The way people learn and acquire new knowledge has always been the sphere of researcher’s interest. Paulo Freire has distinguished two types of educational style: banking and problem posing. According to the author, the essential basis for the effective transmission of knowledge lies in the peculiarity of the teacher-student bond and communication style.
The first style makes students passive and perceptive only to the information that is delivered by teacher. The key is in omitting the questioning and doubting this new information in order to concentrate solely on memorizing it. The students are not asked or expected to inquire; therefore, they are incapable of contributing towards the emergence of new knowledge. The first educational style is opposed to the problem posing style. Freire emphasizes its revolutionary approach due to sharpening the awareness of student’s consciousness. Problem posing style makes them doubt everything and think critically. It also contributes towards the emergence and development of new ideas, which are essential for knowledge evolution on the whole. The communication style between the teacher and students is based on the reciprocity principle. This cooperation leads to better comprehension and invention or reinvention of alternative approaches towards posed problem. Therefore, a teacher should not be just the source of information for students. The effective education relies on provoking and making them eager to plunge into a learning process entirely. Only in this case, education becomes a deep and thorough process of acquiring new knowledge, critical thinking and searching for efficient solutions to arising problems.