PHILO-120 Lecture Notes - Lecture 26: Mortimer J. Adler, Robert Maynard Hutchins, Effective Schools
28 Oct 2020
School
Department
Course
Professor
Philo 120
Introduction to Philosophy
Class Notes
TOPIC: PERENILIASM.
WHAT IS PERENIALSM?
● It is an educational theory/philosophy that draws from idealism and realism.
● It is conservative in nature.
● Perenialists believe that truth is universal and does not depend on circumstances of place,
time /person.
● A good education involves a search and an understanding of the truth.
● Education is a liberal exercise that develops the intellect.
● Robert Hutchins and Mortimer Adler are known to be the leading perenialists who based
their theory of education mainly on Aristotle’s realism.
● They concurred with Aristotle that since human beings are rational, the schools primary
role is the cultivation of rationality.
● Perenialists therefore oppose political, social and economic theories that seek to use
schools as multi-purpose agents.
● They do not want schools to stress student’s emotional adjustment/to be vocational training
centres for the marketing place.
● Although Perenialists understand that emotional well-ness and vocational competence are
necessary for people to function in society, they believe that agencies other than the school
should attend to these activities.
● To put extra non-academic demands on teachers and schools takes away energy, time and
resources from the primary academic purpose of schools.
● For perenialists the most important educational goals are the searching of and
disseminating of the truth.
● Since they believe that truth is universal and unchanging, a genuine education is also
universal and unchanging.
● The school curriculum should contain cognitive subjects that cultivate rationality and the
study of moral aesthetic and religious principles to cultivate ethical behaviour.
● Like idealists and realists, perenialists prefer a subject matter curriculum which includes
history, language, geography, maths, logic, literature, social studies, natural sciences and
fine arts.
● The content of these subjects develops intellectual skills of reading, writing, spelling,
listening, calculation, observing, measuring, estimating and problem solving which leads
to higher order thinking and reflection.
● Perenialists argue that students should not be grouped/streamed into “tracks” that prevent
some from acquiring the general education to which they are entitled to by their common
humanity.
● All students have the right to the same high quality education.
● To track/channel some students into an academic curriculum and others into vocational
curriculum denies genuine equality of educational opportunities.
IMPLICATIONS FOR THE CLASSROOM TEACHER.
● Like the realist and idealists, perenialists see the classroom as an environment for students
intellectually growth.
Document Summary
It is an educational theory/philosophy that draws from idealism and realism. Perenialists believe that truth is universal and does not depend on circumstances of place, time /person. A good education involves a search and an understanding of the truth. Education is a liberal exercise that develops the intellect. Robert hutchins and mortimer adler are known to be the leading perenialists who based their theory of education mainly on aristotle"s realism. They concurred with aristotle that since human beings are rational, the schools primary role is the cultivation of rationality. Perenialists therefore oppose political, social and economic theories that seek to use schools as multi-purpose agents. They do not want schools to stress student"s emotional adjustment/to be vocational training centres for the marketing place. Although perenialists understand that emotional well-ness and vocational competence are necessary for people to function in society, they believe that agencies other than the school should attend to these activities.
