I experienced then and on many other occasions what Freire (2000) calls “banking” education. The teacher appeared to view …knowledge [as] a gift bestowed by those who consider themselves knowledgeable upon those whom they consider to know nothing. Projecting an absolute ignorance onto others, a characteristic of the ideology of oppression, negates education and knowledge as processes of inquiry. (p. 58) Had she allowed me to respond, the teacher could have recognized knowledge production as a shared endeavor and given me the opportunity to avoid the stings of rejection.

— The Sting of Social Hierarchies, Prieto

This article reminds me of the novel school days written by Chamoiseau that I have just read. It talks about a small Creole boy who was so passionate to go to the elementary school in France but was prohibited to speak any Creole language. He finally lost his love for school because he was asked to abandon his home culture and language in school. I feel like my understanding about the situation of immigrants that they struggled between two cultures is doubled. However, what I was deeply touched in this article was when the author mentioned how the guide ignored him. The author only said that the teacher seemed to think that knowledgeable people are naturally higher than people who are considered to know nothing. The author then mentioned how the “correct answer” from the guide was different from his, by skipping the human efforts. He didn’t talk about his feeling but I immediately pictured a little boy, turned down by the “knowledgeable” person, stood in middle of his peers but is so lonely, disappointed, and depressed of being rejected.

I can’t tell how many times I have seen the disappointed face of students who were being ignored in class. At past, I only felt uncomfortable seeing the teacher showed her ignorance to a certain student; now I realize that it is due to my strong disagreement with how some teachers feel superior to students because they are more “knowledgeable.” I admit that the teacher and students are not in an equal position, but it is never because of the acquisition of knowledge. On the contrary, teachers should respect students with limited knowledge but still willing to learn and explore the unknown world. Teachers should encourage students’ curiosity and endeavor and never turn them down.

I assume there will be a specific moment that the student will lose his interest for study due to ignorance. Since I have experienced and I know how brave it is for some students to raise their hands in class. They may take a long time of self-encouragement and psychological preparation to raise their hands, but once they are turned down or ignored, they won’t raise hands again. I have learned about one case study. In the report, the observer wrote that once the teacher didn’t respond to this student’s raising hand, she never raised her hands again in the rest of the class. This student might be an extreme example, but it does happen sometimes. The teacher will never know what a small ignorance will cause to a certain student, so just please try to avoid the ignorance as much as possible.