Essentialism in Education: A Back-to-Basics Approach

Educational essentialism is an educational philosophy whose adherents believe that children should learn the traditional basic subjects thoroughly; it is the most typically enacted philosophy in American classrooms today. In this philosophical school of thought, the aim is to instill students with the "essentials" of academic knowledge, enacting a back-to-basics approach. Essentialism ensures that the accumulated wisdom of our civilization as taught in the traditional academic disciplines is passed on from teacher to student.

Core Principles of Essentialism

Essentialism is a relatively conservative stance to education that strives to teach students the knowledge of a society and civilization through a core curriculum. This core curriculum involves such areas that include the study of the surrounding environment, basic natural laws, and the disciplines that promote a happier, more educated living. Other non-traditional areas are also integrated as well in moderation to balance the education. Essentialists' goals are to instill students with the "essentials" of academic knowledge, patriotism, and character development through traditional (or back-to-basic) approaches. Such disciplines might include Reading, Writing, Literature, Foreign Languages, History, Mathematics, Classical Languages, Science, Art, and Music.

The Teacher's Role in Essentialism

The role of the teacher as the leader of the classroom is a very important tenet of Educational essentialism. The teacher is the center of the classroom, so they should be rigid and disciplinary. Establishing order in the classroom is crucial for student learning; effective teaching cannot take place in a loud and disorganized environment. It is the teacher's responsibility to keep order in the classroom. The teacher must interpret essentials of the learning process, take the leadership position and set the tone of the classroom. These needs require an educator who is academically well-qualified with an appreciation for learning and development.

Historical Roots and Key Figures

The Essentialist movement first began in the United States in the year 1938. The term essentialist first appeared in the book An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education which was written by Michael John Demiashkevich. In his book, Demiashkevich labels some specific educators (including William C. Bagley) as “essentialists." Demiashkevich compared the essentialists to the different viewpoints of the Progressive Education Association. 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 behavior (Demiashkevich likened the arguments to those between the Socratics and the Sophists in Greek philosophy).

William C. Bagley: A Leading Voice

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. William Bagley (1874-1946) was an important historical essentialist. William C. Bagley completed his undergraduate degree at Michigan Agricultural College in 1895. It wasn't until after finishing his undergraduate studies that he truly wanted to be a teacher. Bagley did his Graduate studies at the University of Chicago and at Cornell University. He acquired his Ph.D. in 1900, after which he took his first school job as a Principal in a St. Louis, Missouri Elementary School. Bagley's devotion increased during his work at Montana State Normal School in Dillon, Montana. It was here where he decided to dedicate his time to the education of teachers and where he published The Educative Process, launching his name across the nation. Throughout his career Bagley argued against the conservative position that teachers were not in need of special training for their work. He believed that liberal arts material was important in teacher education. In April 1938, he published the Essentialist's Platform, in which he outlined three major points of essentialism. He described the right of students to a well-educated and culturally knowledgeable teacher. Secondly, he discussed the importance of teaching the ideals of community to each group of students.

E.D. Hirsch: Champion of Core Knowledge

Another important essentialist is E. D. Hirsch (1928-). Hirsch was Founder and Chairman of the Core Knowledge Foundation and authored several books concerning fact-based approaches to education. Now retired, he spent many years teaching at the University of Virginia while also being an advocate for the "back to basics" movement. The Core Knowledge Schools were founded on the philosophy of essentialist E.D. Hirsch. Although it is difficult to maintain a pure and strict essentialist-only curriculum, these schools have the central aim of establishing a common knowledge base for all citizens. To do so, they follow a nationwide, content-specific, and teacher-centered curriculum. The Core Knowledge curriculum also allows for local variance above and beyond the core curriculum.

The Student's Position

Because Essentialism is largely teacher-centered, the role of the student is often called into question. Presumably, in an essentialist classroom, the teacher is the one designing the curriculum for the students based upon the core disciplines. Moreover, he or she is enacting the curriculum and setting the standards which the students must meet.

Criticisms and Controversies

Furthermore, there is also speculation that an essentialist education helps in promoting the cultural lag. This philosophy of education is very traditional in the mindset of passing on the knowledge of the culture via the academic disciplines.

The concept of essentialism has been controversial since the beginning of its validity and morality. In science, critics argue that essentialism’s view of objects as essentially fixed and immutable entities challenges Darwin’s theory of Evolution. While essentialism sees essence as a property of individual organisms that never changes, the theory of evolution views it as a property of populations that could change to adapt to the environment over time. Thus, the philosophical foundation of essentialism contradicts the theory of Evolution, which hindered the scholar’s understanding of the natural world for a long time.

In society, past or present, essentialism is thought to justify dehumanizing thoughts and behaviors. The concept of essentialism rationalizes racism, slavery, colonialism, and other atrocities, which can cause severe mental traumas for the essentialized individuals. Though the historical issues have almost been solved, essentialism also perpetuates gender stereotypes and ignores individual characteristics in modern society, as phrases such as “boys like blue and girls like pink” still exist. Unfortunately, this issue is currently far from being solved.

In education, essentialism’s impact has also been controversial. While essentialism emphasizes a core curriculum and the mastery of traditional subjects, it is criticized for its potential to limit students’ career choices. Since students only learn knowledge from lectures and practice sheets, they may fail to apply the knowledge to real life. This rigid approach to education may affect their ability to communicate their knowledge to others and thus result in failure to find jobs.

Essentialism Beyond Education

Essentialism is a philosophical theory stating that different objects, concepts, or phenomena can be categorized by some inherent and unchanging characteristics. Plato, a famous ancient Greek philosopher, was the first person to propose a theory of essentialism called the “Theory of the Forms.” The prototype of this theory started with his observations of the ability to use the same word to describe distinct objects in the world. Then, he expanded his thoughts to conclude that every named object could be categorized under some words, called their “essential essence,” although they may have distinct properties. For instance, despite the diversity among beds, they are all labeled as “beds” with the essential essence of “bedness.” This means that all single, double, or king-sized beds share an abstract idea of a bed. Subsequently, his student Aristotle expanded upon the theory, detailing the educational aspect of essentialism. His theory highlights that true knowledge is acquired by understanding things’ essential nature or definition.

Sociologists then expanded the philosophy theories of essentialism because of its broad implications in the 19th and 20th centuries. In specific, the two major theories are racial and gender essentialism theory. Racial essentialism started during the colonial period when European powers used racial classifications to justify imperial conquest and slavery, contributed by David Hume’s and Immanuel Kant’s theory of biological essence. The theory applied Plato’s theory of essentialism to humans, stating that humans are different from essence and can be categorized and defined by some words, including race. These actions ultimately resulted in severe physical and mental traumas to those essentialized individuals. The belief in biological essence also serves as the basis of gender essentialism, which is the belief that gender is a discrete social category, implying that gender is biologically determined and immutable. This theory is similar to feminism, which also became popular in the 1960s. The feminists ultimately realized that sexism and discrimination against women were based on these essentialist beliefs, which were rooted in outdated stereotypes.

Essentialism in Different Cultures

China’s educational system preserves the educational essentialism theory. Specifically, teachers teaching the same year follow a very detailed course syllabus, from designated textbook to content covered each week, provided by the education bureau. In addition, the teachers teaching the same year meet bi-weekly to discuss their pace and adjust accordingly. On the other hand, students are provided with a fixed course schedule and do not have any elective courses. In addition, they are provided multiple homework sets for each class and are required to complete written work for each course every day.

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