Essentialism Philosophy Of Education

Term Paper: Philosophy of Education

Submitted by: Bhawna Kapoor (M2014EE004)

Philosophies of Education

Essentialism

Philosophy: Essentialism in education strives to instill students with the "essentials" of academic knowledge and character development. This philosophy was popularized in 1930s by the American educator William Bagley (1874-1946). In the Essentialist 's Platform, Bagley puts forward the principles underlying this philosophy. The first of them is that essentialists recognize the right of an immature student to the guidance of a well-educated, caring, and cultured teacher.

They propose that an effective democracy demands a democratic culture in which teachers impart the ideals of community to each succeeding generation of children.

As per Albear, essentialists frown upon vocational, adjusted, or other courses with "watered down" academic content. Elementary students receive instruction in skills such as writing, reading, measurement, and computers. Even while learning subjects associated with the development of creativity art and music, the students are required to master a body of information and basic techniques, moving from less to more complex skills and detailed knowledge. There is a preset study material for each grade level which students need to master to be promoted to the next higher grade. Essentialist programs are academically rigorous, for all kinds of learners, slow or fast. It is characterized by requirements such as a longer school day, a longer academic year, and more challenging textbooks. Essentialism is essentially a teacher oriented philosophy where the teacher serves as an intellectual and moral role model for the students. The teachers or administrators decide what is most important for the students to

Pedagogical Implications: For progressivists education is not preparation for life but it is life itself. So, the curriculum at school reflects the society. School is considered to be a miniature society where children from different backgrounds learn together by engaging themselves in activities characteristic of their community life. Also, the interests and inclinations of the child have an important role to play. The activities to be undertaken in the school by the child depend on them. Knowledge cannot be separated from the interests of a child. So, it can be said that students in such a school work in groups based on their interest areas. The traditional, compartmentalized curriculum with its numerous subjects has no place here. Rather, it is believed that these subjects are summaries of human experience, thus children should be given the opportunity to experience and then summarise their experiences. Considering the important example of Dewey’s laboratory school, children engage in various activities such as carpentary, cooking, gardening, etc. all characteristic of their community life and learn develop knowledge pertaining to various areas such as Math, natural sciences, geography etc. After that, they have the opportunity to learn more about them by sharing their ideas with their peers and utilizing the library resources. Teacher is a facilitator who has a role in suggesting problems to students and stimulating them to find solutions. Teachers never pour