Essentialism in Education Explained
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nilo biaEssentialism in Education Explained
Uploaded by
nilo biaCHERRY ANN C.
BUSTAMANTE BSED-2
Essentialism tries to instill all students with the most essential or basic academic
knowledge and skills and character development. Essentialists believe that teachers should try to
embed traditional moral values and virtues such as respect for authority, perseverance, fidelity to
duty, consideration for others, and practicality and intellectual knowledge that students need to
become model citizens. The foundation of essentialist curriculum is based on traditional
disciplines such as math, natural science, history, foreign language, and literature. Essentialists
frown upon vocational courses. In the essentialist system, students are required to master a set
body of information and basic techniques for their grade level before they are promoted to the
next higher grade. The content gradually moves towards more complex skills and detailed
knowledge. Essentialists argue that classrooms should be teacher-oriented. The teacher should
serve as an intellectual and moral role model for the students. The teachers or administrators
decide what is most important for the students to learn with little regard to the student interests.
The teachers also focus on achievement test scores as a means of evaluating progress. The
essentialist classroom is centered on students being taught about the people, events, ideas, and
institutions that have shaped American society. Essentialists hope that when students leave
school, they will not only possess basic knowledge and skills, but they will also have disciplined,
practical minds, capable of applying lessons learned in school in the real world. Students in this
system would sit in rows and be taught in masses. The students would learn passively by sitting
in their desks and listening to the teacher. An example of essentialism would be lecture based
introduction classes taught at universities. Students sit and take notes in a classroom which holds
over one hundred students. They take introductory level courses in order to introduce them to the
content. After they have completed this course, they will take the next level course and apply
what they have learned previously. English 1 and English 2 are a specific example of
essentialism.
