Thet O.

Salazar
Foundations of Education 2

DIFFERENT TYPES OF PHILOSOPHIES

(Proponents, aim and focus, effects, application in the curriculum)

There are four key educational philosophies within the epistemological design that focuses on the
concept of knowledge and how we try to understand it, each connected to one or more of the general
or world philosophies just mentioned. At present, these educational philosophical approaches are
used all over the world in schools. They are Perennialism, Essentialism, Reconstructionism, and
Progressivism. 

PERENNIALISM

Robert Maynard Hutchins Mortimer J. Adler

For Perennialists, the aim of education is to ensure that learners grasp the great ideas of
Western civilization. In every age, these concepts have the potential for solving problems. The
emphasis is on teaching timeless concepts, finding enduring truths that are constant, not evolving, as
the natural and human worlds do not change at their most basic level. It is important to teach these
unchanging values. Humans are intelligent beings, and it is important to improve their minds. Thus,
in a worthwhile education, cultivation of the intellect is the highest priority.
The challenging curriculum focuses on achieving cultural awareness, emphasizing the
development of students in enduring disciplines. Humanity's noblest contributions are emphasized-
the great works of literature and art, the rules or principles of science. Robert Maynard Hutchins, who
founded a Great Books program in 1963, and Mortimer Adler, who further expanded this curriculum
based on 100 great books of Western civilization, are proponents of this educational theory.
 ESSENTIALISM

William Bagley
Essentialists think there is a basic core of information that needs to be conveyed in a
structured, disciplined way to students. In this conservative view, the focus is on academic and moral
values that should be taught by schools. Requisite knowledge and skills and academic rigor are the
foundation of the program. While this theory of education is similar to Perennialism in certain
respects, Essentialists support the concept that this core curriculum may change.
Schooling should be realistic, preparing students to become valuable members of society. It
should concentrate on facts-the objective truth out there—and "the principles," teaching students to
simply and objectively read, write, speak, and compute. Schools do not seek to set rules or control
them. Hard labour, reverence for authority, and discipline should be taught to students.
Teachers should help students keep their non-productive impulses, such as hostility or
mindlessness, in check. This approach was in response to progressivist policies common in the 1920s
and 30s.
William Bagley, in the journal he founded in 1934, took radical approaches to assignment.
Essentialism's other supporters are: James D. Koerner (1959), H. Paul Copperman (1978), G.
Rickover (1959), and Theodore Sizer (1985).

PROGRESSIVISM
 John Dewey

Progressivists agree that education, rather than the material or the teacher, should concentrate
on the entire child. This theory of education emphasizes that, through constructive exploration,
students can evaluate ideas. Learning is rooted in learners' concerns that emerge from observing the
environment. It is not passive, but aggressive. The learner is a problem solver and thinker who
generates meaning in the physical and cultural sense through his or her individual experience. Good
teachers gain suggestions so that learners can learn by doing so.
Curriculum material is derived from the preferences and questions of learners. Progressive
educators use the scientific method so that students can routinely and first-hand study matters and
events.
The focus is on how one gets to know the operation. From the mid 1920s through the mid
1950s, the ideology of Progressive Education was developed in America. Its foremost proponent was
John Dewey. One of its tenets was that by experiencing independence and democracy in schools, the
school could strengthen the way of life of our people. All aspects are joint decision-making,
preparation of teachers with students, student-selected subjects. Rather than authority, books are
instruments.

RECONSTRUCTIONISM/CRITICAL THEORY
Theodore Brameld

Social reconstructionism is an ideology that emphasizes solving social problems and working
to develop a sustainable community and democracy worldwide. A program that emphasizes social
change as the purpose of education is focused on by reconstructionist educators.
Theodore Brameld (1904-1987) was, in response to the realities of World War II, the architect
of social reconstructionism. He realized the significance for either human destruction through
technology and human brutality or the opportunity to use technology and human kindness to create a
beneficent society. George Counts (1889-1974) accepted that education was the process by which
citizens were prepared to establish this new social order.
Critical thinkers, including social reconstructionists, think that to transcend inequality and
enhance human circumstances, processes must be modified. Paulo Freire (1921-1997) was a Brazilian
whose experiences of poverty led him as a tool for social change to champion education and literacy.
Human beings, in his opinion, must learn to resist injustice and not become victims of it or exploit
others. To do so involves discussion and critical awareness, the formation of consciousness to
transcend supremacy and injustice. Instead of "teaching as banking," in which the teacher deposits
knowledge into the heads of the students, Freire saw teaching and learning as an investigative method
in which the child must create and reinvent the universe.
The curriculum focuses on the student experience of social reconstructionists and critical
theorists and takes social action on real problems such as violence, hunger, international terrorism,
inflation and inequality. The focus is on strategies to deal with controversial problems (especially in
social studies and literature), inquiry, dialogue, and multiple perspectives. Strategies also include
community-based learning and bringing the world into the classroom.

EXISTENTIALISM

A.S. Neil Jean-Paul Sartre

“Man is nothing else but what he makes of himself. Such is the first principle of existentialism.”
"Childhood is not adulthood; childhood is playing and no child ever gets enough play. The
Summerhill theory is that when a child has played enough he will start to work and face difficulties,
and I claim that this theory has been vindicated in our pupils' ability to do a good job even when it
involves a lot of unpleasant work."

Existentialism as a Philosophical Term

The existentialist movement in education is based on an intellectual attitude that

philosophers term existentialism. Born in nineteenth-century Europe, existentialism is
associated with such diverse thinkers as Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) and Friedrich
Nietzsche (1811 1900) who wrote a book entitled The Antichrist and coined the phrase “God
is dead”. While the famous existentialists would passionately disagree with one another on
many basic philosophical issues, what they shared was a respect for individualism. In
particular, they argued that traditional approaches to philosophy do not adequately respect the
unique concerns of each individual.

Jean Paul Sartre's classic formulation of existentialism--that "existence precedes essence"--

means that there exists no universal, inborn human nature. We are born and exist, and then we
ourselves freely determine our essence (that is, our innermost nature). Some philosophers
commonly associated with the existentialist tradition never fully adopted the "existence precedes
essence" principle. Nevertheless, that principle is fundamental to the educational existentialist
movement.

Existentialism as an Educational Philosophy

Just as its namesake sprang from a strong rejection of traditional philosophy, educational
existentialism sprang from a strong rejection of the traditional, essentialist approach to
education. Existentialism rejects the existence of any source of objective, authoritative truth
about metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics. Instead, individuals are responsible for
determining for themselves what is "true" or "false," "right" or "wrong," "beautiful" or
"ugly." For the existentialist, there exists no universal form of human nature; each of us
has the free will to develop as we see fit.

In the existentialist classroom, subject matter takes second place to helping the students
understand and appreciate themselves as unique individuals who accept complete
responsibility for their thoughts, feelings, and actions. The teacher's role is to help students
define their own essence by exposing them to various paths they may take in life and
creating an environment in which they may freely choose their own preferred way. Since
feeling is not divorced from reason in decision making, the existentialist demands the
education of the whole person, not just the mind.

Although many existentialist educators provide some curricular structure, existentialism,

more than other educational philosophies, affords students great latitude in their choice of
subject matter. In an existentialist curriculum, students are given a wide variety of options
from which to choose.

To the extent that the staff, rather than the students, influence the curriculum, the
humanities are commonly given tremendous emphasis. They are explored as a means of
providing students with vicarious experiences that will help unleash their own creativity
and self- expression. For example, rather than emphasizing historical events,
existentialists focus upon the actions of historical individuals, each of whom provides
possible models for the students' own behavior. In contrast to the humanities, math and
the natural sciences may be de- emphasized, presumably because their subject matter
would be considered "cold," "dry," "objective," and therefore less fruitful to self-
awareness. Moreover, vocational education is regarded more as a means of teaching
students about themselves and their potential than of earning a livelihood. In teaching art,
existentialism encourages individual creativity and imagination more than copying and
imitating established models.

Existentialist methods focus on the individual. Learning is self-paced, self directed, and
includes a great deal of individual contact with the teacher, who relates to each student
openly and honestly. Although elements of existentialism occasionally appear in public
schools, this philosophy has found wider acceptance in private schools and ill alternative
public schools founded in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
 Traditional Contemporary
Categories
Philosophical Idealism &
- orientation Realism Pragmatism Pragmatism
Realism
Theoretical-
Perennialism Essentialism Progressivism Reconstructionism
orientation
Direction in growth, reconstruct present, change
preserving the past
time society, shape future
Educational
fixed, absolute, objective changeable, subjective, relative
value
Educational
focuses on teaching focuses on active self-learning
process
Intellectual
train, discipline the mind engage in problem-solving, social tasks
focus
Subject-
for its own self-importance all have similar value
matter
Curriculum composed of three Rs three Rs, arts, sciences, vocational
Learning cognitive learning,
exploratory, discovery
disciplines
Grouping homogeneous heterogeneous, culturally diverse
Teacher disseminates, lectures,
facilitates, coaches, change agent
dominates instruction
Student receptacle, receives engages discoverer, constructs
knowledge, passive knowledge
Social direction, control, restraint Individualism
Citizenship cognitive, personal
personal, social development
development
Freedom and conformity, compliance with
creativeness, self-actualization, direct
Democracy authority, knowledge and
experiences
discipline
Excellence excellence in education,
equality of education, equal change to
vs. Equality academic, rewards and jobs
disadvantaged
based on merit
Society group values, acceptance of
individual growth, individual ability,
norms, cooperative and
importance of individual
conforming behavior