Having read the descriptions of the four educational philosophies (Cohen, L. 1999) I was, at first, equally attracted to Perennialism (Munoz, K. 2013) and Essentialism (Borst, T. 2014), but after reading more in depth about each of them I think I have decided that Perennialism is better than Essentialism, in so far as each was presented by Munoz and Borst.
I have been a fan of Mortimer J. Adler for decades, having first read his book Six Great Ideas in 1991. Later, I found out about his great books program at the University of Chicago when I became interested in the economics program there. I read a lot of the books on that list though I never bought the whole set edited by Adler and his friend Robert Hutchins. A few years after that, with my own children I used many of the childrens books recommended by Adler; The Blue Fairy Book (Lang, 1965), Treasure Island (Stevenson, R. 1993), and The Three Musketeers (Dumas, 1993) became favorites of all my sons. But in my experience Perennialism lacks something very important: It does not teach a person to do anything for which they might be paid. It is useful to know good from evil, to see that wicked ideas must be opposed, to appreciate the value of friendship, that Truth and Beauty are real but not many people can make a living writing essays in the Atlantic Monthly. Someone has to be a plumber, a welder, a short order cook and a garbage man.
When I looked at Borst’s Essentialism slides I was expecting them to portray a more practical education, a curriculum that would result in the student knowing something with which he could earn a living. But that is not what it was. It reminded me of the Pace (Accelerated Christian Education) curriculum my parents used when they homeschooled me in the 1980s. It was solid: math, science, English, History, Bible, Greek, and I remember most of it, but it didn’t teach me anything that would help me make a living.
Though Essentialism is, probably, more approachable for more students than a curricula based on great books, neither does much to meet the day to day needs of people who need to eat. Both of them set the student up for a nice hobby of reading history or collecting art, or going to college (the value of that grows more dubious every day) but not much else. The educational establishment is utterly failing kids who want to make money, or want to spend their lives surfing and who don’t care that Hooker discovered cells or that Caesar crossed the Rubicon in 48 B.C.
I have been a fan of Mortimer J. Adler for decades, having first read his book Six Great Ideas in 1991. Later, I found out about his great books program at the University of Chicago when I became interested in the economics program there. I read a lot of the books on that list though I never bought the whole set edited by Adler and his friend Robert Hutchins. A few years after that, with my own children I used many of the childrens books recommended by Adler; The Blue Fairy Book (Lang, 1965), Treasure Island (Stevenson, R. 1993), and The Three Musketeers (Dumas, 1993) became favorites of all my sons. But in my experience Perennialism lacks something very important: It does not teach a person to do anything for which they might be paid. It is useful to know good from evil, to see that wicked ideas must be opposed, to appreciate the value of friendship, that Truth and Beauty are real but not many people can make a living writing essays in the Atlantic Monthly. Someone has to be a plumber, a welder, a short order cook and a garbage man.
When I looked at Borst’s Essentialism slides I was expecting them to portray a more practical education, a curriculum that would result in the student knowing something with which he could earn a living. But that is not what it was. It reminded me of the Pace (Accelerated Christian Education) curriculum my parents used when they homeschooled me in the 1980s. It was solid: math, science, English, History, Bible, Greek, and I remember most of it, but it didn’t teach me anything that would help me make a living.
Though Essentialism is, probably, more approachable for more students than a curricula based on great books, neither does much to meet the day to day needs of people who need to eat. Both of them set the student up for a nice hobby of reading history or collecting art, or going to college (the value of that grows more dubious every day) but not much else. The educational establishment is utterly failing kids who want to make money, or want to spend their lives surfing and who don’t care that Hooker discovered cells or that Caesar crossed the Rubicon in 48 B.C.
So, yeah, teach kids to read and do math, but teach them how to build something. Teach them how to cook. Teach them how to grow something and how to fix a transmission. Those are real world problems with which reading Ivanhoe or writing a paper about the Missouri Compromise can’t help them.
I’d much rather see a philosophy of education that incorporates the vision of Joe Salatin of Polyface Farm, or the founders of College of the Ozarks, or the MikeRoweWORKS Foundation. Yes, be smart and know things, but know things that are going to feed your children.
I am not saying that there is no place for the great books. Like Bill Bennet, author of The Book of Virtues, I read them for fun. Even today I was talking about Plato’s idealism and Aristotle’s particularism in my 7th grade science class. I could only do that because, over the years, I have read everything by Plato and about half of Aristotle’s corpus; but I only brought it up to one of my students when he asked about the nature of living matter. He wanted to know if life is a thing that living matter possesses or if we say plants and animals are alive because they possess what scientists call the five physical characteristics of life. I didn’t do an ad hoc seminar in classical philosophy but I let the student know that it is a discussion that is ongoing because philosophers disagree. But, honestly, I think it is more important to know that oven cleaner can eat through cell walls and corrode your skin than it is to know Cell Theory. The former knowledge can save your life. The latter is not much more than ammo in the fight between Creationists and Evolutionists.
I’d much rather see a philosophy of education that incorporates the vision of Joe Salatin of Polyface Farm, or the founders of College of the Ozarks, or the MikeRoweWORKS Foundation. Yes, be smart and know things, but know things that are going to feed your children.
I am not saying that there is no place for the great books. Like Bill Bennet, author of The Book of Virtues, I read them for fun. Even today I was talking about Plato’s idealism and Aristotle’s particularism in my 7th grade science class. I could only do that because, over the years, I have read everything by Plato and about half of Aristotle’s corpus; but I only brought it up to one of my students when he asked about the nature of living matter. He wanted to know if life is a thing that living matter possesses or if we say plants and animals are alive because they possess what scientists call the five physical characteristics of life. I didn’t do an ad hoc seminar in classical philosophy but I let the student know that it is a discussion that is ongoing because philosophers disagree. But, honestly, I think it is more important to know that oven cleaner can eat through cell walls and corrode your skin than it is to know Cell Theory. The former knowledge can save your life. The latter is not much more than ammo in the fight between Creationists and Evolutionists.
References
Accelerated Christian Education. (2018) Retrieved from https://www.aceministries.com/
Adler, Mortimer J. (1981). Six Great Ideas. New York, NY: Touchstone.
Borst, Theresa (2014, March 18) Essentialism. Retrieved from https://www.slideshare.net/theresaborst/essentialism-32458391?next_slideshow=1
Cohen, LeoNora (1993). Educational Philosophies. Retrieved from https://oregonstate.edu/instruct/ed416/PP3.html
Dumas, Alexandre. (1993) The Three Musketeers. Ware, United Kingdom: Wordsworth Editions
Lang, Andrew (1965). The Blue Fairy Book. New York, NY: Dover Publications Inc.
Munoz, Kenneth (2013, July 8) Perennialism. Retrieved from https://www.slideshare.net/kennethcmunoz/perennialism-24016338
Stevenson, Robert L. (1993). Treasure Island. New York, NY: Dover Publications Inc.
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