Existentialist exercise Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Existentialist exercise - Essay Example Rasheed’s focus on existentialism encompasses so many aspects. For instance, his pedagogical outlook encourages inclusivity and non-discriminative system which is fair in terms of race, gender, and other biases inherent in societal setups (Rasheed, 2007). The following discourse analyses educational leadership and pedagogical models based on the views presented by Rasheed (2007). Enforcing the new curricular standards that have been legislated by the government on the initiative of the state education agencies, according to few individuals, increases the problem of indiscipline; moreover, insofar as these ethics are enforced successfully, they tend to divide the students into what can be termed as an â€Å"academically successful minority† and an â€Å"academically discredited majority†(Connel, 1831). By neglecting the fact that classroom contain information as well as people, educators working within the formalistic paradigms have developed a technocratic curriculum that, instead of upholding critical thinking, fosters uncreative, repetitive education concept. As Theodore Sizer speculates; â€Å"Maybe Americans don’t want unnecessary questions for people who need answers. Perhaps in summary, the unchallenged mindlessness of so much of the status quo is truly acceptable; it does not make waves (Sizer, 1992). † Any teacher within this set-up who wants all her students to know more is principally concerned with giving her students more of what she, the skilled knows. Typical of this kind of education then is the teacher lecture. The text books normally provide information and the expert teacher clarifies or embellishes this particular information for her students. Students simply listen and capture notes. â€Å"Testing is generally the characteristic form of assessment, and the test questions characteristically have only one correct answers† (Sizer, 1996). The teacher remains alone as authority, an expert