CH 6_Philosophical roots of Education.pptx

Chapter 6:
Philosophical Roots of
Education
Mr. VATH Vary (MA in TESOL, IFL)
Email: varyvath@gmail.com
Tel: 017 471117

Content
Four Special
Terminology
- Metaphysics
- Epistemology
- Axiology
- Logic
Five Philosophies
1. Essentialism
3. Progressivism
2. Perennialism
4. Critical theory
1. Idealism
2. Realism
3. Pragmatism
4. Existentialism
5. Postmodernism
Four Theories
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Introduction
 TEACHERS MUST MEET such immediate daily demands as
 preparing lessons,
 assessing student performance, and
 creating and managing a fair and equitable classroom environment.
Because of their urgency, these challenges often preoccupy teachers in their early
professional careers from constructing what the National Council for Accreditation
of Teacher Education (NCATE) standards call:
 a “conceptual framework,’ an intellectual philosophy of education that gives meaning to
teaching by connecting its daily demands with long-term professional commitment and
direction.’
 A conceptual framework contributes to a sense of professional coherence that helps teachers
place immediate short-term objectives into relationship with long-term goals.
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What is Philosophy?
The most general way of thinking
about the meaning of our lives in the
world and reflecting deeply on what
is:
otrue or false,
ogood or evil,
oright or wrong,
oand beautiful or ugly.

What is Philosophy?
• what you are teaching
• why you are teaching it,
• and how you teach it.
Teachers have
teaching reflection
on
• Portfolios and journals
• Educational philosophies + theories:
• experience in teaching/learning and
beliefs in teaching/learning
Tools
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Philosophies of education
use the terms metaphysics,
epistemology, axiology, and
logic.
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Philosophy’s Relationship to Education
Metaphysics:
• examines
the nature of
ultimate
reality.
Questions
What is real?
• What is ultimately
real or not real?
• Is there a spiritual
realm of existence
separate from the
material world?
Related Educational
Concerns
• Knowledge
of worth:
The
Curriculum
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Epistemology
deals with
knowing and
theories of
knowledge
Questions
What is knowledge based
on?
• “On what do we base our
knowledge of the world and
our understanding of truth?
• Does our knowledge derive
from divine revelation, from
ideas latent in our own
minds, from empirical
evidence, or from something
else?”
Related Educational
Concerns
• How can we
teach and
learn: Method
of instruction
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Axiology
Prescribes and proscribes
values—what we should
or should not
do—is subdivided into
ethics and aesthetics.
• Ethics–examines moral
values and the standards of
ethical behavior.
• Aesthetics–addresses
values in beauty and art.
Questions
• What is moral and
right (ethics)?
• What is beautiful
and good
(aesthetics)?
Related Educational
Concerns
• Behavior,
character,
civility, and
appreciation
and expression
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Logic
 Examine the rules of inference that
we use to frame our propositions and
arguments (thinking, reasoning, and
problem solving)
 It consists of:
• Deductive logic: moves from general
principles and statements to
particular instances and applications.
• Inductive logic: moves from the
particular instance to tentative
generalizations that are subject to
further verification and possible
revision.
Questions
 How can we reason?
 Think about the differences
in teaching a science course
from the two examples:
• Does something in the subject
itself logically dictate how
lessons should be organized and
presented to students?
• Should teachers take their cue
from students’ interest,
readiness, and experience in
deciding how to present
instruction?
Related Educational
Concerns
• How we
organize and
structure
courses,
lessons, and
units
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Special Terminology
Types of logic
General
Specific
Deductive
Inductive
Specific
general
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Summary:
Philosophies of education
use the terms metaphysics,
epistemology, axiology, and
logic.

Educational Philosophies
1. Idealism 3.
Pragmatism
2. Realism 4.
Existentialism
5.
Postmodernism
Metaphysics, Epistemology, Axiology and Logic
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1. Idealism
What is Idealism?
 A philosophy which asserts
that reality is spiritual,
intellectual, and nonmaterial.
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1. Idealism
Idealism, one of the
oldest Western
philosophies,
originated with
Plato in ancient
Greece
In 19th-century Germany,
Georg W. F. Hegel
introduced a philosophy of
history where major periods
in human history
represented the unfolding of
ideas in the Absolute's mind.
Ralph Waldo Emerson and
Henry David Thoreau
developed
transcendentalism in the
United States, while
Friedrich Froebel
developed kindergarten
based on idealist
principles.
Asian religions like
Hinduism and
Buddhism also
follow an idealist
spiritual worldview.
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1. Idealism: Key Concepts
Metaphysics
• Idealists believe the spiritual world is real and created
by a universal mind, like the Absolute or God.
• Their spiritual essence gives individuals the power to
think and feel. This eternal, perfect intellectual world of
ideas, like the Universal Spirit, remains constant.
• Idealists use the concepts of macrocosm and microcosm
to explain reality.
• Macrocosm refers to the universal mind, the first cause, creator,
or God, which is continually thinking and valuing.
• Microcosm is the personal mind or spirit, a lesser self yet
spiritual and intellectual like the great being.
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Epistemology
• Idealists believe that reality is composed of ideas from the Absolute,
or God, and to know something, we must reach a conscious
understanding of these ideas.
• Plato's epistemology of reminiscence, a priori ideas, suggests that
individuals remember deep-seated ideas in their minds, which are
not yet conscious.
• Teachers challenge students to become conscious of this latent
knowledge through probing questions.
• Schools organize teaching and learning into a hierarchical curriculum,
with philosophy, theology, mathematics, history, literature, natural and
physical sciences, and language.
• The teacher's goal is to create a transdisciplinary integration of
knowledge, relating these subjects to each other as a form of higher-
order thinking.
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Axiology
• Idealists prescribe universally applicable values like truth, goodness, and beauty,
reflecting human culture's enduring knowledge.
• Philosophy, theology, history, literature, and art serve as rich sources for
transmitting these values, providing students with worthy models, especially in
transgenerational works.
Logic
• Idealists believe in a whole-to-part relationship between Absolute and individual
minds, with specific ideas or principles derived from and agreeing with the
whole.
• Idealist teachers use deductive logic to organize lessons, introducing general
principles and using specific examples.
• Examples include introducing respect for others by referencing Henry David
Thoreau's civil disobedience at Walden Pond.
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1. Idealism
Educational
Implications
• Idealist education focuses on bringing universal spiritual
truths and ideas to the learner's consciousness.
• Schools are intellectual institutions where teachers and students explore
questions like "What is truth?" and "What is beauty?".
• All students should attend school, regardless of their intellectual abilities.
• Teaching should involve thinking and learning, with the Socratic method being
an engaging approach.
• Teachers should be intellectual and ethical models for students.
• Idealists advocate for high intellectual standards in schools and teachers,
resisting entry of anything leading to mediocrity.
 Standards should require teachers to have high intellectual expectations of
students and encourage students to strive for intellectual excellence.
 Standards should not be geared to the statistical average but should raise
as high as possible.
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2. Realism
What is Realism?
 a philosophy which asserts that
reality consists of an objective
order of objects that, though they
are external, can be known by
humans through their senses and
power of abstraction.
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2. Realism
Aristotle, a Greek philosopher
and a student of Plato, developed
realism, asserting that reality
exists outside our minds and is
objective
Thomas Aquinas synthesized
Aristotle's natural realism with
Christian doctrine, known as
Thomism, during the Middle
Ages.
In the 21st century, scientific realists
argue that the scientific method provides
accurate descriptions of the world, and
that knowledge about the real world
guides individual and social action.

2. Realism: Key Concepts
Metaphysics
• Realists believe in a material world, independent of the mind.
• All objects are composed of matter, which is organized into
its form or structure.
Epistemology
• Epistemology involves two stages: sensation and abstraction.
• Sensation involves perceiving an object, which is then sorted into
qualities.
• The mind then abstracts these qualities, recognizing the object as
belonging to a certain class.
 Realists believe that organized subjects provide the most accurate
and efficient way to learn about reality. This systematic inquiry into
subjects like history, botany, and political science helps students
understand reality.
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2. Realism: Key Concepts
Axiology
• Realists believe that intelligent rational behavior should be
governed by certain rules, as humans are most human when
they act rationally.
 Aristotle defined humans as rational animals, indicating
rational decision-making based on knowledge.
Logic
• Realist teachers use logic, both deductively and inductively,
to make decisions based on knowledge.
 For example, in a botany class, students can use
induction to determine the correct locations and amounts
of fertilizer and water for each rose.
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2. Realism
Educational
Implications
• Realism in formal education focuses on knowledge about
the world we live in, organized into subject-matter
disciplines like history, languages, science, and
mathematics.
 Realists believe that schools should be
academic institutions that provide students
with knowledge about the objective world,
ensuring all individuals have a rational
potential.
 They oppose sorting students into separate
academic and vocational tracks, promoting a
common academic curriculum to prepare them
for rational decision-making.
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2. Realism
Application to
Schools and
Classrooms
• In realist classrooms,
• Teachers aim to align students' ideas with reality by
teaching skills and subjects based on authoritative
knowledge.
• They prioritize cognitive learning and subject-matter
mastery, opposing nonacademic activities that interfere
with the school's primary purpose.
• Preservice preparation for teachers prioritizes subject-
matter knowledge and competency, with a general
education in liberal arts and sciences.
• Realist teachers use various methods, such as lecture,
discussion, demonstration, and experiment, with content
mastery being the most important.
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2. Realism
Application to
Schools and
Classrooms
• Realists support the use of standards, such as
the Common Core State Standards, to establish
academic achievement benchmarks.
• They believe that students need to be competent in
reading and mathematics, as well as basic skills in
English, higher mathematics, science, and history.
• Standardized tests provide reliable assessment of
students' understanding of these subjects.
• Realists welcome the use of standards, such as the
Common Core State Standards, to ensure students
progress through elementary and high school and
college.
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3. Pragmatism
What is Pragmatism?
 A philosophy that assesses the
validity of ideas by acting on and
testing them; the consequences of
such action determines an idea's
viability.
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Foundings of
Pragmatism
• Charles S. Peirce: Advocated for empirical validation of ideas using the scientific method.
• William James: Applied pragmatic philosophy to psychology, religion, and education.
• George Herbert Mead: Promoted the idea that children develop and learn through
interaction with their environment.
• John Dewey: Advocated for democracy as the fairest and most equitable society, applying
his experimentalism to education.
Dewey's View
on Education
• Influenced by Darwin’s theory of evolution, Dewey applied the terms "organism and
environment" to education.
• He saw humans as biological, social, and verbal organisms that use their impulses to
promote growth and development.
• Education aimed to promote experiences that contribute to optimum human growth.
• Dewey's experimental epistemology views thinking and learning as problem-solving, using
the scientific method to test experience and apply it to various problematic situations.
3. Pragmatism

3. Pragmatism (experimentalism) Key Concepts
Metaphysics
• rejects metaphysics as empirically unverifiable speculation
and instead focuses on how we construct knowledge through
our interactions with our social, cultural, and natural
environments.
Epistemology
• Pragmatism is a philosophy that emphasizes the importance of epistemology in
understanding how we construct knowledge in a constantly changing world.
• Experience, defined as the interaction of the person with the environment, is a
key pragmatist concept.
 A person’s interaction with his or her social, cultural, and natural environments
constitutes the process of living, growing, and developing.
 This interaction may alter or change both the person and the environment. Knowing
comes from a transaction—a process—between the learner and the environment.’”
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3. Pragmatism (experimentalism) Key Concepts
Axiology
• Pragmatic axiology emphasizes the importance of personal and social
growth, rejecting inherited values.
 It values what contributes to personal and social growth, rather than
limiting it.
 Values are situational and culturally relative in a constantly
changing world.
Logic
• Experimentalist logic, following the scientific method, is
inductive, requiring further testing and revision for truth
claims.
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3. Pragmatism
Educational
Implications
• Pragmatists focus on the process of constructing, using, and testing ideas in
education, rather than transmitting permanent truths.
• They advocate for interdisciplinary education, using information from multiple
sources to solve problems.
• Pragmatists see schools as local communities connected to society, with three main
functions: simplifying, purifying, and balancing cultural heritage.
 They simplify by reducing complexity to units appropriate to learners'
readiness, interest, and prior experience.
 They purify by removing cultural elements that limit human interaction and
growth.
 They aim to help learners integrate their experiences for personal and social
meaning.
• Pragmatists believe that schools should build community consensus by emphasizing
common problems and using shared processes to solve them.
• They advocate for openness and resource sharing among people of all cultures,
promoting a pluralistic multicultural society.
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3. Pragmatism
Application to
Schools and
Classrooms
• Pragmatist teachers focus on teaching students
to solve problems using the scientific method
as an interdisciplinary approach.
 They facilitate student research ad activities,
suggesting resources for problem-solving, and
encourage students to apply the method to personal,
social, and intellectual problems.
 Pragmatist teachers aim for collaborative learning
communities where students share interests and
problems, and stress multicultural communication.
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3. Pragmatism
Application to
Schools and
Classrooms
• Pragmatists question the standards movement,
particularly the Common Core State Standards, which
emphasizes successful learning as mastering subjects
and relies on standardized testing.
 They argue that the Core rationale burdens
students with antecedent goals and expectations
set by expert academicians and corporate testing
agencies.
 Pragmatist teachers may focus instruction on
passing tests rather than problem-solving skills.
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3. Pragmatism:
Application to Schools and Classrooms
A pragmatist lesson–
How might we apply
pragmatism to
classroom teaching?
1. Establish the issue’s context: Why is this an issue? Who supports
and who opposes using standardized tests to set national
standards?
2. Define the problem’s key terms.
3. Conduct interdisciplinary research and locate information
about the issue from various sources such as professional
educators, educational psychologists, government agencies,
parents’organizations, and state and federal legislators.
4. Conjecture possible solutions, ranging from acceptance to
rejection of the proposition.
5. Resolve the issue by reaching consensus and acting—for
example, carry out an agreement to write a position paper and
send it to newspapers, journals, and decision makers.
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4. Existentialism
What is Existentialism?
 A philosophy that encourages
individuals to define themselves by
making significant personal
choices.
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Existentialism: A
Philosophy of
Desperation and Hope
• Existentialism is a process of philosophizing, representing feelings of desperation and hope.
• It encourages personal reflection on identity, commitments, and choices.
• Jean-Paul Sartre's statement, "Existence precedes Existence," emphasizes the role of human
imagination. Sartre believes humans are born into a world we did not choose to be in, but
possess the power to make choices and create their own purposes.
• Existentialism emphasizes human freedom and responsibility for choice
• Questions:
• Who am I? What am I doing here, and why am doing it? What difference does my presence make to
myself and to the world? “Do I choose to be a self-determined person, or am I content to let others
define me?”
• Existentialism emphasizes human freedom and responsibility for choice.
• It differs from idealist and realist beliefs, which see the individual in a meaningful and
explainable world.
• Existentialism focuses on the concept of angst or dread, allowing individuals to make meaningful
choices about freedom, love, peace, war, and justice.
• Existentialism sees hope behind the desperation, recognizing each person's potential for being,
loving, and creating.
4. Existentialism

4. Existentialism: Educational Implications
Metaphysics
• Rejecting antecedent metaphysical descriptions that define the person at the
moment of birth.
• Reality: is subjective with “Existence precedes Essence.”
• Existentialists assert that Human being as the creator of his or her own essence.
Epistemology
• Knowing is to make personal choices (we possess the personal power, the will,
to make choices and to create our own purposes for existence.)
• The individual chooses the knowledge that he or she wishes to appropriate
into his or her life.
Axiology
• Existentialists consider axiology most important because human beings create
their own values through their choices.
 We are what we choose to be.
 Human beings create their own values through their choices.
 Freedom is total and as our responsibility for choice.
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4. Existentialism
Aim • Education aims to awaken consciousness about freedom to
choose and create self-awareness.
Teaching and
Learning
• Teachers and students should engage in discussions about their lives and
choices, allowing for open-ended personal philosophizing.
• Curriculum including literature, biography, drama, and film can be valuable
in this context. Students should read books, discuss plays, and experiment with
various forms of expression.
Technology
• Educational technology that portrays personal choice and freedom plays a
role in existentialist education.
• Misuse of technologies like social media should be viewed as oppression that
limits freedom.
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4. Existentialism
Applications
to Schools and
Classrooms
• Teaching from an existentialist perspective is
challenging due to the imposed curricula and standards
in schools, which are often imposed by external
agencies.
• Existentialists argue that students should have
freedom to choose their own educational purposes
and oppose the standards movement's emphasis on a
common core curriculum and standardized testing.
• Instead, existentialist teachers encourage students
to examine institutions and create open classrooms
for self-directed learning.
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4. Existentialism
An
Existentialist
School:
Summerhill
• Summerhill School, founded by British educator
Alexander Sutherland Neill (1883-1973)
• Exemplifies existentialism by allowing students to
make their own educational choices.
• This approach, free from prescribed curriculum
and academic requirements, encourages students
to pursue their own educational agendas.
• Literature, drama, and film play a significant
role in existentialist teaching, as seen in a senior
high school history class studying the Holocaust
and Schindler's list.
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5. Postmodernism (postmodern era)
What is Postmodernism?
 A philosophy that is highly skeptical of
the truth of metanarratives, the canons
that purport to be authoritative statements
of universal or objective truth, Rather,
postmodernists regard these canons as
historical statements that rationalize one
group’s domination of another.
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5. Postmodernism
(postmodern era)
Postmodernism, originating from
German philosophers Friedrich
Nietzsche and Martin Heidegger,
asserts that the modern era has
ended and we live in a postmodern
era.
Postmodernism influences
humanities and philosophy, and has
implications for constructivism, a
psychology and education method.
Postmodernists question the
establishment of education standards
and curriculum, questioning who
determines skills and subjects, and
whether these standards establish
official knowledge and power
relationships among groups.

5. Postmodernism
Metaphysics
• Michel Foucault and Jacques Derrida were key figures in developing
postmodernism.
• Like Nietzsche, Foucault totally rejected the premodern idealist and realist claims that
there are universal and unchanging truths.
Epistemology
• Postmodernists analyze education through the lens of:
 Subordination–a powerful elite’s control of disempowered groups and classes–occurs
where powerful groups mandate certain educational requirements for less powerful
groups.
 Marginalization–the social,political, economic, and educational process of pushing
powerless groups to the edges of the society–occurs where schools focus on white male
achievements and ignore or reduce the histories of women and minorities.
• Derrida developed deconstruction, a method of a critical examination and dissection of texts
or canons to determine the power relationships embedded in their creation and use.
 A text is often a curriculum guide, a DVD, or a digital or print book, including a
textbook.
• Emphasizes the values of the marginalized persons and groups.
Axiology
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5. Postmodernism
In deconstructing a
canon or text,
postmodernists ask the
following questions:
1. What people, events, and situations at a
particular time gave prominence to the canon?
2. Who gives a canon a privileged status in a
culture or society, and who benefits from its
acceptance as an authority?
3. Does the canon exclude underrepresented and
marginalized individuals and groups?
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5. Postmodernism: Application to Schools and Classrooms
Aim
• Postmodernist teachers aim to raise students' consciousness about social inequalities by
deconstructing traditional assumptions about knowledge, education, schooling, and instruction.
Teaching and
Learning
• Postmodernists view American public schools as battlegrounds in the struggle for
social, political, or economic equality.
 argue that public schools reproduce a patriarchal, Eurocentric, and capitalist society, with
marginalized experiences.
 challenge traditional canons of Western culture, arguing that underrepresented groups should
be included in the curriculum.
• Instruction is referred to as a "representation" where teachers use narratives, stories,
images, and music to inform students about reality and values.
• Postmodernists …
 urge teachers to critically examine their representations to students, representing a wider but
more inclusive range of human experience.
 do not emphasize the scientific method as it is elevated to the sole method of arriving at
verifiable claims to truth.
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5. Postmodernism: Application to Schools and Classrooms
Teacher roles
• Teachers should empower themselves as professional
educators by deconstructing school's purpose, curriculum,
and organization.
• Real empowerment means that teachers need to take
responsibility for determining their own futures and for
encouraging students to determine their own lives.
• Empowering teachers and students begins in schools and
communities, requiring a site-based educational philosophy, by asking (1)
who actually controls their school, establishes the curriculum, and sets
academic standards; (2) what motivates those who control the school; and
(3) what rationale justifies the existing curriculum?
• This deconstructive analysis challenges special economic and political
groups, transforming society.
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5. Postmodernism
What would a
postmodernist lesson be
like?
Postmodernist Lesson in American
History Class:
1. Examine marginalization of Mexicans in territories ceded to
the US post-Mexico War.
2. Deconstruct textbooks to identify biases and positions.
3. Discuss subordinate social and economic status of Chicanos in
southwestern states.
4. Include journal assignment to explore feelings of power or
marginalization.
5. Suggest actions to make voices heard constructively.
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Four Educational Theories
Essentialism Perennialism
Progressivism Critical theory
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Comparison
Educational philosophies
• present highly
generalized views of
reality
Educational theories
• examine the role and
functions of schools,
curriculum, teaching, and
learning.
• Some theories derived from
philosophies
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1. Essentialism (rooted in idealism & realism)
 To develop basic skills of
literacy and numeracy and
subject-matter knowledge
 These will prepare
children to function
effectively in a
democratic society.
Aim
 Basic skills, essential subject matter—history,
mathematics, language, science, computer
literacy (As human sources for cultural understanding,
intellectual power, and useful knowledge)
- Sequential: lower-order skills  more complex
higher-order ones.
- Cumulative: what is learned at a lower grade level
 knowledge in succeeding grades or levels
Curriculum
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2. Essentialism
What is Essentialism?
 An educational theory that emphasizes basic skills
and subject-matter disciplines.
 Proponents favor a curriculum consisting of
reading, writing, and arithmetic at the elementary
level and five major disciplines (English, math,
science, history, and foreign language) at the
secondary level.
 Emphasis is on academic competition and
excellence.
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1. Essentialism
(rooted in idealism
& realism)
• Essentialism is a philosophy that emphasizes the importance of schools
transmitting the achievements of human civilization to students through a
carefully organized and sequenced curriculum.
• William C. Bagley, a leading essentialist professor of education, believed that
schools should provide all students with the skills and knowledge needed to
function in a democratic society.
• Essential knowledge includes literacy, computation, history, mathematics,
science, languages, and literature.
• Bagley crafted a finely tuned program of teacher education that moved teachers
from pre-service to professional classroom practice.
• Arthur E. Bestor, Jr., reconceptualized essentialist principles into basic
education theory, advocating for a sound education in intellectual
disciplines.
 Essentialists argue that popular methods that neglect systematic instruction in basic skills
have led to a decline in academic performance and civility.
 Social-promotion policies, which advance students to higher grades, have further eroded
academic standards.
 A morally permissive environment in schools has weakened fundamental values of civility,
social responsibility, and patriotism.
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Contemporary
Essentialist
Trends
• Since the 1980s, there has been a movement to
reintroduce essentialism in American education
through the Nation at Risk report, the NCLB Act, and
the Common Core State Standards initiative.
• These initiatives have emphasized key basic skills
like reading and mathematics, and standardized
tests to measure academic achievement.
• The Common Core State Standards, announced in
2010, have a modified essentialist orientation,
identifying English and mathematics as essential
subjects for success in education and life.
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1. Essentialism: Educational Implications
Essentialist
View on
Education
• Essentialists advocate for schools and teachers to focus on their primary
academic mission, focusing on teaching students basic skills and
subjects for effective functioning in a democratic society.
• Essentialists advocate for a subject-matter curriculum that differentiates
and organizes subjects according to their internal logical or
chronological principles.
• Essentialists reject innovative learning approaches like constructivism
and authentic assessment, arguing that civilized people learn effectively
when they acquire knowledge from experts.
• Curriculum content should be based on the time-tested experience of the
human race, with genuine freedom coming from staying with a task and
mastering it.
• Essentialists also advocate for teacher-directed instruction, arguing that
children have the right to expect trained professionals to guide their
learning.
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1. Essentialism: Application to Schools and Classrooms
Aim and teacher
Roles
• Essentialists believe education aims to transmit and maintain fundamental
human culture, with schools preserving and passing these skills on to future
generations.
• Effective educators/teachers should (1) adhere to a carefully structured curriculum
of basic skills and subjects; (2) inculcate traditional Western and American values
of patriotism, hard work, effort, punctuality, respect for authority, and civility; (3)
manage classrooms efficiently, effectively, and fairly as spaces of discipline and
order; and (4) promote students on the basis of academic achievement, not social
considerations.
Essentialist
Lesson
• Essentialist teachers use deductive logic to organize instruction, teaching basic
concepts and factual information. They lead students to make generalizations
based on their knowledge. For example,
 High school American history class studying the controversy between Booker T.
Washington and W. E. B. Du Bois.
 Teachers assign primary sources and lead discussions to identify differences in
background, education, and policy.
 Students develop generalizations about their actions and assess their influence in
African American and US history
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2. PERENNIALISM
What is PERENNIALISM?
 An educational theory that emphasizes
rationality as the major purpose of education,
asserting that the essential truths are recurring
and universally true.
 Proponents generally favor a curriculum
consisting of the language arts, literature,
and mathematics at the elementary level,
followed by the classics, especially the
“great books,” at the secondary and higher
levels.
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Perennialism and
Essentialism
• Perennialism, derived from Aristotle and Aquinas' realist philosophy, asserts that
education should be universal and authentic across all periods and cultures.
• Education's primary purpose is to bring each new generation in contact with truth
by cultivating rationality.
• Perennialist epistemology posits that people possess a potentiality to know and a
desire to find the truth, activated by exposure to humankind's highest achievements.
Perennialism and
Idealism
• Perennialism is congenial to idealism, but leading perennialists like Jacques
Maritain, Robert Hutchins, and Mortimer Adler base their theories on
Aristotle’s and Thomas Aquinas’s realism.
• They oppose turning schools into multipurpose agencies, especially
economic ones that emphasize vocational training.
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Perennialism and
Curriculum
• Perennialism advocates for a curriculum that includes permanent studies
that emphasize recurrent themes of human life and cultivates rationality and
moral, aesthetic, and religious values.
• Curriculum should include history, language, mathematics, logic, literature,
the humanities, and science.
• Religious perennialists like Jacques Maritain also include religion and
theology in the curriculum.
Perennialism and
Great Books
Curriculum
• Robert Hutchins recommended reading and discussing the great books of
Western civilization to stimulate intellectual dialogue and critical thinking.
• Maritain endorsed the great books as indispensable for understanding the
development of civilization, culture, and science.
• For Maritain, elementary education should develop correct language usage,
cultivate logical thinking, and introduce students to history and science.
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1. Perennialism: Educational Implication
• Asserts equal right to high-quality intellectual
education for all students in a democratic
society.
• Opposes tracking of students into academic
and vocational curricula.
• Opposes ethical relativism in pragmatism and
postmodernism.
• Condemns ethical and cultural relativism for
denying universal standards for moral right or
wrong.
Perennialist
Perspective on
Education
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1. Perennialism: The Paideia Proposal
The Paideia
Proposal
Mortimer J. Adler's Paideia Proposal: An
Educational Manifesto
• Revival of perennialism, referring to a person's complete educational
and cultural formation.
• Opposes streaming students into different curricular tracks for high-
quality schooling.
• Curriculum includes language, literature, fine arts, mathematics,
natural sciences, history, geography, and social studies.
• Aims to develop intellectual skills like reading, writing, speaking,
listening, calculating, observing, measuring, estimating, and problem-
solving.
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2. Perennialism: Applications to Schools and Classrooms
Perennialist
Approach to
Education
• Perennialists believe schools should develop students' reasoning powers by
studying great cultural works of Western civilization.
• Teachers need an education in liberal arts and sciences and to read and discuss
these works.
• Primary grades should teach fundamental skills and stimulate a desire for
learning.
• Secondary teachers should emphasize enduring human concerns in history,
literature, drama, art, and philosophy.
• Perennialists advocate for high academic standards based on intellectual
content, especially knowledge of classics.
• Technology, such as Kindle and social networking tools, can
enhance communication about classics.
• Perennial themes can become memories that speak across
generations, as seen in a middle-school literature class discussing
Louisa May Alcott's Little Women.
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3. Progressivism (rooted in pragmatism)
What is progressivism?
 An anti-traditionalist theory in American
education associated with child-centered
learning through activities, problem
solving, and projects.
 The Progressive Education Association
promoted progressivism as an
educational movement.

 Originated as a reform movement in American society and politics in the late 19th and early
20th centuries.
 Advocated for school reform and opposition to traditional education.
 Different factions aimed for curriculum and instruction changes.
 Child-centered progressives sought to liberate children from authoritarian
schools
 Social reconstructionists aimed to use schools for societal reform.
 Administrative progressives aimed for efficient, cost-effective schools.
 Progressive educators opposed essentialism and perennialism.
 Educators like Marietta Johnson, William H. Kilpatrick, and G. Stanley Hall rebelled
against rote memorization and authoritarian classroom management.
Progressivism: A Historical Overview
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Marietta
Johnson
• Founder of the Organic School in Fairhope, Alabama, advocated for child-centered
progressive education.
• She believed that children should follow their own internal timetables and not be pushed to do
things they are not developmentally ready for.
• Johnson's activity-based curriculum focused on physical exercise, nature study, music, crafts,
storytelling, dramatizations, and games.
• She also designed a teacher-education program that emphasized caring, effective teachers,
knowledge of child and adolescent development, and a commitment to social justice.
Heard
Kilpatrick
• Kilpatrick, a professor at Columbia University’s Teachers College, emphasized progressivism in teacher
preparation.
• He restructured Dewey’s problem-solving into the project method, based on three principles: genuine
education, enriched learning through collaborative research and information sharing, and teachers'
guidance without dominating learning.
• Kilpatrick designed four types of projects: (1) implementing creative ideas, (2) enjoying aesthetic
experiences, (3) solving intellectual problems, and (4) learning new skills. This open-ended approach
transformed classrooms into collaborative learning communities.
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Using these
principles,
Kilpatrick
described
four types of
projects
implementi
ng a
creative
idea or
plan
enjoying an
aesthetic
experience
solving an
intellectual
problem
learning a new
skill or area of
knowledge
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3. Progressivism – Key Concepts
Progressive Education Association
 Opposed authoritarian teachers, book-based instruction, passive memorization, isolation of schools,
and coercion in classroom management.
 Advocated for child's natural development, interest as the best learning stimulus, teacher facilitation,
close cooperation among school, home, and community, and progressive schools as laboratories for
educational ideas and practices.
 Experimented with alternative curricula using activities, experiences, problem-solving, and projects.
 Child-centered progressive teachers aimed to free children from conventional restraints and
repression.
 Social reconstructionists, led by George Counts and Harold Rugg, aimed to make schools centers of
larger social reforms.
 What is Social Reconstructionism?
 The theory developed by a group of progressive educators who believe schools should
deliberately work for social reform and change.
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3. Progressivism – Educational Implications
 Progressives view knowledge as an instrument for accomplishing a purpose, derived from
various sources.
 They advocate for technology as an open means of accessing information in a larger community
setting.
 Progressives believe that children's readiness and interests should shape curriculum and
instruction.
 They resist the imposition of standards by government agencies and special interest groups as a
form of authoritarian control.
 Progressive teachers use a repertoire of learning activities such as problem-solving, field trips,
creative artistic expression, and projects.
 Constructivism, like progressivism, emphasizes socially interactive and process-oriented learning.
 Progressives warn against separating preservice from practice in professional education.
 Preservice experiences should be directly connected to classroom practice, not regarded as
preparatory.
 Practice should be a continuous process of in-service professional development.
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Progressivism - Applications to Schools and Classrooms
 The West Tennessee Holocaust Project: A Case Study of Cultural Respect and
Understanding:
 The project was initiated by teachers and students at Whitwell Middle School in Whitwell, Tennessee,
aiming to teach respect for different cultures and understand the consequences of intolerance.
 The project was inspired by the Norwegian paper clip protest against the Nazi occupation, and the
students decided to collect six million paper clips to create a memorial to the six million Jewish victims
of the Holocaust.
 The project was a collaborative effort, with the students collecting paper clips from family and friends,
setting up a website, and asking for donations.
 The project was discovered by German journalists Peter Schroeder and Dagmar Schroeder-Hildebrand,
who wrote articles about the project that appeared in Germany and Austria.
 The project was a culturally enriching experience for the students, as they met people from another
country for the first time.
 The project also involved the students visiting the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC, where they
housed their paper clip collection in a German railroad car.
 The project was a collaborative effort that brought residents and students together, gaining attention,
becoming a book, and becoming an international cause.
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4. Critical Theory )
What is Critical theory (critical pedagogy)?
 A theory of education which contends that some
public-school systems limit educational opportunities
for students marginalized due to race, class, and
gender biases.
 Proponents argue that teachers should be
“transformative intellectuals” who work to change
the system. Also known as “critical discourse.”
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4. Critical Theory (rooted in neo-Maxism & postmodernism)
• Critical Theory in Education
Advocates for rigorous critique of schools and society to
uncover exploitative power relationships.
Draws assumptions from postmodernist, existentialist, neo-
Marxism, feminist, multicultural theories, and Paulo Freire's
liberation pedagogy.
Leading philosophers include Henry Giroux and Peter
McLaren.
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4. Critical Theory – Key Concepts
• Critical Theory and Karl Marx's Ideas
 Marx's ideas have influenced critical theory, viewing human history as a class
struggle for social and economic power.
 Critical theorists use Marxist concepts like class conflict and alienation to
analyze social and educational institutions.
 Critical consciousness requires acknowledging that an individual's social status is
determined by race, ethnicity, gender, and class.
 The dominant socioeconomic class maintains its favored position and
subordinates disadvantaged classes.
 Critical education can help subordinated classes become aware of their
exploitation, resist domination, and empower themselves.
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4. Critical Theory – Educational Implications
• Critical theorists aim to raise awareness about power dynamics in education,
particularly those forced into marginal positions due to poverty, race, ethnicity,
language, class, or gender.
• Schools
 They argue that economically, politically, and socially dominant classes control and use
schools to maintain their privileged social and economic position.
 Schools in economically disadvantaged areas, such as urban and rural areas, serve the
poor, African Americans, and Latinos, often underfunded and lacking resources.
 Schools are often ensnared in large, hierarchical educational bureaucracies, with
teachers having little decision-making power.
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• Curriculum
 The curriculum is determined by higher-level administrators, with little room for local initiatives.
 Two curricular spheres identified by critical theorists are the formal official curriculum and the
"hidden" curriculum.
 The official curriculum transmits the dominant classes' beliefs and values as the legitimate
version of knowledge for all students.
 Hidden Curriculum refers to “What students learn, other than academic content, from the school
milieu or environment. “
 The "hidden" curriculum imposes approved dominant group behaviors and attitudes on students
through the school climate.
• Critical theorists believe that teachers can transform schools into democratic public spheres, raising the
consciousness of the exploited and empowering the dispossessed.
• The multicultural society in the United States provides many versions of the American experience,
allowing members of each racial, ethnic, and language group to tell their own stories.
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Formal official Curriculum
• The officially mandated curriculum
contains skills and subjects
purposely mandated and transmitted
to students.
• The dominant classes use the
official curriculum to transmit their
particular beliefs and values as the
legitimate version of knowledge for
all students.
Hidden curriculum
• What students learn, other than
academic content, from the school
milieu or environment.
▫ imposes approved behaviors and
attitudes on students through the
school environment.
• Teachers as critically minded
activists: can transform schools into
democratic public spheres in which the
consciousness of the exploited is raised
and the dispossessed are empowered.

Critical theorist pre-
service teachers and
practitioners–focus
on issues that relate
to power and
control in school
and society.
(1) find out who their real friends are in the
struggle for control of schools;
(2) learn who their students are by helping them
explore their own self-identities;
(3) collaborate with local people for school and
community improvement;
(4) join with like-minded teachers in teacher-
controlled professional organizations that
work for genuine educational reform;
(5) participate in critical dialogues about political,
social, economic, and educational issues that
confront
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Critical Theorists' Perspective on Teachers' Professional Lives
 Teachers should focus on power and control issues in schools and society.
 Teachers should understand their students' self-identities and collaborate with local communities.
 Teachers should join professional organizations to empower themselves and participate in critical
dialogues on political, social, economic, and educational issues.
 State boards, not teachers' professional organizations, determine teachers' professional lives.
 Michael Apple, a neo-Marxist curriculum theorist, warns that educational technology may not bring
genuine change unless it addresses root issues of discrimination and poverty.
 Students should construct their knowledge and values in their local contexts.
 Teachers should begin consciousness-raising by examining local conditions and students can create
collaborative group autobiographies.
 Teachers can use autobiographical writing as a teaching method, connecting group autobiographies to
larger histories of their economic classes and racial, ethnic, and language groups.
 A multicultural display can be created to illustrate the lives and cultures of the people who live in the
local community.
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Constructing your philosophy of education
1. What is truth, and how do we know and teach it?
2. How do we know what is good and bad and right and wrong, and
how can we teach ethical values and encourage moral behavior in
our students ?
3. How can schools and teachers exemplify what is true and valuable?
4. How do teaching and learning reflect one’s beliefs about truth and
value?
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CH 6_Philosophical roots of Education.pptx

CH 6_Philosophical roots of Education.pptx

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