Interview
Sister (patient) Yes, I think its a great experience because we really hit the goal of the therapy and that is to help me recoup my verbal skills again, in a way that is not stressful for me.
Student (me) Are you learning from the therapist She just asks you questions and you just answer, how do you think learning comes in
Sister (patient) Yes, I would say I am learning. The questions she asks prompt me to think and say what I have to say. In the process, it seems that I get trained again, verbally. The questions she presents also have relevance to what I experience everyday. The questions she asks are like part of a story, but how the story ends will much depend on me as it is me who actually supplies the details to the story and somehow affect the framework of the story.
Student (me) So, you think that the learning takes place through cooperation between you and the therapist It means that the learning or whatever information you learn after the day does not come entirely from the therapist, as important part of it comes from you.
Sister (patient) Yes, definitely. She does not dictate what I would actually know after the session. Although she has the objectives of what I should attain, what I attain at the end of the day is largely based on me.
Student (patient) Ok. In your case, I see a similarity that you and the therapist have with the classroom-based relationship of teacher and student. If I may, I would like to comment that your relationship with your teacher (therapist) does not seem to be like the conventional relationship in the classroom, where the teacher gets all the authority and the student ends up just accepting what the teacher has to say, without showing a critical attitude about the information they are fed. Is that observation correct Have you ever tried asking the therapist why she picks those questions among the many questions she can ask Have you ever doubted about the quality of learning you get from her
Sister (patient) No, I never did. You observation is correct tough. I have a respect towards the therapist and I think what she does is reasonable so I do not question it. I agree to it and I do not see that authoritative manner judging by how she works with me.
Student (me) Would you recommend the program to anyone else
Sister (patient) Yes, I would. It is a great program and I think the settings are appropriate.
This paper discusses two questions seemed relevant to the field of education (i) Does physical therapy aid in healing not only the physical injury but also the mental suffering and (ii) Do physical therapy programs require courses dealing with those issues and if not, shouldnt they be offered
Basing from my observations of what happened in one of my sisters physical therapy treatment sessions, I realized that what takes place between the therapist and the patient draws a close parallel with the learning experience that happens within the four walls of a classroom. In this context, the therapist seems to adopt the role of the educator and the patient that of the role of a students. A typical physical therapy session, true in the case of my sisters, includes the therapist posing questions towards the patient. In our case, the therapist is trying to assist in the recovery of the patients vocabulary skills. The questions are thrown so she will be forced to speak out. In my view, this scenario relates to the form of education called the problem-posing approach which is Freires radical view on education.
Freire forwarded this notion in the view of his criticisms of the banking education held for in classrooms for many centuries. The banking education refers to the method where a teacher acts like a banker that fills in an empty depository, that is, the student, with information (Freire, 1970). Freire views this approach to education problematic based on several important grounds (i) it limits the individuals development of consciousness because the interaction needed for the development of consciousness is hindered (ii) it creates the misconception that the world is an entity apart of human consciousness (iii) it impedes the development of knowledge because the critical response that can challenge existing theories are prevented and (iv) the conventional teacher-student relationship fosters an oppressive environment where the students get to robbed off their freedom.
On the other hand, the problem-posing education is the exactly opposite of banking education, as far as the ends or results are concerned. A problem-posing approach to education enables the teacher to wake up the students consciousness by allowing the student to know what he (student) knows (Freire, 1970). The teacher prompts the student to be critical towards the information they receive as they are made to do think before they can make out from what is being taught or imparted by the teacher. This way of teaching, being in the form of questions, does not force the students to accept the teachers dogma of beliefs. Furthermore, in this sense there is a minimal tendency that the student becomes boxed within the teachers thinking and influences.
According to Freire, the teacher, just like everyone else, is an embodiment of different influences, both from surrounding environment and personal biases (1970). With the traditional banking approach to education, the teacher gets to pass all of these influences to the student, infecting them with whatever flaws contained within the system of education and information being passed on. Aside from that, the traditional presentation of reality creates the impression of duality between world and humanity. To Freire, this is wrong because the students are made to think that the world is a lifeless form, existing apart consciousness (1970). With the problem-posing approach to education, the students can be made to realize that the world does exist within their consciousness, that it is not at all a very different entity apart from humanity. With the problem-posing approach, the student is made to comprehend the world and realize that such comprehension is much affected by the students own thinking, in addition to the amalgam of outside influences exerted on him and his own personal biases.
Understanding Freires arguments requires going back to the basic issues attempted by the different theories of knowledge. Specifically, on the issues about how one is able to know what he knows and what can be contained in what he knows. John Locke argues for the tabula rasa philosophy, which says that the human mind is like a blank slate and it gets to be filled in by information as he progresses later in life. The experiences he would have from interactions as well as the concepts he would learn from school will all make up the knowledge that he would have later (Locke, 1690). The idea on tabula rasa is one of the points that Freire argues strongly against. To Freire, traditional classrooms have adopted this tabula rasa philosophy and the results are horrible in the sense that the necessary interaction needed for the realization of humanity, consciousness and progress of knowledge are impinged (1970).
Kant, in his book the Critique of Pure Reason, gives a very striking explanation on how we come about to learn something pertaining to our world (1787). According to Kant, while the world may exist separate from our consciousness, it may not be the world as we know it (1787). To Kant, it is possible that there is a world out there and the concept of time enables us to comprehend the world through our consciousness. To Kant, we see the world as we ought to see it, as our conceptions and perceptions are limited by our human design (1787). I think Freire and Kant have something in agreement, no matter how inexact it is. Freire and Kant both agrees that how we view things are all influenced by our very own perspectives, biases, beliefs and socio-cultural influences (by how we have been raised within a particular society).
Freire views problem-posing approach to education as a situation where students are enabled and encouraged to challenge theories and ideas presented to them because (i) the teachers view that students minds are like blank tablets that they have to fill in with education s readily eradicated and (ii) the expectation dictated by social conventions that students should readily accept whatever ideas are passed on them as infallible is also diminished at a very high degree. When the students answer, they have their own input to the formation of knowledge. Furthermore, rather then the traditional rigid authoritative position that the teacher exercises over students, what occurs now is a side-by-side learning from teachers and students. In this sense, we do not see what Freire describes as a domination of elitism and stringent authority. To Freire, The dominant elites consider the remedy to be more domination and repression, carried out in the name of freedom, order and social peace (that is, the peace of the elites) (261).
Arguments on Patients Mental Suffering
To Freire, Liberation is a praxis the action and reflection of men and women upon their world in order to transform it (262). It seems that for individuals who are experiencing a certain degree of mental suffering (i.e. fear, depression, and trauma from incident), this sense of liberty is not present as they are more likely to stay in one place and let the world go by without any influence from them. We can see here a very important role that the mind or consciousness plays in the realization of the praxis. This brings the question of whether the physical therapy program, as a somewhat form of education, is capable of affecting the consciousness of a person in such a way that the program is able to facilitate even the healing of patients mental suffering To what extent does a physical therapy program contribute to the empowering of his consciousness, thereby, disposing him to praxis In my view, if a patient is able to successfully finish a program, the success and the changes caused by the program can help alleviate or lessen the mental suffering that has been experienced by the patient. For instance, the usual depression the patient suffers from may be replaced by the sweet experience of the breakthrough that comes after completing program. If we take this idea into account, then we may be grounded to say that indeed physical therapy programs as a form of education can heal (or minimize at least) the mental suffering and facilitate the recovery of a better state of consciousness. It seems that the objective of a physical therapy program is to help student move toward the realization of praxis.
This seems to provide the grounds for the needs to consider mental suffering of the patient. Another relevant question that we may ask now is whether physical therapy programs require courses dealing with those issues and if not, shouldnt they be offered.
Arguments on the Need for Relevant Coursework Requirements
Arguably, for the therapists to better help the patients regain their praxis or consciousness, they should be able to empathize with them. The show of empathy can prevent what Freire considers as a classroom elitism and oppression. According to Miville, empathy or the ability to see through others can only follow when the person has a universal-diverse orientation or UDO. Miville sates that UDO refers to the ability of an individual to identify his differences from other people and respect these differences that others have from him It helps to eliminate biases and prejudices, and inspires respectful attitude toward individual differences.
Basing from my research on the different curricula offered by different schools for Physical Therapy programs in the US, I saw that the curricula typically contains a few course works on the field of social science and a number from the physical sciences. While the social science tackles subject matters mainly of the society and individuals, it seems that for a student of physical therapy to be equipped with an objective point of view, an important emphasis should be exerted in these social science subjects. As this can widen their perspectives and understanding of individual differences, it becomes a question now whether the school should offer course works that will specifically equip the student in the sociological aspect.
In my view, the call for course work inclusion is not necessary. It is still a matter of question whether the class-room learning would be effective as to make the student be efficient in dealing with the differences of their patients. Miville says that healthcare professionals can better function if they have the UDO perspective. Empathy brews good patient-therapist communication, thereby ensuring higher chances of treatment success. A number of barriers to empathy exist though. Danas cites the existence of cultural self and cultural competence provides barrier to sympathy. These barriers to empathy may not necessarily be resolved by increasing the number of sociological and psychological subjects in college. Miville argues that UDO should be generated in situ right in the workplace. through the design of related workplace policies.
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