RECONSTRUCTIONISM AND

EDUCATION
a. The Nature of reconstructionism
b. Reconstructionism as it relates to Experimentalism and Social Change
c. . The Semilarities and contrast of the metaphisical, epistemological and axiological
d. Position of Reconstruction to Idealism and Realism
Implications of reconstruction for the goals of education, curriculum and istruction
 MEMORY GAME

Theodore Burghard Hurt Brameld Paolo Freire

George Counts
“Founder of reconstructionism”
“Education does not change
“Schools should bring about the world, education changes
social change” the people who will change
the world”
WHO IS THIS
RECONSTRUCTIONIST?
PAOLO FREIRE
FOUNDER OF RECONSTRUCTIONISM
FOUNDER OF RECONSTRUCTIONISM

Theodore Burghard Hurt Brameld

GEORGE COUNTS BELIEVES
THAT______________________________________.
GEORGE COUNTS BELIEVED THAT “SCHOOLS
SHOULD BRING ABOUT SOCIAL CHANGE”.
 WHAT IS RECONSTRUCTIONISM?

• Two key terms in this term. From the prefix ‘’re” means
“again” so constructing again and constructionism
comes from “construct” so in other what this philosophy
really deals with reconstructing knowledge for the
students.
 WHAT IS RECONSTRUCTIONISM?

- A philosophical approach that questions essentialism

and other rigid and dogmatic standpoints. It questions the
existing standards in order to provide new perspectives to
the social, political , economical and other related issues.
 WHAT IS RECONSTRUCTIONISM?
• Also known as SOCIAL
RECONSTRUCTIONISM , this theory claims to
be the true successor of progressivism and
declares that the chief purpose of education is to “
RECONSTRUCT” society in order to meet the
cultural crisis brought about by social, political,
and economic problems.
 SOCIAL RECONSTRUCTIONISM?

is a philosophy that emphasizes the addressing

of social questions and a quest to create a
better society and worldwide democracy.
Typically a Reconstructionist focuses on a
curriculum that highlights social reform as the
aim of education.
 PHILOSOPHICAL ROOT

•PRAGMATISM
- a reasonable and logical way of doing
things or thinking about problems that is
based on dealing with specific situations
instead of ideas and theories
WHO IS THE FOUNDER OF SOCIAL
RECONSTUCTIONISM?
FOUNDER OF SOCIAL RECONSTUCTIONISM

Theodore Burghard Hurt Brameld (1904-1987

• * Theodore Brameld ( 1904-1987)
• was considered the founder of social reconstructionism.

• he recognized the potential for either human annihilation through

technology and human cruelty.

• and the use technology and human compassion to create a

beneficent society
• He founded social reconstructionism as a response to the
horrors of World War II
• He was a leading educational philosopher of the 20 th century
• An American educator and an education philosopher.
• He believed that education had the responsibility to mold
human beings into a cohesive and compassionate society
 NOTABLE
CONSTRUCTIVIST
GEORGE COUNTS (1889-1974)
 GEORGE COUNTS (1889-1974)
• - recognized that education was the means
of preparing people for creating this new
social order.
• believed that schools should bring about
social change.
PAOLO FREIRE( 1921- 1997)
 PAOLO FREIRE( 1921- 1997)
• a Brazilian whose experiences living in poverty led him to
champion education and literacy as the vehicle for social change
• humans must learn to resist oppression and not become its
victims, nor oppress others.
• saw teaching and learning as a process of inquiry in which the
child must invent and reinvent the world.
• “Education does not change the world, education changes the
people who will change the world”
 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF
RECONSTRUCTIONISM
• Reconstructionist ideas in one form or another have existed
throughout history.

• Plato, in preparing his design for a future state, was a

“reconstructionist” philosopher. He outlined a plan for a just state
in which education would become the building material for a new
and better society. In his book, Laws, he envisioned a time when
interest charges would be forbidden, profits would be limited, and
human beings would live as friends.
 • Stoic philosophers,
• particularly in their concern for a word state, promoted a
reconstructionist ideal

• Marcus Aurelius,
• a Roman emperor and philosopher, maintained that he was
a citizen of the world, not of Rome. This concept is one of
the reconstructionist articulate today in their attempts to
minimize nationalistic fervour and chauvinism.
• Agustine preached reconstructionist reforms to bring
about an ideal Christian state through his book The
City of God.

• Thomas More, Thomas Campanella, Johann Valentin

Andreae, Samuel Gott and other Christian utopian
writers also proposed things we might do to bring the
state into better accord with Christian thinking.
• Robert Owen and Edward Bellamy were part of the
industrial revolution, but saw the use of technology not
only for the production of wealth, but for improving the
lot of humanity throughout the world.

• Karl Marx, decrying the harm done to workers by the

dehumanization of the industrial system, who pictured a
reconstructed world based on international communism
• B.F. Skinner advocates the use of conditioning or “
behavioral engineering “ in his book Walden Two. In
his Beyond Freedom and Dignity, Skinner maintains
that people cannot afford freedom in the
traditional sense and that they must engineer a new
social order based on a technology of behavior.

• Horace Mann and John Dewey view education as a

tool for reform.

•
 MODERN
RECONSTRUCTIONISM
• Modern reconstructionism is basically pragmatic and owes a tremendous debt to Dewey.
Reconstructionists promotes such things as the scientific method, problem solving,
naturalism and humanism; however, reconstructionists diverse from pragmatists in how they
believe the pragmatic method should be used.

• Although pragmatism advocates continuous change and a forward- looking approach to the
problems of people and society it has become a tool for helping people adjust to society
rather than change it.

• Education , from the reconstructionist’s view, is a tool for immediate and continuous change.
PURPOSE OF SCHOOLING

• Critically examine all cultural and educational institutions and

recommended change and reform as needed.

• To teach students and the public not to settle for “ what is”
but rather to dream about “what might be”

• Prepare students to become agents for change.

 REFFERENCE
• https://www.slideshare.net/CarloLatriz/reconstructionism-61949112
• https://www.slideshare.net/gigilumbremondelo07/educatal-theories-social-reconstructionism