ran down into night".- pg. 67 (getting a new eye)

"The eastern mountains were a cloudy dark red as if the level light shone through them as through a hand held before the fire".- pg. 75 (waking, day of Coyote's death)

"Sun went down the last slope of the west and left a pale green clarity over the desert hills".- pg. 77 (Before Coyote eats poison)

I would say that based on these quotes the right would be the "bad", "dark" side, and the left is the "pure", "light" side. Every time right/east is mentioned, included is either night, red, fire, pain. Every time left/west is mentioned, included is either radiance or "pale… clarity".

evan t.

Buffalo Gals

Courtney Timms
Human/Nature
Alan MacCormack/Safa Ghaim

The Buffalo Gals
“So, to me you’re basically grayish yellow and run on four legs. To that lot-” Coyote from Le Guin

After reading this quote I began to think about how much as humans, we are drastically alike. We seem to separate ourselves with our person “identities” and in that we forget how similar each of us really is. To survive our basic needs need to be met. It made me realize in every person you see there is a similarity you and that person share, whether its slim; like needing food and water. Or may be more complex like sharing the same cultural customs, religion, or traditions. I have found myself in the past saying, “Well we don’t have much in common.” But in the realm of things if you dive deep enough to try and get to know one another you can find many things in common.