The basic questions

The educational implications of existentialism are many. The existentialist realizes that we live in a world of physical realities and that we have developed a useful and scientific knowledge about these realities. However, the most significant aspects of our lives are personal and nonscientific. So to the questions we have asked about knowledge and education, existentialists would say that the most important kind of knowledge is about the human condition and the choices that each person has to make. Existentialists would further say that education is a process of developing consciousness about the freedom to choose and about the meaning of and responsibility for choice. Education is designed to create in us a sense of self-awareness and to contribute to our authenticity as human beings.

An existentialist educator would encourage students to engage in philosophizing about the meaning of the human experiences of life, love, and death. An existentialist teachcr would also raise these questions and put them before the students. The questioning proccss would grow into a dialogue between the members of the learning groups. It should be remembered that the answers to these questions would be personal and subjective for each individual and could not be measured on standardized tests.

An existentialist curriculum would consist of the experiences and subjects that lend themselves to philosophic dialogue. They would be subjects that vividly portray individual men and women in the act of making choices. Since existentialist choice making is so personal and subjective, those subjects that are emotional, aesthetic, and poetic are appropriate to an existentialist curriculum. Literature and biography are important sources for revealing choice-making conditions. Drama and films that vividly portray the human condition and human decision making ought to be seen and discussed by students. In addition to literary, dramatic, and biographical subjects, students also need to find modes of self-expression. They should be free to experiment with artistic media, to dramatize or make concrete their emotions, feelings, and insights. The existentialist classroom should be rich in the materials that lend themselves to self- expression.

The school, for the existentialist educator, is a place where individuals can meet to pursue dialogue and discussion about their own lives and choices. Since every person is in the same predicament and has the same possibilities, every individual should have opportunities for schooling. In the school, both teachers and students should have the opportunity to ask questions, to suggest answers, and to engage in dialogue.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-16