The Major Teacher-Centered Philosophies

The major teacher-centered philosophies of education are essentialism and perennialism.  Essentialism strives to teach students the accumulated knowledge of our civilization through core courses in the traditional academic disciplines.  Educators who are essentialists aim to instill students with the “essentials” of academic knowledge, patriotism, and character development.  The back-to-basics or traditional approach is meant to train the mind, promote reasoning, and ensure a common culture among all Americans.  The essentialist classroom urges that traditional disciplines such as math, science, history, foreign language and literature form the foundation of the curriculum also known as the core curriculum.  Essentialists frown upon electives that “water down” academic content.  Only by the mastery of the material are students promoted to the next grade level.  Essentialists maintain that classrooms should be oriented toward the teacher, who should serve as an intellectual and moral role model for their students.  The teachers specifically the administrators decide what is most important for the students to learn and place little emphasis on student interests, particularly when such interests divert time and attention from the academic curriculum.  Essentialist educators rely on achievement test scores to evaluate progress.  They also expect that students will leave school possessing not only basic skills and an extensive body of knowledge but also disciplined, practical minds, capable of applying the curriculum lessons and teachings in the real world.

            Perennialism is stated as being a cousin to essentialism because they both advocate teacher-centered classrooms, both tolerate little flexibility in the curriculum, both implement rigorous standards and both aim to sharpen students’ intellectual powers as well as enhance their moral qualities.  Perennialists organize their schools around books, ideas, and concepts.  They criticize essentialists for the vast amount of factual information they require students to absorb in their push for “cultural literacy”.  Perennial meaning “everlasting” and a perennialist education focuses on enduring themes and questions that span across the ages.  Perennialists recommend that students learn directly from the Great Books also known as the works by history’s finest thinkers and writers that are as meaningful today as they were when they were first written.  Perennialists also believe that the goal of education should be to develop rational thought and to discipline minds to think rigorously.  Their classroom focuses on the mastery of the three “Rs”, reading, ‘riting and ‘rithmetic. They see education as a sorting mechanism, a way to identify and prepare the intellectually gifted for leadership, while providing vocational training for the rest of society.  Those in society that may have received a religious education like myself, may recognize the perennialist philosophy.  Many parochial schools reflect the perennialist tradition with a curriculum focused on analyzing great religious books such as the Bible, the Talmud or the Koran, discerning moral truths and honoring those moral values. 

 What do you think about essentialism and perennialism?  Do you feel these are effective philosophies for the classroom?