Teaching is a Breakfast Sandwich

I understand this excerpt from Paulo Freire's book, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, is from 1993. I understand that it has been separated from us by a degree of time and a few turns of the hourglass. But I'm not sure I agree inherently with Freire's assessment of what teaching is. They may be his observations, and I respect that much, but it seems to me that he is applying a pessimistic realism to the "ideal" pedagogical practice, or at least his summation of what others think it to be.

What he's describing is direct instruction, and while that shouldn't be the catch-all marmalade that we spread on our teaching toast, it shouldn't be by-and-large tossed out. This breakfast spread still has some time on the ol' expiry date.

What we as educators need to understand is that we cannot rely on a single mode of instruction to reach all of our students effectively. We have to mix and match. Pair that marmalade with, I dunno, maybe some rye toast and a rasher of bacon. Every now and again swap the marmalade for peanut butter. Instead of relying wholly upon direct instruction, we need to mix it up, is my point, the roundabout way of getting there notwithstanding. Constructivist theory is all the rage these days, but it cannot and should not be a wholesale replacement for direct instruction practices. They need to be mixed and matched to better attend the needs of our respective classroom cultures, and the needs of our individual students.

What's more, it is in my opinion that Constructivist theory should follow direct instruction. Mustn't we teach definitions of vocabulary words before students write them? Shouldn't we deliver the Pythagorean Theorem and drill it into memory before we can expect them to know how to apply it?

I think it's necessary to build up a knowledge base first before trying to do anything practical with said knowledge. We have to give our students the necessary components--the eggs, the cheese, the marmalade, the sausage, and the English muffin--before we can expect them to build a delicious and nutritious sandwich from it. Education isn't a transfer of information like water from kettle to cup. It is the presentation of information and encouraging its practical use. Teaching is a breakfast sandwich.