Perennialism

 Perennialism was prevalent in

the early seventies in U. S.
 reveres the experience of
teachers who have been there.
 Heavy orientation to the past 20
years--almost nil attention to
the future
 Perennialism

 Perennialist like to
teach time-
honored curricula,
including the
classics such as
Plato and Aristotle
 They don’t like
change.
 Perennials
 Nature,
• including human nature, is
constant
 Education
• is preparation for future life
 Math, science, and particularly
literature are important
• they expose learners to
• the rigors of logical thought
• the great ideas that have endured
throughout history.
• (Classics)
 Perennialism

 They would
include subjects • Algebra
such as: • Trigonometry
• Geometry • Ancient
• English Geography
literature • World history
• World • U.S. History
Geography
• Bookkeeping
 Perennials
 Ex. Classic works ranging from
Homer’s Iliad to Darwin’s The
Origin of Species

 Critics question
• the value of distant and abstract ideas for
poorly motivated and intellectually
unprepared students.

 They also suggest

• that it is the elitists that places too much
emphasis on ideas that are unrelated to the
student’s lives.
 Progressivism

• Problem solving and learning

concepts
• Curriculum that focuses on real-
world problem solving and
individual development
• Insurance advertised: Progressive
Insurance
 Critics say:
• places too much emphasis on
student’s interests and self-
esteem
 Perennialism

 Aims to develop student’s intellectual and

moral qualities.
 They emphasize that students should not be
taught information that may soon be outdated
or found to be incorrect.
 Classrooms are centered on teachers.
 It ensures that students acquire understandings
about the great ideas of Western civilization.
 Perennialism

 teaches concepts and focuses on

knowledge and the meaning of
knowledge.
 Aimed at teaching students ways of
thinking that will secure individual
freedoms, human rights, and
responsibilities through the nature.
Essentialism and
Perennialism
 Are wary of
• learner-centered education
and the focus on learner
self-esteem.
 Essentialists
• emphasize knowledge and
skills that are useful in
today’s world.
The Advocates
ROBERT MAYNARD HUTCHINS

- Developed a Great Books program in 1963.

“ It is the task of every generation to reassess the

tradition in which it lives, to discard what it cannot
use, and to bring into context with the distant and
intermediate past the most recent contributions to
the Great conversation.”
 MORTIMER J. ADLER
[1902-2001]

 further developed curriculum based

on 100 great books of western
civilization.
 our political democracy depends upon the
reconstruction of our schools. Our schools are not
turning out young people prepared for the high
office and the duties of citizenship in a democratic
republic. Our political institutions cannot thrive,
they may not even survive, if we do not produce a
greater number of thinking citizens,
 Allan David Bloom

 believed that a liberal education with a judicious use of

great texts was the essential element of education.
 He believed that the Great Books were the vehicles of the
best of 2500 years of reflection on the most permanent and
important questions one can face as an individual and as
society.
 firmly believed that a person could not truly examine life
except through serious sustained study and thought on
these texts.
 Allan David Bloom

 argues that the social and political crisis of

twentieth century America is really an intellectual
crisis.

 Bloom blamed high technology, the 

sexual revolution, and the introduction of cultural
diversity into the curriculum at the expense of the
classics, which in turn produced students without
wisdom or values.
 Perennialist Evaluation
Methodology

 Teacher-made tests
 Standardized test
 Memory work (“mind is a
muscle”)
 Spelling bees
Classroom Management

 Assign seats in rows.

 Be strict, but not necessarily
expert, with punishment and
reward.
 Set up classroom rules.
 Orientation Expected

 Self-contained knowledge--
teacher is supposed to know all
the answers
 Teacher is the “fountain of all
knowledge.”
 Students are passive listeners
 Future Orientation for
Perennialists

 Expect future to continue in the

same vein as the present
 Belief that knowing the classics
of the past will equip students
for the future
 Where Perennialism
Shines
 Perennialism does help to
dampen the uncertain effects of
the fads that come to education
 Not every new idea is a good
one, or one that will even be
effective.
 Perennialism plays well to
traditional communities
progressivism
 DEFINITION

• Progressivism is a theory of education that is

concerned with “learning by doing” and purports that
children learn best when pursuing their own interests
and satisfying their own needs.

• Progessivists believe that people learn best from what

they consider most relevant to their lives.
Progessivists center curriculum on their needs,
experiences, interest and abilities of student. Provoke
curiosity in students.
 progressivism
 progressivism is the belief that education must be
based on the principle that humans are social animals
who learn best in real-life activities with other people.

 Progressivists, like proponents of most educational

theories, claim to rely on the best available scientific
theories of learning. Most progressive educators
believe that children learn as if they were scientists
 progressivism

 The term "progressive" was engaged to distinguish

this education from the traditional curriculum of
the 19th century, which was rooted in classical
preparation for the university and strongly
differentiated by socioeconomic level. By
contrast, progressive education finds its roots in
present experience.
ADVOCATES
 John Dewey

 John Dewey believed

that people learn best
from social
interaction in the real
world.

 He believed that book

learning was no
substitute for actually
doing things.
Jean Piaget (1896-1980)

•Believed that the principal goal of

education in the schools should be
creating men and women who are
capable of doing new things,

• not simply repeating what other

generations have done; men and
women who are creative, inventive and
discoverers, who can be critical and
verify, and not accept, everything they
are offered.
 Goal of
progressivism
 The goal of progressivism is for
students to become intelligent
problem solvers.
 Students will be socially aware
citizens who are prepared to
live comfortably in the world.
 What is
progressivism?

• The idea that students learn best from what they

consider relevant in their lives.
• Students work in groups to learn cooperation
and social skills.
• Importance on skills that will help them for the rest
of their life not just for tests.
• Help students to formulate meaningful questions and
devise strategies to answer these questions.
 The focus on
progressivism
• Individual growth from within through
interaction with a favorable
environment.
• Learning through experience.
• A speculative view of knowledge.
• Natural learning processes and stages
of development.
• Learner as a whole person.
 What do students
do?

• Work in small groups.

• Work on different projects in
different groups
 What do teachers
do?

 Instead of talking in front of the room, the

teacher will be walking around.
 Teacher would not be worried about
standardized testing.
 Teacher will use computer simulations.
 Instructional Methods and
Classroom Management
• Design group assignments.
• Give experiment based projects.
• Engage them in social activities by
teaching them social responsibilities and
democracy.
• Relate day to day activities with real life.
• Selection of subject content by looking
forward to ask what skills will be needed
in future society?
• Curriculum as per the students needs.
 Why
progressivism?

• Bring progressivism to the classroom.

• Students should not just be taught for a
test, they should be taught to handle
themselves in the real world.
• Social skills are also very important in a
society.
• A teacher should make sure that the
students are interested in learning.
Progressivism Points to
remember

• Center of gravity is child

• Focus of philosophy is learning
,not the teacher ‘s teaching
• Education comes from the
experience of the child.