Free Essays,College Free Essays,Free College Essays at Anti Essays

Perennialism is a subject centered philosophy in today’s schools. Derived from the great philosopher Plato, it views truth and nature to be constant and unchanging. ( Cooper, 2007, p 272 )
I consider myself to have perennialist teaching views based on my upbringing from both my parents and my former teachers.
I believe that perennialism is the most structured and solid form of teaching. Students of this way of teaching should understand that the goal of education is to understand that truth and knowledge are absolute. As a proponent of this philosophy, I would want my students to understand that there are basic principles of life that just can’t be denied. Teaching and learning are two in the same and should be taught the same way uniformly, with reason and intuition. ( Jersin, 1972, p 274 )
At a young age, students are considered sponges in my eyes. To fill them up with the information they do not need or that they can question is a waste of time to me. Students need to be able to know right from wrong, which to me is a basic principle of learning. Students must be able to concentrate on the task at hand until they have mastered it with no room for question. If uncertainty is apparent, repetition of the work should be done until completed.
Teachers of this philosophy may appear to be dictator like when presenting this. However, there is a large difference in being assertive than being militaristic. The past is our greatest ally as perennialists. If we as teachers have succeeded with this philosophy brought on us, then it only seems true to us to do the same. As a teacher, we are considered to be an expert of content knowledge who passes on to the next generation the accumulated wisdom of the past. ( Cooper, 2007, p 287 )

Teachers should understand that even though the times may change us, there are still undeniable truths that control us. We must be able to differentiate from...