Foundations of Education Scholar

William Bagley, whose background is strongly rooted in an environment of progressivism, is the founder of essentialism. “Essentialism, in its most stripped down meaning refers to the belief that people and/or phenomenon have an underlying and unchanging 'essence'.” (Twine, 2001) They believe that people are the way they will be and that there is no way to change them. As this applies to education, they believe that “students should not be taught to radically reshape society.” (Paris 2005) They say that students should be taught “traditional American virtues such as respect for authority perseverance, fidelity to duty, consideration for others, and practicality.” (Paris 2005) I agree with this theory. It is important for us to teach students more abstract concepts that transcend the content we will teach them. Personally, I believe that we should instill in our students a love of learning and a desire to learn. We should also instruct them to hone their judgment and research skills to go along with that love of learning so that they can be judicious in their learning. Bagley's ideas of teaching students abstract ideas like perseverance, fidelity, and practicality align perfectly with my philosophy of education. I find it immensely disappointing, for example, that high school graduates are required to do higher-level algebra and they are not taught to balance a checkbook or create a budget. Part of the cycle of failure in our schools may be due to the fact that we're teaching the wrong things. Since we as teachers cannot dictate what the curriculum should be, it is important to teach the desire to learn so that our students can prepare themselves after they have left us. This approach will also help them when they get to college.

Essentialism was common in American education from the beginning, but it was criticized in the early twentieth century. People thought it was too rigid. Then, a renewed interest came about when the President's Commission on Education published their A Nation at Risk report in 1983. (Paris 2005) it seems to me that a lot of the essence of being American is having a love for your country and your country's history. Essentialism supports that belief. These days, with the increased levels of diversity, it is still not impossible to teach nationalism. Lack of acceptance of diversity is somewhat fascinating too. From the beginning, this nation was a melting pot. Then, it transformed to a country in which we were all Americans and now it seems to be moving back to a state of melding. Teachers can still teach their students the social aspects of community in education while teaching content. This will produce students who are educated and know how to work together as a team.

The essentialist classroom teaches traditional academic content and steers away from any vocational courses. This does not allow for much diversity in learners, but perhaps a modified essentialist classroom is the best. It does, however, encourage creativity in all students. One particular quality that I really liked was the fact that students must master the material to be moved to the next grade. When I was in school, if I could have finished all my work to leave at noon, I would have done it. Instead, I spent time in study halls, listening to a teacher say, “be quiet” and I lost valuable time in which I could have been learning other things.

One of the flaws of the essentialist classroom is that it “should be oriented around the teacher, who ideally serves as an intellectual and moral role model for the students”. (Paris, 2005) To teach better, we should facilitate and accommodate the learning instead of standing at the front of the room and lecturing. As a whole, though, I agree with the urgency of education for our students and I have formed my educational philosophy around some of its tenets.