In our time of uncertainty one of the most stable institutions is the school system for children. Thus, being a teacher and providing the most stable atmosphere along with providing the children with an education must be handled delicately. I believe a mixture of essentialism, progressivism, perennialism, behaviorism, and social reconstrctonism is essential in achieving those goals.
For instance, the William Yeats quote that was listed above, can also advocate an idea against essentialism. Essentials argue for the continual testing of students, as well as the continuous pouring of basic knowledge and skills into students (Quantz, 2015, page 79-80). Therefore, when the author negatively comments on educators who fill the pail, she is really referring to essentialist teachers just filling the brains of students with skills that they believe students will need in the future. Similarly, another anti-essentialist example in the text is when she reports “How horrified she would be by the thinking that reduces teaching to test-prep drill and professional practice to a numerical score” (Strauss, 2012, Paragraph 4). Essentialists, as briefly mentioned, focus on testing as a means to evaluate students, as well as believe that teachers are at the center of the classroom (Quantz 2012, pages 79-80). Therefore, by stating that teaching in programs like RGSE reduce teaching to drills and test scores, she is implying that teaching has become impersonal and more like the military; constantly running the same impersonal drills in order to produce the results you want. This point expands on the major criticism of Strauss’s piece that the RGSE program, which follows the instruction of charter schools, is not a helpful learning environment and it
Essentialism, made popular by William Bagley in the 1930’s, is the form of education most of us know well from our schooling experiences. It has also been called the “...
334). It also focuses on key subject areas in the class that are crucial when running a classroom based on this teacher-centered philosophy. These core subjects, based on Roberson (2014), involve: math, social studies, and science (p. 344). It is clear that Essentialism reminds whoever the source of information which is given to the students is directly from the teacher. A teacher, who is following this philosophy, knows that the information the teacher provides to the students is, “based on knowledge and evidence-based experience” (Elgstrom & Hellstenius, 2011, p. 721-722). Essentialism, according to Elgstrom & Hellstenius (2011) also plays an effective part in teaching when key elements of discipline and hierarchy are in play (p. 721-722). Advantages in essentialism include, school work that is coordinated and prepared by the teacher for the students (Roberson, 2014, p. 345). Disadvantages for essentialism involve how well the teacher and the student process all the information. For the teacher it involves how well the teacher teaches the subjects and for the students; on how well they can score on the test remembering the information. Roberson (2014) says that when not meeting up to the standards of the testing, teachers are more likely to take the blame than students
Now, I do believe both have merit and that truly all of these have elements that are key to education, but these two are the least of those. Essentialism focuses too heavily on the idea of academic intelligence and leaves out creative intelligence. If a students is not good at art they are told it’s alright and not everyone is good at it, but when a student is bad a math they are told that they’re not smart. Which isn’t necessarily an essentialist view, but rather a byproduct of essentialism being the prominent form of education in our society. There’s also the extremely xenophobic side of essentialism that believes that immigration is causing an erasure of our culture. However I will agree with some points, such as having high standards for students and starting with the basics and working your way up to the more complex ideas. The last, Existentialism is the oddest concept and the hardest to implement. While it has its positives, like the idea of focusing on the self and not being distracted by the outside world. Have students really think about why they are here and making them use their creativity. However subjects like math and science take a backseat to the more creative oriented classes. I am a firm believer that you need a balance of academic and creative classes, maybe a bit of favorability for what students wish to pursue career
When it comes to the curriculum taught in schools, I agree with the Perennialists' view that the curriculum should include the works and ideas of the Great Thinkers of the past, the fine arts, and philosophy, as well as the view that teachers should also instruct students in both character training and positive moral development. This is not just a job for the parents of children but for all adults in society as well, and since teachers spend almost as much time with children as their parents it is foolish to think that children will not look at the teacher as a role model whether or not the teacher intends for them to. I also agree with the Essentialist point of view that the curriculum should include such subjects as reading, writing, history, mathematics, sciences, foreign languages, computer skills, geography, social studies, and government. I feel that students who have a strong background in the basics of a variety of topics will have a better school experience and will be better prepared not only for higher education experiences, or experiences in the job market, but for life experiences in general. I also feel, like the Social Reconstructivists, that students need a curriculum that addresses the topics of cultural pluralism, human relations, social problems, and global issues as well. Students need to be aware of what goes on in the world, of their role in it, their responsibility to it, and of the ways that they can bring about changes in a positive way.
A teacher’s personal philosophy of education is a critical element in his or her approach to guiding children along the path of enlightenment. Hence, there are five key educational philosophies recognized in the field of education. These include, Essentialism, Perennialism, Progressivism, Existentialism, and Behaviorism (Sadker & Sadker, 1994, p. 382-83). Each carries both positive and negative tenets, at least in my opinion. Therefore, I prefer an eclectic discernment in my quest of an educational philosophy. Because, my idea of the perfect teacher is one, who inspires learning in addition to just relating the required facts. A certain amount of creativity, enthusiasm, and motivation is required of the teacher. Certainly, this is a tall
I do not agree with the ideas proposed in A Nation at Risk. This document puts too much emphasis on tests and competition. Its principles establish the basis for essentialism, the “back-to-basics” approach to education. This me...
Educators need a starting point to understand why we think and act the way we do in our classrooms. Having a philosophy allows an educator to reflect on how to make classroom actions consistent with our beliefs related to learning. However, before we list our “beliefs” we need to delve deeper into what makes up our philosophy. There are four major components to philosophy – Metaphysics, Epistemology, Axiology, and Logic (Gutek, 2009). In order to be able to understand philosophy we need to be able to understand its components.
The focus and largest use of philosophy in my classroom will be essentialism. Essentialists believe in training the mind. Students must first understand basic subjects before expanding their ideas and thinking abstractly. This concept is very important in mathematics. It is impossible to understand trigonometry without the basic knowledge of geometry. Essentialists believe students should be taught...
When it comes to teaching, there are five different philosophies that teachers follow: essentialism, perennialism, progressivism, social reconstruction, or existentialism. For this paper, these philosophies are identified as if in an elementary school setting. Each philosophy specifies an approach that is catered to the different strategies
Essentialism will be a part of my classroom because I will be teaching science. Science is part of the basis of essentialism that became stressed with the launching of Sputnik in 1957. The philosophy of essentialism also stresses that when leaving school students are able to apply learning from school to the real world. This is what I want to do in my classroom; I want my students to understand the material being taught to them and be able to apply it to the world around them.
All six of the major educational philosophies Perennialism, Progressivism, Essentialism, Existentialism, Social Reconstruction, and Behaviorism are in my opinion feasible in the classroom. However, I have chosen Essentialism as the primary philosophy I would like to employ in my classroom for several reasons. Although I think all six would result in learning, which is the primary purpose of education, I think that Essentialism is superior to the other five for my classroom. I feel this way because it embraces the purpose or original goal of public education, it allows lessons to be gauged to all different learning styles, and finally because essentialism employs methods of teaching and discipline that I believe work exceptionally well with my content specialization.
First and foremost, I believe that the teacher should be in control of the classroom. Students are young, and they do not usually know what is best for them. Therefore, the teacher should be the one to choose the lessons and decide what is going to be taught each day. This traditional practice of orienting the class around the teacher is one of the main principles of the essentialist philosophy. To encourage this in my classes, I w...
Although I am eclectic, I have very strong opinions about what should be taught, and that is where I gather from the Essentialists. One of the basic beliefs of the Essentialists is that every child should, upon graduation, possess a basic body of knowledge. Included in this body of knowledge are such things as writing, reading, measurement, and computing. I agree that the child should have a basic body of knowledge, but I do not concur that it should be merely enormous rather than practical. In addition, I agree with the Essentialist beliefs that the program should be academically rigorous; that the teacher should model the correct behavior and instill such things as respect for authority, perseverance, dependability, dutifulness, consideration for others, and practicality. Traditional values and morals should be upheld ...