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Essay on Compare Philosophies of Education
Introduction
In modern times there are opposing views about the practice of education. There is no general agreement about what the young should learn either in relation to virtue or in relation to the best life; nor is it clear whether their education ought to be directed more towards the intellect than towards the character of the soul and it is not certain whether training should be directed at things useful in life, or at those conducive to virtue, or at non-essentials and there is no agreement as to what in fact does tend towards virtue.
Aristotle wrote that passage more than 2,300 years ago, and today educators are still debating the issues he raised. Different approaches to resolving these and other fundamental issues have given rise to different schools of thought in the philosophy of education (Egan, 1997).
We will examine such schools of thought. Each has many supporters in American education today. Taken together, these five schools of thought do not exhaust the list of possible educational philosophies you may adopt, but they certainly present strong frameworks from which you can create your own educational philosophy
There is a philosophy behind every school system, based on the views and values of the educators, as well as the society that is sponsoring the education. The philosophy starts with the view of reality and definitions of truth and goodness. From this, the mission of the schools and the emphasis of the instruction are established.
Perennialism:
This is a very conservative and inflexible philosophy of education. It is based on the view that reality comes from fundamental fixed truths-especially related to God. It believes that people find truth through reasoning and revelation and that goodness is found in rational thinking. As a result, schools exist to teach reason and God's will. Students are taught to reason through structured lessons and drills (Barrow, 1988).....................
