Philosophy of Teaching

Essentialism

“When will the public cease to insult the teacher's calling with empty flattery? When will men who would never, for a moment, encourage their own sons to enter the work of the public schools cease to tell us that education is the greatest and noblest of all human callings?” (William C. Bagley)

Educators of the essentialism approach teach the basic skills of math, natural science, history, foreign language, and literature.  The teacher is responsible for installing moral values that will help the student to become a well-rounded citizen. (Marrapodi, 2003)  The students are taught factual information and are not offered any vocational training. The classroom setting is very rigid and disciplined.  Both the teacher and the administrators decide what is best for the student. This creates an atmosphere where students do not expand their minds creatively. (Hoy, 2004)  Essentialism encourages academic competition, lengthens school days and years, while only rating students based on academic testing.  I believe this approach is becoming more and more the future of schools as academic testing is becoming more popular among the states.  

William Bagley, with help from his writings and lectures, popularized this philosophy of essentialism.  Bagley insisted on the value of knowledge for its own sake, not merely as an instrument, and he criticized his colleagues for their failure to emphasize systematic study of academic subjects. (Maya, 2007) This traditional approach of going back to the basics of education was most recently used in No Child Left Behind.  During the 1930’s Bagley recognized the need to return back to the basics of education following the great depression as President Bush felt the same need when our economy began to fall.  

I believe I will incorporate some of these aspects into my own teaching.  I don’t believe in the severity of how content is crammed military style to the students, but I do believe that a lot of education needs to be built on the basics.  Even though my content is all sciences, I believe I will do my fair share of teaching basic math and reading skills to my students.  No matter the subject area, I believe students need to be strong in all core content areas.  

Perennialism

"All who have meditated on the art of governing mankind have been convinced that the fate of empires depends on the education of youth." (Aristotle)

        The philosophy of perennialism was to teach everlasting information to the students.  The educator was responsible for teaching principles and not just facts.  The main goal was to open student’s minds to scientific reasoning while also pushing students to question the facts; student input was of high importance. (Maya, 2007)  This philosophy differs from essentialism in every way.  Instead of reciting, reviewing, and testing, perennialism was to evoke critical thinking and to create philosophers. Perennialism is also considered to be teacher-centered, as opposed to student-centered philosophies of education such as progressivism. (Marrapodi, 2003)

        Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle were the major fathers of perennialism.  These teachers of “thinking” are commonly part of many philosophy’s that are based on higher level of thinking, but perennialism focuses first on personal development, while others like essentialism focuses first on essential skills. (Hoy, 2004)  Even though each of these philosophers had different reasons for wanting children to open their minds to scientific reasoning, each had a specific goal of developing students that questioned the facts and wanted to know more than memorizing what was simply told to them.  

        I feel Blooms Taxonomy is the today’s version of perennialism.  I believe strongly in critical thinking and allowing students to question the truth while using scientific reasoning.  I do not believe that young adults today, get enough of a chance to speak their thoughts and beliefs.  Only through questioning and deep dissection of information do students truly understand what they have learned.

Progressivism

“Education is not a preparation for life; education is life itself.” (John Dewey)

Progressivism was the first philosophical approach that takes into consideration different learning types; auditory, visual, and kinesthetic.  This philosophy uses the interactions of students through games, books, experimentation, and activities to teach students to learn through doing.  For the first time schools were the facilitators of enriching educational growth and not just educating for adulthood. (Maya, 2007)

John Dewey and his wife founded the Laboratory School in the 1920’s.  The main goal was progressivism and the notion of learning by doing.  Dewey felt that learning the facts wasn’t the only way to educate.  He realized that not every student could learn by the same approach. (Hoy, 2004)  Dewey stats in My Pedagogic Creed: