ESSENTIALISM AND ITS IMPACT TO EDUCATION:

A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

A Critic Paper
Presented to
Dr. Erwin L. Purcia
College of Teacher Education
University of Antique
Sibalom, Antique

In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the course

EDUCTION 3- THE TEACHER AND THE COMMUNITY,

SCHOOL CULTURE AND ORGANIZATION
LEADERSHIP

CARL JUSTINE B. BALENSOSA

 January 18, 2022

I. INTRODUCTION

Essentialism is the view that objects have a set of attributes that are necessary to
their identity. In early Western thought, Plato's idealism held that all things have such an
"essence"—an "idea" or "form". In Categories, Aristotle similarly proposed that all objects have
a substance that, as George Lakoff put it, "make the thing what it is, and without which it would
be not that kind of thing". The contrary view—non-essentialism—denies the need to posit such
an "essence'".

Essentialism in education strives to instill students with the "essentials" of academic knowledge
and character development. This philosophy was popularized in 1930s by the American educator
William Bagley (1874-1946). In the Essentialist 's Platform, Bagley puts forward the principles
underlying this philosophy. The first of them is that essentialists recognize the right of an immature
student to the guidance of a well-educated, caring, and cultured teacher.

Essentialism has been controversial from its beginning. Plato, in the Parmenides dialogue,
depicts Socrates questioning the notion, suggesting that if we accept the idea that every beautiful
thing or just action partakes of an essence to be beautiful or just, we must also accept the
"existence of separate essences for hair, mud, and dirt". In biology and other natural sciences,
essentialism provided the rationale for taxonomy at least until the time of Charles Darwin; the
role and importance of essentialism in biology is still a matter of debate.

Historically, beliefs which posit that social identities such as ethnicity, nationality or gender are
essential characteristics that define who people are have led to harm. Essentialist
and reductive thinking lies at the core of many discriminatory and extremist ideologies.
Psychological essentialism is also correlated with racial prejudice. In medical sciences,
Essentialism can lead to a reified view of identities—for example assuming that differences in
hypertension in Afro-American populations are due to racial differences rather than social causes
—leading to fallacious conclusions and potentially unequal treatment. Older social theories were
often conceptually essentialist.

II. LITERATURE REVIEW

 The Essentialist movement first began in the United States in the year 1938. In
Atlantic City, New Jersey, a group met for the first time called “The Essentialist’s
Committee for the Advancement of Education. Their emphasis was to reform the
educational system to a rational-based system. The term essentialist first appeared in
Journal of Philosophy, Culture and Religion
www.iiste.org ISSN 2422-8443 An International Peer-reviewed Journal Vol.32, 2017 2
the book An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education which was written by Michael
John Demiashkevich. In that book, Demiashkevich labels some specific educators
(including William C. Bagley) as “essentialists”. He described how the Progressives
preached a “hedonistic doctrine of change” whereas the essentialists stressed the moral
responsibility of man for his actions and looked toward permanent principles of
behaviour. In 1938 Bagley and other educators met together where Bagley gave a
speech detailing the main points of the essentialism movement and attacking the
public education in the United States (Bagley, 1905). According to McLain, (2007), the
pioneers of essentialist philosophy are William C. Bagley and Herman Home whiles
other proponents are James D. Koerner (1959), Arthur Bestor, E. D. Hirsch, Chester
Finn, H. G. Rickover, Paul Copperman (1978) and Theodore Sizer (1985). Bagley
was critical of progressive education, which he believed damaged the intellectual and
moral standards of students. This article reflected the essentialist belief “our culture has
a core of common knowledge that should be transmitted to students in a
systematic, disciplined manner”. Though similar to perennialism, essentialism stresses
the “essential” knowledge and skills that productive citizens should have, rather than a set
of external truth.

Kurtus (2001) believes that educational essentialism is an educational philosophy

whose adherents believe that children should learn the traditional basic subjects
thoroughly and rigorously. In this philosophical school of thought, the aim is to
instill students with the “essentials” which means the “main things” of academic
knowledge, enacting a back-to-basics approach. Essentialists believe that there is a
common core of knowledge that needs to be transmitted to students in a systematic,
disciplined way. The emphasis in this conservative perspective is on intellectual
and moral standards that schools should teach. The core of the curriculum is
essential knowledge, skills and academic rigour. The term essentialism is generally
used in three meanings. Firstly, it uses biological, physiological and, increasingly,
genetic causes to explain the unchangeable human behavior. Secondly, term
essentialism is used when generalized statements are asserted that make no reference to
cross-cultural differences or previous historical variation. Sometimes, it is also
known as universalism. The third and final use of the term refers to all the everyday
conversations or academic writings in which we make use of the unified concepts.
According to Kneller (1971), it is not linked formally to any philosophical tradition but is
compatible with a variety of philosophic outlooks. Brubacher as cited in Onwuka
(1996) observed that Essentialism has several philosophical props, one of the
principal being idealism but not wholly opposed progressivism rather shares a
common view with Perennialism. Essentialism requires that the school curriculum
should include a common body of knowledge that all students should know. This
implies that education calls for subjects and values that must be studied by all who
 go to school. Essentialist believes that it the responsibility of the school to provide
knowledge for good character building and development. Also, there are some
concepts of universal education that everyone in a given culture must have in order to be
a knowledgeable and full participant of that culture. In an Essentialist society a person
is considered to educated when he or she possess certain essential or basic
academic knowledge. McLain (2007) depicts that essentialists believe: a. Students learn
from established fundamentals of education. b. Students should study the sensible and
wise subject like literature, philosophy, science and other subjects related to the great
works. c. There is a common core of knowledge that needs to be transmitted to
students in a systematic, disciplined way. d. The child is a learner to be shaped and
developed. e. Education is a preparation for life; it is not an imitation of life. Essentialism
is generally considered as a conservative philosophy that pertains to the ever-changing
social, educational and technological aspects of society. This presupposes that
schooling should be realistic, preparing students to become valuable members of
society. It should 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 try
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. An essentialist programmed
normally teaches children progressively, from less complex skills to more complex.

According to the Essentialist, the role of education is the transition of a common body of
knowledge, skills, concepts and traditions from generation to learners in order to
transform them to meaningfully and constructively contribute democratically to the
society. In the same vein, students are to be taught to be “culturally literate” and to know
about people, events, ideas and institutions that have shaped society.

Essentialists believe that education should instill traditional virtues such as hard work,
respect for authority, discipline, fidelity to duty, perseverance, consideration for others
and practicality that students need to become model citizens. The role of education is to
develop a rational being in command of essential or basic tact and skills that undergird
the intellective discipline. It is, therefore the role of the school to provide a supportive
environment to foster students’ use of inductive thinking to initiate this kind of thinking
by asking probing questions. Moreover, the role of education is let learners to familiarize
with the world as it is real is and to interpret it according to their own desire thus
acknowledging the importance of race experience and the study of people’s social
heritage and culture.

III. IMPLICATIONS
 Curriculum development is the process of implementing the theoretical plan to attain
educational ends. As cited in Onwuka (1996), curriculum development is frequently used
to describe the creation of curriculum materials, including materials for use by students.
Curriculum development follows the same structure as curriculum planning in that; it
starts with the establishing of educational philosophy. The philosophy of education plays
an instrumental role in guiding teachers, schools and administrators to model themselves
whether intentionally or not.

Firstly, essentialism influences the curriculum through the emphasis on a core curriculum
of social values since the fundamental basic of the essentialism is the transmission of
essential or common body of knowledge that all students should know. The heart of the
educational process is the assimilation prescribed subject matter. The values that make up
the stable and vital aspects of the universal elements of a culture constitute the heart of
the core curriculum. Therefore, places considerable emphasis upon deliberate study of the
moral content of the culture. It is used to denote the portion of curriculum required of all
the pupils in any institution. It represents what the authorities or curriculum planners
consider necessary for every pupil to study. This makes the curriculum consist of broad
problem areas from which learning experience may be selected in terms of psychological
and societal needs example may include ethic conflict and independence in twentieth
century. Also, the curriculum is geared towards the promotion of a greater integration of
learning by unifying subject matter. Some core programmers employ systematic
correlation of subjects around themes drawn from the functions of living. For instance,
materials and topics in social studies, languages, arts and science are correlated around
such themes as ethical and spiritual character, work, leisure, thought and its
communication, health, social relation. Moreover, the curriculum planners determine the
content knowledge, objectives or the educational intention, learning experiences and
methods of teaching. The implication of this curriculum is the emphasis on life problems
highlights the social function of the school. Schools help to develop intelligent citizens
who manage the business of life with a modicum of maturity. This form of education
tends to equip the learner with common core information and skills thus cultural heritage
needed for the promotion of citizenship. Essentialist has made some contribution to
education of most countries through concepts that focus on primary and basic teaching
where strong basic education (such as reading, writing, listening, speaking, etc.) has
largely contributed to the education field, enabling students to develop a sound
foundation of basic knowledge. Apart from just academic knowledge, essentialism also
instills moral values and ethics in students, proving them with the sense to become
educated good human beings. In sum, all educational effort should be aimed at
intellectual development, character development of learners and give students a sense of
historical perspective and tradition. The core concepts of the curriculum open to change
because culture changes or is dynamic (encourages people to suggest new terms). For
instance, the education within the education cycle have made some subjects (Social
studies, Religious and Moral Education, Natural Science, Mathematics English Language
and French as core for learners at the Basic Schools, Junior High School and some at the
Senior High School level.
 Secondly, the curriculum is developed around the teacher rather than the learner since it
emphasizes on rigorous teacher-centered education verse child-centered education.
Curriculum developers consider every teacher to endeavor to familiarize himself/herself
with the basic teaching principles as well as the principles of organizing content for
effective teaching and learning. The initiative in education should be with the teacher
rather than with the pupils. This confirms the essentialist view of the teacher that he
should instill traditional virtues such as hard work, respect for authorities both in school
and outside the school, discipline and fidelity to duty into students. The skill of the
teacher particularly as the initiator of interest cannot be ignored by curriculum developers
and planners at all levels of the curriculum development. The teacher become a
stakeholder in determining and selecting learning content for students since the teacher is
seen as a sole authority in his or her area of specialization and a specialist in the
impartation of essential knowledge to learners. The requirement for a successful
implementation of the essentialist curriculum needs a trained teacher who has a broad
general education in social foundations of education, child and adolescent psychology,
the structure and dynamics of social group, guidance and problem-method of teaching.
The function of the teacher in curriculum implementation is to facilitate the process of
reconstructing the personality of the individual to fall in line with the moral beliefs of the
society. Furthermore, the teacher must have adequate factual information and a thorough
knowledge of laws and generalizations. In addition, the teacher must be thoroughly
disciplined in socio-moral content of the culture; he/she must be familiar with the
perspective and strategies of the different social groups. Teachers play a major role in
essentialism in education. They need to be patient, have a positive attitude and need to
effectively communicate with the student in order to assist in development of a students’
mind and body. This phenomenon has become widely popular in that is not only focused
on academic growth but also helps student to become better human beings. Moreover, the
teacher must formulate measurable, specific and attainable instructional objectives for
instruction. The teaching and learning method will solely be lecturing and memorization
of essential facts. An example of essentialism would be lecture based introduction classes
taught at universities.

Thirdly, essentialists belief in testing and evaluating learners and therefore will influence
the curriculum through the use of assessment of students’ performance or the mastery of
content matter of an essential knowledge as a yardstick before moving on to the next
level. The original doctrine for essentialism outlined by William Chandler Bagley in
1938 was a response to what he perceived to be the ineffective educational methods of
his time, including: flexible, child-centered approaches like progressivism and
“widespread” social promotion or movement of students to the next grade level whether
or not their academic performance warranted the move. For this reason, every curriculum
of the Essentialist should conduct some evaluation before promotion is warranted.
Generally, essentialists are concerned with three basic tasks as cited in Onwuka (1996):

1. The continuous re-examination of curricular matters,

2. Distinguishing the essential and the non-essential in school programs,

 3. Re-establishing the authority of the teacher in the classroom.

The use of assessment enables curriculum developers to determine whether or not the goals or
outcomes of education are being met. With this method of evaluating the learning outcome of
students, students are made to possess, pass and attain mastery of the core content areas of the
curriculum before moving to the next stage of the educational ladder. The form of assessment in
the new educational structure and reform is based on two concepts;

1. Assessment is based on profile dimensions of each subject;

2. School-based assessment (SBA),

This system is made manifest through assessment of student performance with the use of tests
and examinations In addition, the curriculum emphasizes on diagnostic evaluation, formative
evaluation and summative evaluation of the teaching and learning process. Basically, evaluation
and assessment serves as criteria for classifying a person as educated after showing mastery of
the five essential disciplines. Accordingly, every curriculum must consist of five essential
disciplines to consider a person to be educated (Command of mother tongue and the systematic
study of grammar, literature and writing, Mathematics, Science, History and Modern foreign
language. These serve as the objectives upon which evaluation and assessment is conducted.
This point of view is reflected in the type of teacher-made paper and pencil achievement tests
given for purposes of evaluation. The use of objective tests (true false, multiple choice,
completion) and essay examinations are the tests instrument used in assessing students'
performance. As far as grading is concerned, certain standard is maintained within the
educational cycle, Furthermore, the curriculum places less emphasize on the development and
implementation of non-academic subjects like Vocational Education, Physical Education, Arts
and Music. In the development of a curriculum, there would be a fundamental shift of focus from
topics and educational approaches which creatively engage the reflective, competent and a
concern (minds, he arts and the hand) of students, to those required for successful mastery of
academic drills and completion of standardized tests. It seems that, in all its efforts to
successfully teach the essentials rather than the potential, creativity, innovativeness and
capabilities of its people. To the essentialist, fundamental disciplines of English (grammar,
literature and composition), Mathematics, Science, History and Modern foreign language. These
subjects, logically organized are essential to the development of our mental capacity. The
performing of arts, industrial arts, vocational studies, physical education and other areas of the
curriculum are regarded as frills. For instance, the institution geared towards the development of
the psycho-motor domain of learners in Ghana outnumbered by the literal institutions. On the
other hand, the curriculum will emphasize the study and the development of essential skills of
the 3R's (reading, writing and arithmetic). Bestor (1956) said the mission of the school is
intellectual training and this is to be accomplished through a curriculum concentrated on five
fundamental intellectual disciplines. In Ghana, students are made to exhibit mastery of English
language, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, French and Ghanaian language content before
moving to the climbing to the next stage of the academic ladder. For this reason, the bulk of the
subject studied in Ghana are in line with these basics of developing students' ability to
communicate, read and articulate knowledge for personal enlightenment
Lastly, the curriculum will focus on ensuring ability grouping of students. Essentialists strongly
favor ability grouping and strict classroom management. They feel that when all types of pupils
are thrown together, the gifted students are inevitably cheated while the "weak" students are
intimidated by the gifted that are the “stars" of such classes. Typically, this is done on the basis
of achievement test scores (perhaps with a cut off score), grades and teacher recommendations.
For example, the curriculum for the Basic Education in Ghana adheres to this principle where
when students complete a cycle of education, the total score of the student is used as a yardstick
for placement. With this system, students are placed in first second and third class schools. Also,
within the educational jurisdiction, some schools either private or public for example, group their
students according to their abilities. Furthermore, within the Senior High Schools in Ghana,
students are assigned to programs of study according to their scoring abilities where some
student will read General Arts, Business, Home Economics while other will be reading Science
and Visual Arts. In relation to classroom arrangement, the essentialist prefers desks that can be
permanently arranged in rows, perhaps even screwed down to the floors old school desks were.
This says a lot about what the teacher wants the pupil to experience in the classroom. It means
that the students are suppose bag to sit still and listen to the teacher tell them about the world.
Similarly, when curriculum planners are considering the infrastructural materials of the school,
they consider desk arranged in rolls which is the predominant style with the Ghanaian
educational system.

IV. REFERENCES

Bagley, W. C. (1905). The educative process. New York: Macmillan.

Barakett, J., & Cleghorn, A. I. (2000). Sociology of education. Ontario: Prentice Hall, Allyn
and Bacon.

Bestor, A. (1956). The restoration of learning. New York: Knoff Publishers.

Castle, H. L. (2007). Curriculum development. New York: American Book Company

Connely, F. M., & Elbaz, F. (2009). Conceptual Basis for Curriculum Thought: A Teacher's
Perspective.

InFoshay, A. W. (Ed.), Considered action for curriculum improvement. New York:

Washington DC.

Eisner, E. W. (1994). The educational imagination on the design and evaluation of school
programmes. New York: Macmillan College Publishing Company

Gelman, S. A. (2003). The essential child. New York: Oxford University Press.
Goldberg, M. F. (1996). Here for the long haul. Phi Delta Kappan, 77(6), 685-687.

Hirsch, E. D. (1988). Cultural literacy: What every American needs to know. New York:
Random House.

Hirst, P. H. (1976). The contribution of philosophy to the study of curriculum in changing the
curriculum.London: Heinemann Education Books Ltd.

Kerr, J. F. (1968). The problem of curriculum reform in changing the curriculum. London:
University of London Press Ltd

Kneller, G. F. (1971). Introduction to the philosophy of education. New York: John Wiley
and Sons, Inc.Kustus, K (2001) Philosophy of education Retrieved
fromhttp://www.school_for_champions.com/education/philosophies.htm

http://www.school_for_champions.com/education/philosophies.htm