MODULE 2

PHILOSOPHICAL FOUNDATIONS OF THE

CURRICULUM
INTRODUCTION
A critical function of the philosophy of education is to give guiding principles and
directives to knowledge concerning the aims of education by which they are actualized.
Such a philosophy should necessarily give the basic principles to give an answer to the
philosophical question, What subject matter, experiences, and worthwhile activities are
essential to realize the raison detre (reason for living) of the school?
The curriculum is considered an important aspect of the science of education. It is
the content of education. It is the medium through which a philosophy of life is
transformed into reality. It converts potency into act. It mirrors the wisdom of the ages and
the findings of thinkers, educators, and researchers in the field of education. The
curriculum is held to reflect the values of society and the medium through which those
values are being transmitted from one generation to the next.
The curriculum includes all the experiences of the learner for which the school
assumes responsibility. In its broadest sense, the curriculum can be defined as the
organized experiences that a student has under the guidance and control of the school. In a
more precise and restricted sense, the curriculum is the systematic sequence of the
courses or subjects that form the schools formal instructional program.
For the traditional philosophies, the major goal of education is the transmission
and preservation of the cultural heritage. A curriculum consists of skills and subject matter,
the necessary tools in transmitting, in learnable units, to the immature for the survival of
civilization. The subject matter is arranged in a hierarchy, with priority given to subjects
regarded as more general, hence, more significant. The more recent philosophies are
more concerned with the process of learning. The curriculum which follows this idea
makes use of activities and projects, and experimental and problem solving modes that are
determined by the learners interests and needs.

General Objective
To know and understand the philosophy of education as a foundation to the study
of curriculum development.

Specific Objectives. After reading this module, you are expected to:
1.

Know and understand the major philosophies and theories of education.

2.

Analyze the major philosophies and theories of education in three aspects: aim,
curriculum, and methods of instruction.
3. Explain the relationship between the philosophical foundation of education
and the curriculum.
4. Answer the questions found at the last page of this module number.

Philosophy
Meaning of Philosophy
Philosophy in its literal sense means love of wisdom. In its broadest sense,
philosophy is mans attempt to think most speculative, reflectively, and systematically
about the universe in which he lives and his relationship to that universe. Its remarkable
feature is its effort to evaluate the sum total of human experience. Philosophy adds no new
facts to existing knowledge. It examines the facts provided by scientists and analyzes the
meaning, interpretation, significance and value of these facts. Most will accept the ideas
that philosophy is a systematic and logical examination of life so as to frame a system of
general ideas of which the sum total of human experience may be evaluated.
If education is to promote change for the better, than education has to turn to
philosophy to determine what that better is for a particular segment of society or for
society as a whole. Educational philosophy then is the application of philosophy to the
study of all factors affecting the aims and goals of education, its method, content and
organization in terms of human values as they affect the nature and purpose of man and
society.

Areas of Philosophy
Metaphysics deals with the nature of reality and existence. Idealists see reality in

non-material or spiritual terms; realists see reality in an objective order in educational

philosophy; metaphysics relates reality to the content, experiences and skills in the
curricula. The social and natural sciences are good venues in teaching reality to the learner.

Epistemology deals with the nature of knowledge and knowing and is closely
related to methods of teaching and learning. Idealists see knowing or cognitive learning as
the recall of ideas that are latent in the mind. The most appropriate method is the Socraticmethod where the teacher stimulates the students by asking leading questions which elicit,
ideas hidden in the learners mind. A teacher who used the realists formula of sensation
and abstraction would develop classroom activities that utilize sensory stimuli. The
pragmatists believe that people learn by interacting with the environment; hence, problem
solving is a very appropriate method of teaching and learning.

Axiology deals with values. Axiology is divided into ethics and aesthetics. Ethics
examines moral values and the rules of right conduct. Aesthetics deals with values, in
beauty and art Parents, teachers and society reward certain preferred behavior and punish
behavior that deviates from the concept of what is good, right and beautiful. Idealists and

realists agree that the good, the beautiful and the right are universally valid in all places at
all times while pragmatists believe that values are relative and vary in time and place.

PHILOSOPHIES OF EDUCATION
Idealism
Idealism is a philosophy that proclaims the spiritual nature of men and the
universe. Its basic viewpoint stresses the human spirit, soul or mind as the most important
element in life. It holds that the good, true, and beautiful are permanently part of the
structure of a related coherent, orderly, and unchanging universe. In idealism, all of reality
is reducible to one fundamental substance-spirit. Matter is not real. It is only the mind that
is real.

Educational Implications of Idealism:

Aim of Education to contribute to the development of mind and self, the school
should emphasize intellectual abilities, moral, judgments, aesthetics, self-realization,
individual freedom, individual responsibility and self-control.
Curriculum a body of intellectual subject matter which is ideational and
conceptual on subjects which are essential for the realization of mental and moral
development. Subject matter should be made constant for all. Mathematics, history, and
literate rank high in relevance since they are not only cognitive but value-laden.
Methodology methods to be used in instruction should encourage accumulation
of knowledge and thinking and must apply criteria for moral evaluation. Although learning
is a product of learners own activity, the learning process is made more efficient by the
stimulation which comes from the teacher and school environment. The idealist teacher
should be conversant with a variety of methods and should use the particular method that
is most effective in securing the desired results. Suggested methods are questioning and
discussion, lecture and of course, the project, whether done singly or in group.
Teacher-Learner Relationship. The teacher must be excellent mentally and
morally in personal conduct and convictions. The teacher must exercise creative skills and
providing opportunities for pupils minds to analyze, discover, synthesize and create. The
learner is immature and is seeking the perspective into his own personality. The teacher
should see his role in assisting the learner to realize the fullness of his own personality.
Realism
Realism may be defined as any philosophical position that asserts:
1. The objective existence of the world and begins in it and relations between these begins
independent of human knowledge and desires;
2. The know ability of these objects as they are in themselves;
3. The need for conformity to the objective reality in mans conduct.

Realists refer to those universal elements of man that are unchanging regardless of
time, place and circumstance. It is these universals that make up the elements in the
education of man. According to the realists, education implies teaching, teaching implies
knowledge, knowledge is truth and truth is the same everywhere. Hence, education should
be everywhere the same.

Educational Implications of Realism

Aim of Education
The aim of the education is to provide the student with the essential knowledge he
will need to survive in the natural world.

Curriculum
The realists believe that the most efficient and effective way to find out about reality
is to study it through organized, separate, and systematically arranged subject matter. This
is called the subject-matter approach to curriculum which is composed of two basic
components, the body of knowledge and the appropriate pedagogy to fit the readiness of
the learner. The liberal arts curriculum and the math science disciplines consist of a
number of related concepts that constitute the structure of the discipline.

Methodology
The teacher is expected to be skilled in both the subject matter that he teaches and
the method of teaching it to students. Formal schooling means the transmission of
knowledge from experts to the young and immature. The schools task is primarily an
intellectual one. The administrators role is to see to it that the teachers are not distracted
by recreational and social functions from performing their intellectual task of cultivating
and stimulating the learning students. In the elementary level, emphasis is on the
development of skills for reading, writing, arithmetic and study habits. In the secondary and
collegiate level, the body of knowledge regarded as containing the wisdom of the human
race will have to be transmitted in an authoritarian manner. Students will be required to
recall, explain, compare, interpret and make inferences. Evaluation is essential, making use
of objective measures. Motivation will be in the form of rewards to reinforce what has been
learned.

Teacher-Learner Relationship
The teacher is a person who possesses a body of knowledge and who is capable of
transmitting it to students. This is the kind of relationship stressed in realism. Teaching
should not be indoctrinating. Learning should be interactive. The teacher utilizes pupil
interest by relating subject matter to student experiences. The teacher maintains discipline
by reward, and control the pupil by activity.

Pragmatism

Pragmatism is derived from the Greek word pragma, meaning a thing done, a fact
that is practiced. This doctrine claims that the meaning of a proposition or idea lies in its
practical consequences. This philosophy stresses that education has been in vain if it does
not perform the social functions assigned to it, and unless it is considered as a social
institution in itself.
The pragmatists claim that society cannot fulfill an educational task without an
institution designed for this purpose. The school must maintain intimate relations with
society if its role is to be played well. They also assert that the school should aim to be
specialized institution with three features: (1) designed to represent society to the child in
simplified forms; (2) selective in a qualitative, if not ethical, manner as it represents society
to the young; and (3) responsible in giving the child a balanced and genuinely
representative acquaintance with society.
Educational Implications of Pragmatism

Aim of Education
The aim of education, as far as the pragmatists are concerned, is the total
development of the child either through experience, self-activity, or learning by doing.

Curriculum
The pragmatists suggested that the curriculum must offer subjects that will provide
opportunities for various projects and activities that are relevant to the needs, abilities, and
interest as well as the socio-economic conditions of the learners.

Methodology
Pragmatists believed that the learner must be made the center of all educative
processes a concept based on Deweys tenet that education is life, education is growth,
education is a social process, and education is the construction of human experience.

EDUCATIONAL THEORIES
Perennialism
Human nature never changes; therefore good education should not change
either. The perennialist believes that the great ideas, which have lasted for centuries, are
still relevant today and should be the focus of education. Perennialism is an educational
theory that is greatly influenced by the principles of realism. It has a
conservative/traditional view of human nature and education. Perennialists contend that

truth is universal and unchanging, and, therefore, a good education is also universal and
constant.

Aim of Education
For Perennialists, the aim of education is to ensure that students acquire
understandings about the great ideas of Western civilization. These ideas have the potential
for solving problems in any era.
The perennialists have for their aim the education of the rational person. The
central aim of education should be develop the power of thought. They view the universal
aim of education as the search for and dissemination of truth. They look up to the school as
an institution designed to develop human intelligence.
Robert Hutchins, a most articulate spokesperson of perennialism, argued that
education ought to cultivate the intellect as well as the harmonious development of all
human faculties. The central aim of education should be to develop the power of thought.
He also described the ideal education as one that develops intellectual power.

Curriculum
The focus is to teach ideas that are everlasting, to seek enduring truths which are
constant, not changing, as the natural and human worlds as their most essential level, do
not change. Teaching these unchanging principles is critical. Humans are rational beings,
and their minds need to develop. Thus, cultivation of the intellect is the highest priority in a
worthwhile education. The demanding curriculum focuses on attaining cultural literacy,
stressing students growth in enduring disciplines. The loftiest accomplishments of
humankind are emphasized the great works of literature and art, the laws or principles of
science.
The perennialist view education as a recurring process based on eternal truths;
thus, the schools curriculum should emphasize the recurrent themes of human life. It
should contain cognitive subjects that cultivate rationality and the study of moral,
aesthetic, and religious principles to develop the attitudinal dimension. The perennialists
prefer a subject matter curriculum which includes history, language, mathematics, logic,
literature, the humanities, and science.
Robert Hutchins educational philosophy is based on the premise that human
nature is rational, and knowledge resides in unchanging, absolute, and universal truths. He
stressed that education must be universal because the rationality of human nature is
universal. Hutchins advocated a curriculum that consisted of permanent, of perennial
studies. He strongly recommended the study of the classics, or the great works of Western
Civilization. He believed that reading and discussing great books cultivated the intellect and
prepared students to think carefully and critically. In addition to these classics he
advocated the study of grammar, rhetoric, logic, mathematics, and philosophy.
Summing up, perennialism represents a conservative theoretical view centered in
the authority of tradition and the classics. Among its major educational principles are:

1. Truth is universal and does not depend on the circumstances of place, time, or
person;
2. A good education involves a search for and an understanding of the truth;
3. Truth can be found in the great work of civilization; and
4. Education is a liberal exercise that develops the intellect.

Method
The curriculum of a perennialist education would be subject-centered, drawing
heavily upon the disciplines of literature, mathematics, language, history and the
humanities. The perennialists suggest that the best means to attaining this enduring
knowledge is through the study of the great books of Western Civilization. The method of
study would be the reading and discussion of these great works which, in turn, discipline,
discipline the mind. The teacher, accordingly, must be the one who has mastered
discipline, who is a master teacher in terms of guiding truth, and whose character is beyond
reproach. The teacher is to be viewed as authority and his expertise not to be questioned.
The role of the school becomes one of training intellectual elite who will one day take
charge of passing this on to a new generation of learners.
Advocates of this educational philosophy are Robert Maynard Hutchins who
developed a Great Books program in 1963 and Mortimer Adler, who further developed this
curriculum based on 100 great books of western civilization.

Essentialism
Essentialism is a traditional approach to education that is often referred to as
Back to the Basics. Basically, the essentialists were concerned with a revival of efforts in
the direction of teaching the fundamental tools of learning as the most indispensable type
of education. Essentialists believe that there is a common core of knowledge that needs to
be transmitted to student in a systematic, disciplined way. The emphasis in this
conservative perspective is on intellectual and moral standards that schools should teach.

Aim of Education
The essentialists have as there ultimate aim to fit the man to perform. Justly,
skillfully and magnanimously all the offices, both private and public, of peace and war.
The indispensable cultural objectives of humanity, the essentials are goals that
must be achieved sometimes incidentally but more often by direct instruction. Informal
learning helps, but this should only be supplementary and secondary. The essentialists
believe that the essential skills, knowledge and attitude needed by the individual in making
has adjustment to the realities of life should be systematically planned so that these
recognized essentials will be recognized. They emphasize the authority of the teachers and
the value of a subject matter curriculum.
The essentialists prescribe the following rubrics for their educational program:

1.
2.
3.
4.

A fix curriculum
Certain minimum essentials literature, mathematics, history, etc
Preconceived educational values; and
Education as individual adaptation to an absolute knowledge which exists
independently of individuals.

Curriculum
The core of the curriculum is essential knowledge and skills and academic rigor.
Although, this educational philosophy is similar in some ways to perennialism. Essentialists
accept the idea that this core curriculum may change. Schooling should be practical,
preparing students to become valuable members of the society. It should be focus on facts
the objective reality out there and the basic, training students to read, write, speak,
and compute clearly and logically. Schools should not to set or influence policies. Students
should be taught hard work, respect for authority, and discipline. Teachers are to help
students keep their non-productive instincts in check, such as aggression or mindlessness.
The essentialist curriculum includes the traditional disciplines of math, history,
natural science, foreign languages and literature. Vocational education and philosophy are
considered unnecessary. An essentialist curriculum emphasizes the importance of
traditional moral values that students need to become upstanding citizens. The essentialist
academic program is quite rigorous.
The essentialists believe that the intellectual disciplines are the necessary
foundations of modern life. The school has the responsibility to channel the accumulated
experiences of humankind into organized, coherent and differentiated disciplines.
Mastering these basic disciplines will enable the student to use them in solving personal,
social and civic problems.
Among the common themes found in the essentialists point of view are: (1) the
elementary school curriculum should aim to cultivate basic tool skills that contribute to
literacy and mastery of arithmetical computation; (2) the secondary curriculum should
cultivate competencies in history, mathematics, science, English and foreign languages; (3)
schooling requires discipline and a respect for legitimate authority; and (4) learning
requires hard work and disciplined attention.

Method
Classrooms are oriented around the teacher with little concern for student
interests. Achievement test scores are relied on as a means of evaluating progress. The
intent of an essentialist curriculum is to mold students, who upon graduation, will possess
basic skills, have knowledge of a variety of subjects and be ready to apply what they have
learned to the real world.
Essentialists do not believe in building up generalization by the slow method of
induction, but rather in properly guiding pupils in a few hours or days in the acquisition of
general laws and principles then using these laws and principles in the solution of

immediate and pressing problems. The essentialists are concerned with the most effective
methods of forming habits and developing skills; thus, drill has a definite place in the
classroom.
The essentialists emphasize the necessity of teaching pupils how to think
systematically and effectively. They believe that effective thinking cannot take place by
looking at the world en masse or by picking up knowledge piecemeal. Methods of
systematic analysis and systematic synthesis must be used; the essential elements of
knowledge must be separated from the worthless chaff, and these essentials must be
organized into meaningful wholes, with close attention to the interrelationships of each
these entities.
The essentialists recognize that interest is a strong motivating force in learning.
Learning, however, that is not immediately appealing and interesting to the child should not
be totally eliminated from the childs education. The more valuable and more permanent
interests may grow out of efforts that are at first disagreeable and monotonous. It is the duty
of the teacher to help the learner grow into these higher interests rather than limit all
school activities to those ephemeral things that appeal only to natural and childish interest.
During the immature years of childhood and youth there is a need for competent,
sympathetic and firm teachers to help them see the truth and to help them adjust
themselves to inexorable facts.
In this view, teachers should be restored to instructional authority. They must be
well-prepared, and held accountable for the childrens failure to learn. Instruction should
be geared to organized learning. The method of instruction should center on regular
assignments, homework, recitations, and frequent testing and evaluation.

Proponents of Essentialism are: William Bagley, James D. Koerner, H.G. Rickover,

Paul Copperman, and Theodore Sizer.

Progressivism
The educational theory of progressivism is in contrast to the traditional views of
essentialism and perennialism. Thas movement was a part of a larger sophisticated
movement of general reform that characterized American life in the late 19 th and early 20th
centuries. This movement often associated with John Deweys pragmatism or
experimentalism, stressed the view that all learning should center on the childs interests
and needs.
In Deweys Democracy and Education he expounded that a truly progressive
education needed a philosophy based upon experience, the interaction of the person with
his environment. Such an experiential philosophy should have not set of external aims, but,
rather, the end product of education was growth-an-on-going experience which led to the
direction and control of subsequent experience. Truly progressive education should not
ignore the past but use it to direct future experiences.

Aim of Education
The aim of progressive education is to meet the needs of a growing child. The
school should be a pleasant place for learning. While the progressivists differed in many of
their theories and practices, they were united in their opposition to the following:
1. Extreme reliance on bookish methods of instruction
2. Obtaining learning by memorization of factual data
3. The use of fear as a form of discipline; and
4.The four-walled philosophy of education that isolated the school from the
realities of life.

Curriculum
Curriculum content is derived from student interests and questions. The scientific
method is used by progressivist educators so that students can study matter and events
systematically and first hand. The emphasis is on process-how one comes to know. John
Dewey was its foremost proponent. One of his tenets was that the school should improve
the way of life of our citizens through experiencing freedom and democracy in schools.
Shared decision making, planning of teachers with students, student-selected topics are all
aspects. Books are tools, rather than authority.
Progressivists generally were not interested in a prepared, prescribed curriculum to
transmit knowledge to students. Rather, the curriculum was to come from the child so that
learning would be active, exciting and varied. The content of subject matter was done by
the teacher and the students as a group project or cooperative effort. Students projects
were based of their common shared experiences thereby rejecting barriers of class, race, or
creed. The teacher served as facilitator while the students worked on their projects and
suggested other ways of pursuing the project.
Progressive education left a legacy characterized by:
1. Emphasis on the child as the learner, rather than on the subject matter;
2. Stress on the child as the learner, rather than on textbook reliance and
memorization;
3. Cooperative learning, rather than competitive lesson learning;
4. Absence of fear and punishment for disciplinary purposes.

Method
Progressivists believe that education should focus on the whole child, rather than
on the other content or the teacher. This educational philosophy stresses that students
should test ideas by active experimentation. Learning is rooted in the questions of learners
that arise through experiencing the world. It is active, not passive. The learner is a problem
solver and thinker who make meaning through his or her individual experience in the

physical and cultural context. Effective teachers provide experiences so that students can
learn by doing.

Reconstructionism
While the progressivists emphasized the individuality of the child, the
reconstructionists were more concerned with social change. Reconstructionists believe
that schools should originate policies and progress which would bring about reform of the
social order, and teachers should use their power to lead the young in the program of social
reform. Reconstructionists agree the educational philosophies are culturally based and
grow out of a specific cultural pattern conditioned by living at a given time in a particular
place. They believe that culture is dynamic, that man can re-shape his culture so that it
promotes optimum possibilities for development.
Reconstructionists say that mankind is in a state of cultural crisis. If schools are to
reflect their culture, then education will merely transmit social ills. As society moves from
the agricultural and rural to the technological and urban, there is a serious lag in cultural
adaptation to the realities of a technological society.
Society has to reconstruct its values, and education has a major role to play in
bridging the gap between the values of culture and technology. It is the schools task to
encourage the critical examination of the cultural heritage and find the elements that are to
be discarded and those that have to be modified.

Aim of Education
Education, for the reconstructionists, aims awaken the students consciousness
about social problems and to actively engage them in problem solving. Teachers and
schools should initiate a critical examination of their own culture. The schools should
identify controversies and inconsistencies and try to solve real life problems.
Reconstructionists believe that there is now a need for international independence.
Pollution and nuclear wars are not restricted to a single place but are international in scope.

Curriculum
The reconstructionist curriculum should include learning to live in a global milieu.
As a result of this orientation, reconstructionists propose educational policies related to
national and international problems as a means of reducing world conflict.
The school, therefore, becomes the center of controversy where students and
teachers emphasize and encourage discussion of controversial issues in religion,
economics, politics and education; these discussions are not simply intellectual exercises.

Method

The reconstructionist generally would seek to internationalize the curriculum so

that men and women would learn that they live in a global village. Schools and teachers
become social engineers plotting the course of action to arrive at the defined goal.
Classroom methods will be problem oriented students are asked to critically examine
cultural heritage. Teachers as well as students discuss controversial issues and they are
encouraged to commit themselves and become active in social change. Students and
teachers participate in a definite program of social, educational, political and economic
change as a means of total cultural renewal. The classroom becomes s laboratory to
experiment on school practices which will enable man to deal with problems of acute
cultural crisis and social disintegration.

Existentialism
Existentialism is a way of viewing and thinking about life in the world so that priority
is given to individualism and subjectivity. The existentialists believe that the human being is
the creator of his own essence; he creates his own values through freedom of choice or
individual preference. The most important king of knowledge is about the realities of
human life and the choices that each person has to make. Education is the process of
developing awareness about the freedom of choice and the meaning and responsibility for
ones choice.

Aim of Education
Education should cultivate an intensity of awareness in the learner. Students should
learn to recognize that as individuals they are constantly, freely, baselessly, and creatively
choosing. Education should be concerned with effective experiences, with these elements
of experience which are subjective and personal. The goals of education cannot be
specified in advance nor can they be imposed by the teacher of the school system. Each
man has the responsibility for his own education.

Curriculum
Subjects are merely tools for the realization of subjectivity. Learning is not found in
the structure of knowledge nor in organized discipline, but in the students willingness to
choose and give meaning to the subject. Literature and the humanities are important in the
existentialist curriculum. Literature is useful and relevant for awakening choice-making in
basic human concerns. History is important in finding out how men in the past have faced
and answered recurrent human questions like guilt, love, suffering or freedom. The arts
stimulate aesthetic expression, not merely imitate styles of selected models. Humanistic
studies are rich sources of ethical values.

Method
Stressing individual subjectivity, the existentialist educator aims to develop a sense
of awareness and responsibility in students. The teachers may choose a variety of methods,
although whatever method is used should not obscure the relationship between teacher
and learner. In questions and answers, sometimes the teachers does not know the answer,
but the best question would be one that awakens the students awareness of the ethical

and aesthetic aspects of existence. The school, therefore, is a place where teachers and
learners discuss human life and where they are given opportunities to choose solutions.

Summary
Philosophy provides a framework for organizing schools and individual learning
activities. It answers questions about the schools purpose, subjects, and how students
learn. Moreover, it is the base or starting point in curriculum development.
There are three major branches or areas of philosophy; metaphysics, epistemology,
and axiology.

Metaphysics is concerned with questions about the nature of reality. Metaphysics

literally means beyond the physical and deals with such questions as, What is reality?
Metaphysics is the attempt to find coherence in the whole realm of thought and
experience.
In the world of the classroom teacher, classroom management is probably most
affected by metaphysical beliefs.

Epistemology is concerned with questions about the nature of knowledge.

Epistemologist attempts to discover what is involved in the process of knowing. Is knowing
a special type of mental act? Can people know anything beyond the objects with which their
senses acquaint them?
Epistemological beliefs surface in curricular and instructional decisions. Teachers
must understand how students learn and what the curriculum dictates they need to learn.
Axiology is concerned with questions about the nature of values. This study of
values is divided into ethics (moral values and conduct) and aesthetics (values in the realm
of beauty and art).
Classroom teachers must decide if ethics should be taught in school. Teachers
ethical beliefs effect decisions concerning discipline and grading. Aesthetics can effect
decisions concerning what types of art/artistic endeavors should or should not be a part of
the curriculum.
There are eight major philosophies and theories of education: Idealism, Realism,
Pragmatism, Perennialism, Essentialism, Progressivism, Reconstructionism, and
Existentialism.

Idealism. Idealists believe that the material word is constantly changing, that ideas
are not only true reality, and that ideas endure through time.
Idealist teachers see certain subjects as especially powerful in stimulating thinking
and developing identification with cultural heritage. A body of intellectual subject matter
which is ideational and conceptual on subjects which are essential for the realization of
mental and moral development. Subject matter should not be made constant for all.

Mathematics, history, and literature rank high in relevance since they are not only cognitive
but value-laden.

Realism. Realists refer to the universal elements of man that are unchanging

regardless of time, place and circumstance. Education implies teaching, teaching implies
knowledge, knowledge is truth and truth is the same everywhere.
The realists believe that the most efficient and effective way to find out about reality
is to study it through organized, separate, and systematically arranged subject matter. This
is called the subject-matter approach to curriculum which is composed of two basic
components, the body of knowledge and the appropriate pedagogy.

Pragmatism. The pragmatist teacher believes strongly the importance of the

practical application of knowledge. Students in a pragmatic classroom demonstrate success

through such skills as problem solving and application of the scientific method.
Constructivism is based on pragmatism.

Perennialism. Perennialism represents a conservative theoretical view centered in

the authority of tradition and the classics. Among its major educational principles are: (1)
truth is universal and does not depend on the circumstances of place, time, or person; (2) a
good education involves a search for and an understanding of the truth; (3) truthcan be
found in the great work of civilization; and (4) education is a liberal exercise that develops
the intellect.

Essentialism focuses on teaching whatever academic and moral knowledge is

needed for children to become productive citizens. Essentialism is another conservative
educational theory and arose in opposition to progressive education. Essentialists urge that
schools get back to the basics. They believe in the strong core curriculum and high
academic standards. Essentialisms goals are to transmit the cultural heritage and develop
good citizens. School is s place where children come to learn what they need to know, and
the teacher is the person who can best instruct students in essential matters. Concentrates
on subject matter that includes literature, history, foreign languages, mathematics, natural
sciences, and religion.
Progressivism is based largely on the belief that lessons must seem relevant to the
students in order for them to learn. Consequently, the curriculum of a progressivist school
is built around the personal experiences, interests, and needs of the students. The teaxher
is the guide on the side, not the sage on the stage. Progressivists favor instructional
strategies such as cooperative learning and stimulations where students take the lead.
Reconstructionism is an educational theory that calls on schools to teach people

to control institutions and to be organized according to democratic ideals. Contemporary

reconstructionists view schools as vehicles for social change. Students should be taught to
analyze world events, explore controversial issues, and develop a vision for a new and
better world.

Existentialism. The existentialists believe that the human being is the creator of
his own essence; he creates his own values through freedom of choice or individual

preference. The most important kind of knowledge is about the realities of human life and
the choices that each person has to make. Education is the process of developing
awareness about the freedom of choice and the meaning and responsibility for ones
choice. Subjects are merely tools for the realization of subjectivity. Learning is not found in
the structure of knowledge nor in organized discipline, but in the students willingness to
choose and give meaning to the subject. Literature and the humanities are important in the
existentialist curriculum.

Questions to Answer
1.
2.

How does philosophy influence the curriculum?

What are the principles of educational philosophies such as Idealism, Realism,
Pragmatism, Perennialism, Essentialism, Progressivism, Reconstructionism, and
Existentialism?
3. Which educational philosophy is best suited of todays curriculum in the
elementary, secondary schools? Why?