Intro
“Culture is the intersection of people and life itself. It is how we deal with life, love, death, birth, and disappointment…. All of that is expressed in culture.” (Pierce, 2001). Humans needed a method to pass on their culture’s beliefs in order to stand the test of time. Many forget that written language is the most essential tool in passing on one’s own culture. So the problem we faced as a civilization and continue to face is how should one’s heritage be passed on to future generations? Thus a core belief system must be put into place. That’s why Essentialism and Behaviorism are currently used today in our educational system to lay the foundation to society. These two ideologies are crucial and must be respected by our education system because they represent the core values. These ideologies teach us right from wrong, what is considered appropriate behavior in a civilized culture, and the heritage of your nation from generations passed. Essentialism ideology is based on four general propositions, all four can be found in educational theories used in today’s society. The four core are, the purpose of formal education, the nature of the curriculum, the function of the teaching and the role of the teacher, and lastly the purpose of school in society (Wingo, 1965 p.82). Starting with the purpose of formal education we will explore its function in today’s society. Essentialism has a lot to offer for each student, but overall it is to instill students with the essentials of basic knowledge by teaching the common core, teaching the students discipline and respecting their authority, to train students the culture and traditions of past, and how it corresponds to the learning theory Behaviorism.
Essentialism
Definition
According to Parkay and Hass, the philosophy essentialism in education “is the doctrine that education should concentrate on teaching basic skills and encouraging intellectual self-discipline (2000). That clearly establishes guidelines any member of a civilized culture should have in order to be a productive member of society. The essentialists devote their main efforts to a reexamining curricular matter, distinguishing the essential and the nonessential in school programs, and reestablishing the authority of the teacher in the classroom (Kneller, 1963 p.243). This teacher-centered approach focuses on the student’s education to use certain methods that their teachers put into actions. Instead of a student-centered approach where the teaching methods are based off the needs, interest, and learning styles of each individual student. Having the teacher the facilitator is to have teachers make students practice the basic subjects so the children don’t forget. Students will be educated not only on an academic level, but on a character-building level as well. Essentialism believes that students should be held responsible for how they carry out their character. You need to learn at a young age what is considered right and wrong and what punishments you will suffer if you fail to comply.
History
In the 1930’s, essentialism had begun to protest against the downfall of the standards of the schools. This meant that a student couldn’t decide what was best for his or her future and it required guidance and discipline from the teachers and the parents. There were many controversies in the 1940’s when this educational philosophy was introduced in America. Many people did not agree with this philosophy because it is not student focused. Later, William Bagley originated the anti-student centered education movement, which was later then called Essentialism in Education. The reason for this movement was promote the teachers authority in the classroom and how they will establish that.
There were six important founders upon this philosophy and there names were; William Bagley, Arthur Bestor, E.D. Hirsch, Chester Finn, Diane Ravitch, and T. Sizer. William Bagley once said, “Essentialists hope that when students leave school, they will possess not only basic skills and an extensive body of knowledge, but also disciplined, practical minds, capable of applying schoolhouse lessons in the real world.” (Quoted from quoteland). He thought that American’s were weak and were lacking in school work, homework, discipline, and assessing student’s in the classroom. He wanted to prepare the youth for society and for real life situations.
Curriculum
The curriculum is about teaching the basic knowledge and the common core. What it means to teach the basic knowledge is that the teacher needs to be able to teach math, writing, reading, literature, natural science, language, and history. In the essentialist philosophy it is to be believed that the arts and social sciences are not important. Student’s interests are not considered or thought about in the Essentialist classroom. According to Dowd (1999), “young people often develop interests in subjects they did not like at first. He felt it was the duty of the teachers to explore students to important interests in subjects, and students’ interests would eventually follow.” From the beginning to the end of the school year the students should be prepped and prepared to take standardized tests.
The Teachers Role
The teachers and students role in the essentialist philosophy are completely different to each other. The teacher’s role is to be the locus of a classroom to where they have complete control over the class, the learning structure, and to mediate between the adult world and the world of the child. The teacher has been specially prepared for this task and is, therefore, much better qualified to guide the growth of his pupils than they are themselves (Kneller, 1963, p.245). The teacher is to provide the knowledge for the student to become a model citizen. Not only as teachers are we supposed to teach moral values and qualities, but also we are to have our students learn respect for their authority, determination, hard work, discipline, and consideration to others. The teacher can be strict, but overall as teachers we strive to get the students to respect their authority. As teachers it is our job to guide the students with fair and consistent consequences. Through daily guidance it is our obligation as teachers to promote self-discipline. Not only is it the teacher’s duty to guide the students, but also teaching good morals and character for each student is significantly important.
The value of behavioral objectives to the teacher is dependent, of course, upon the level of instruction, the subject matter of the course, the nature of school system, and countless other variables related to the instructional environment (Kibler, Barker, Miles, 1970, p. 106-107). There are two different objectives when being the teacher in the class. First, the teacher is to identify and know which subject matter that should be taught and learned. Second, the teacher is to establish the progress that the class is achieving. The teacher is required to specify the type of behavior that will be acceptable in the classroom and to determine in advance how the behavior will be measured. As teachers we want to learn to give positive and negative reinforcement to the students. Overall, this can be a great way to reinforce a student’s behavior in a classroom.
School’s Purpose
It was believed that schools exist to perform certain functions in society and not to perform others. That certain subject matter is worthy to be taught in the schools and some are not. That there are certain traditional values that the school should cherish and transmit, and it is not believed that the schools should attempt to maintain neutrality with respect questions of value (Wingo, 1965 p.81). In society the school overall plays an important role even though people find that statement to be completely false. People believe that the only responsibility that the school has is intellectual training and nothing else. These people don’t think that the school should not be in charge of tasks that have belonged with the family, the church, and the community. It is said that the school as an institution is concerned with the life of the mind, and the program of the school should be devoted to the cultivation of intellectual life (Wingo, 1965 p.83). Which people think this cannot be done if the schools main concern is all different kinds of social services and activities. But there is a different group of people that believe school needs to have the child’s physical and emotional well being and even thought the teacher may have responsibility over the children, it is the school as an institution that has valid responsibility as well.
Behaviorism
Definition
According to oxford dictionary, Behaviorism is the learning theory that human and animal behavior can be explained in terms of conditioning. It is not about feelings, thinking, or knowing, it’s more about the student’s behavior. Behaviorism is the prediction and control of human behavior in which introspection and independent thinking play no essential part of its teaching method. The fundamental belief of this theory is that the student’s behavior can be measured, trained, and changed.
History
Behaviorism was founded in the year 1913. Scientists researched and through the rapid thinking, animal experiments, and questions that were increasingly asked; it increased the measurements that they had (Goodwin, 2008). American psychology was soon growing from an experiment psychology to behavior psychology as soon psychology’s main focus shifted from someone’s own experience to human behavior. According to K. Cherry, Behavior was a major change from previous theoretical perspectives, rejecting the emphasis on both the conscious and unconscious mind. Which behaviorism strove to make psychology a more scientific discipline by focusing purely on observable behavior (2015).
The five key proponents for Behaviorism were Ivan Pavlov, John Watson, Albert Bandura, B.F. Skinner, and Edward Thorndike. Ivan Pavlov observed and recorded information about dogs and their digestive process. He came up with the theory of classical conditioning. According to Saul McLeod (2008), John Watson proposed the process of classical conditioning was able to explain all aspects of human psychology. John Watson then believed that behavior is observable and can be correlated with other observable events. He was most known for “The Little Albert” experiment and for establishing the psychological school of behaviorism. The Little Albert experiment was a 9-month-old infant who they had tested on for his reactions to various stimuli. Next, Albert Bandura believed that people learn from each other through observation, imitation, and modeling. B.F. Skinner believed the theory of operant conditioning is the idea that behavior is determined by its consequences. Lastly, Edward Thorndike would experiment behavior on cats by locking them into a cage and having a treat for them on the outside to see if they could escape out of the cage. When the cat could escape from the cage he would give the cat the treat and try it again, he would see that as the positive and negative reinforcement. This changed the behavior of the cat because the cat knew every time it escaped from the cage it would receive a treat. So by this experiment he knew that people’s behavior could be changed the same way with positive and negative reinforcements.
The Student’s Role
The students’ role is to learn to act socially, learn how to have great study habits, conduct moral behavior, and to prove their progress of learning through testing and grades. Students are to be held to a high standard and will be prepared to succeed on standardized tests. Not only will students have high expectations on tests, but will also be held to a high standard regarding how they portray their personal character. Students are to also acquire the type of responsibilities the teachers holds in their classroom. If a teacher were to give exact goals for a student to reach concerning their behavior it would more successful then the students guessing what the teacher expects from them. Research concerned with the transfer of learning indicates that students generally do not apply learned skills or knowledge to practical situations unless the teacher specifically demonstrates the application (Miles, Kibler and Barker, 1970 p.106). Teachers express behaviors or skills that they would want the student to do as well, which allows the student to implement a desired behavior. As students, the children work for rewards of some sort. The children’s behavior is based on the environmental surrounding, which each student responds differently.
Classroom Management
A behaviorist classroom is well structured and organized. It has been researched that the physical arrangement can affect the behavior of both students and teachers in this type of classroom. The classroom refers to how students are seated, how students move around the room, and the overall sense of atmosphere and order. A behaviorist classroom allows students to receive instruction in skills such as writing, reading, measurement, and computers. The classroom should be oriented around the teacher as a role model to the students. Desks will be arranged in each classroom so they are facing the board to ensure all students are constantly facing the direction that the learning is taking place.
Disadvantages vs. Advantages
The disadvantages to this form of education are that the children are not free to explore or question in the manner that the other philosophies will allow them too. Testing the student’s on their academic progress is by assessing them with standardized testing, individual meetings teachers, surveys, and in class activities. These could be very useful for the teachers, but in a sense can be bad for the student because not only is this teaching student’s that testing can interpret a child’s knowledge, but also makes a child stress that doesn’t do well taking tests. Another disadvantage is that in an essentialist classroom teachers are not stressing the importance of extra curricular or academic subjects. Such as art, music, drama, and sports. This is allowing students to miss out on any skills that could be developed in these subject areas. There are many disadvantages and advantages to this educational philosophy, which led many to believe that this is either a great philosophy to have or can be absolutely horrible. Some advantages would be that the children are learning to develop moral character and respect for their authority. This philosophy has an objective and can be easily applicable. The teachers want the students to respectfully change the culture and to become model citizens. Where do ethics come into play and who is the authority on such an important topic? So we must discuss the disadvantages to accepting society as is. What would have happened if Tesla, Einstein, Socrates and the many other great minds of our pass just accepted things the way they were? Society needs creativity as much as it needs structure.
Biblical Worldview
Proverbs 23:13-14 states, “Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you strike him with a rod, he will not die. If you strike him with the rod, you will save his soul from Sheol.” Discipline must be used in teaching our youth. Essentialism and Behaviorism core value is learning requires discipline. This value transcends every religious viewpoint in the world.
Conclusion
Essentialism and Behaviorism clearly play a vital role in today’s education system. Christianity along with all the other world’s views share one common objective through discipline we can lay a foundation for society as a whole. Our education system and what philosophies to utilized will be argued for years to come. Therefore it is vital to lay a basic foundation to our education system which Essentialism and Behaviorism accomplish. And that foundation can be summed up with one quote by Aristotle, “Educating the mind without education the heart is no education at all.’
If a teacher wants to be great they will choose essentialism and behaviorism to be used their classroom. Essentialism focus on teaching the students the basic needs for citizenship and the basic knowledge that will later will be essential in the real world. The teacher is the facilitator in the class for many reasons, but most importantly it is the teachers job to teach the basics and be an example of how the children’s behavior should be. Teachers are teaching students to respect their teachers and acknowledge that teachers are in the class to educate them. Discipline is held to a high standard with the two theories and teachers should have their students understand that discipline is not always bad. It is a way to get the children back on track, understand the teacher is in charge, and to teach our students that hard work requires discipline. To make our students the best, we have to teach them to be the best. Even though there are many disadvantages in these theories, there is also a great deal of advantages and is extremely beneficial to the teacher and the students’.