Educational perennialism

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EDUC 110

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Perennialism is the philosophy that holds that one should teach what has the maximum benefits to all the people. The important principles be should emphasized rather than the detail facts of a topic since facts constantly change and are therefore not important. It follows than that since people are human, one should teach first about humans, not machines or techniques. Since people are people first, and workers second if at all, one should teach liberal topics first, not vocational topics.

Modern perennialists employ the strategy of teaching scientific reasoning rather than the facts. They may illustrate the reasoning with original accounts of famous experiments. This gives the students a human side to the science, and shows the reasoning in action. Most importantly, it shows the uncertainty and false steps of real science (Travers & Rebore 2007). Teachers in Kenya should illustrate the reasoning behind some given factual information and apply the same to the environment so that the students can appreciate and underpin the scientific facts rather than making them photocopy these facts in their brains and books.

The teacher centered approach is applied by Perennialism since they are supposed to be endowed with adequate knowledge about the subject under study. However, the teacher can apply liberal methods such as group discussions among students to allow for their contribution on the information they may have about the given topic (Otiende & Sifuna 2001). Perennialism handles facts that recur again and again for years and years hence teachers have enough experience with these facts to extent that they may apply them even without referring to the textbooks. This implies that perennialists are educationally conservative in the requirement of a curriculum focused upon fundamental subject areas, but stress that the overall aim should be exposure to history’s finest thinkers as models for discovery. The student should be taught such basic subjects as English, languages, history, mathematics, natural science, philosophy, and fine arts (Hutchins 2003). Consequently, the curriculum should be based upon the common and essential nature of all human beings.

Perennialism advocates for education in Kenya should be based on a highly general-non specialized and non vocational program and should focus on the historical development of a continually developing common western base of human knowledge and art, the timeless value of classic thought on central human issues by landmark thinkers, and revolutionary ideas critical to historical western paradigm shifts or changes in world view (Hutchins 2003). Schools in Kenya should prepare students for the high office and the duties of citizenship in a democratic republic. The political institutions would never thrive if schools do not produce a greater number of thinking citizens.

Teachers in Kenya should follow the recommendations by perennialists that reading is to be supplemented with mutual investigations (between the teacher and the student) and minimally-directed discussions in order to develop a historically oriented understanding of concepts. Independent reasoning distinguishes the developed or educated mind and they thus stress the development of this faculty (Travers & Rebore 2007). A skilled teacher would keep discussions on topic and correct errors in reasoning, but it would be the class, not the teacher, who would reach the conclusions. While not directing or leading the class to a conclusion, the teacher may work to accurately formulate problems within the scope of the texts being studied. In addition Memorization of vast amounts of factual information and a focus on second-hand information in textbooks and lectures does not develop rational thought. They advocate learning through the development of meaningful conceptual thinking and judgement by means of a directed reading list of the profound, aesthetic, and meaningful books. Books (Otiende & Sifuna 2001).

The standard argument is for teachers to use modern texts to distil information into a form relevant to modern society (Kneller 2008). The historical debates and the development of ideas presented by the great books are relevant to any society, at any time, and thus that the suitability of the great books for instructional use is unaffected by their age.

References

George F. Kneller: (2008). Introduction to the Philosophy of Education, John Wiley & Sons, New York.

Robert Maynard Hutchins. (2003). Great Books: The Foundation of a Liberal Education, Simon & Schuster, New York.

Otiende & Sifuna. (2001). Themes in the Foundations of Education, Macmillan Publishers: London.

Paul D. Travers & Ronald W. Rebore. (2007). “Foundations of Education, Becoming a Teacher,” Prentice Hall, New York.