1. When Freire talks about the “politics of the classroom,” I interpret this to mean the circumstances under which students are placed – meaning, they are put into a situation in which they have no power and are somewhat inferior to their professor. Often, professors don’t allow for discussion within the classroom, therefore inhibiting the idea of a “problem-posing” class. Teachers seem to think of themselves as some sort of royalty and discourage students from speaking their minds and offering opinions and logics of their own to fellow students. On the contrary, teachers should rather be more open-minded to activities such as discussion and commenting from students, in order to learn different viewpoints of certain topics.

2. The term, praxis, is used within this essay to resemble liberation and a desire to do good for others – in this case, being supportive of students and of discussion within the classroom. The term, alienation, is used in the essay to define separation and a sense of control over one’s thoughts and/or ideas. Alienation would therefore occur in the setting of a classroom in which a professor discourages different viewpoints and suggestions; he is “alienating” the students because their ideas are not up to his standards.

3. I think Freire writes in a way that is similar to the deposit of funds into a bank – he fills us with ideas, as readers, that we are expected to absorb and understand without questioning why. He feeds us information, and we ingest it. He speaks to readers as if we should not be thinking for ourselves, but rather accepting his viewpoints on the topics at hand.