永恒主义教育哲学

永恒主义教育哲学Perennialism as an Educational PhilosophyEducation should be basically the same for all men.Perennial means "everlasting,"永远 like a perennial flower that comes up year after year. Espousing the notion that some ideas have lasted over centuries and are as relevant today as when they were first conceived, Perennialism urges that these ideas should be the focus of education. According to Perennialists, when students are immersed in the study of those profound and enduring ideas, they will appreciate learning for its own sake and become true intellectuals.For Perennialists, the aim of education is to ensure that students acquire understandings about the great ideas of Western civilization. These ideas have the potential for solving problems in any era. The focus is to teach ideas that are everlasting, to seek enduring truths which are constant, not changing, as the natural and human worlds at their most essential level, do not change. A Perennialist views nature, human nature, and the underlying principles of existence as constant. The principles of knowledge are enduring. Truth never changesTeaching these unchanging principles is critical. Humans are rational beings, and their minds need to be developed. Thus, cultivation of the intellect is the highest priority in a worthwhile education. The demanding curriculum focuses on attaining cultural literacy, stressing students' growth in enduring disciplines. The loftiest accomplishments of humankind are emphasized– the great works of literature and art, the laws or principles of science.Perennialism is not rooted in any particular time or place. Perennialism is open to the notion that universal spiritual forms--such as those posited by Plato or by theological philosophers--are equally real. Perennialists seek to help students discover those ideas most insightful and timeless in understanding the human condition. The study of philosophy is thus a crucial part of the Perennialist curriculum. Perennialists regard essentialism, and its view that knowledge stems primarily from the empirical findings of scientists, as undermining the importance of our capacity to reason as individuals; that is, to think deeply, analytically, flexibly, and imaginatively.Recognizing that enormous strides have been made in our knowledge about the physical universe, Perennialists teach about the processes by which scientific truths have been discovered. Perennialists emphasize, though, that students should not be taught information that may soon be obsolete or found to be incorrect because of future scientific and technological findings. They would not be as interested as the essentialists, for example, in teaching students how to use current forms of computer technology.Perennialists criticize the vast amount of discrete factual information that educators traditionally have required students to absorb. Perennialists urge schools to spend more time teaching about concepts and explaining how these concepts are meaningful to students. Particularly at the high school and university levels, Perennialists decry undue reliance on textbooks and lectures to communicate ideas. Perennialists suggest that a greater emphasis be placed on teacher-guided seminars, where students and teachers engage in Socratic dialogues, or mutual inquiry sessions, to develop an enhanced understanding of history's most timeless concepts.In addition, Perennialists recommend that students learn directly from reading and analyzing the Great Books. These are the creative works by history's finest thinkers and writers, which Perennialists believe are as profound, beautiful, and meaningful today as when they were written. Perennialists lament the change in universities over the centuries from places where students (and teachers) pursued truth for its own sake to mere glorified training grounds for the students' careers.They 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 and skills and academic rigor. Schooling should be practical, preparing students to become valuable members of society. It should focus on facts-the objective reality out there--and "the basics," training students to read, write, speak, and compute clearly and logically. Schools should not try to set or influence policies.A Perennialist asks, "What are the essential things a student must know?" Within a Perennialist curriculum, activities are tied to the past and not to what is “essential” right now. The Perennialistvalues the past but he or she likes the back to basics movement inasmuch as the basics are the learnings of the great minds of the past.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.For the Perennialist, a great education is a study of the classics. A Perennialist teacher holds fast to a constant curriculum and holds fast to concrete materials that define what he or she will teach (rather than assessing the class and meeting the students' needs).A great proponent of Perennialism is Mortimer Adler, Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University. He wrote the Paidea Proposal. His basic tenant is that an individual learns best by studying the classics. The Paideia program seeks to establish a course of study that is general, not specialized; liberal, not vocational; humanistic, not technical. Only in this way can it fulfill the meaning of the words "paideia" and "humanities," which signify the general learning that should be in the possession of every human being."Keys(1) Permanence is more real than change.(2) Human nature remains essentially the same.(3) The good life -- the life that is fit for men to live -- remains essentially the same.(4) Moral principles remain essentially the same.(5) Hence, the education that men receive should remain essentially the same.Because human beings are essentially the same, education should be essentially the same for everyone. The function of a citizen may vary from society to society, but the function of man, as a man, is the same in every age and in every society since it results from his nature as a man. “The aim of an educational system ... is to improve man as man.”Because the nature of man is constant -- because men as men are everywhere the same -- education should be basically the same for all men. This means that children are rational beings, not plastic personalities to be molded to the teacher's whim. Problem-solving is thus a waste of time on the part of pupils.Why spend hours to discover a fact or a principle when it can be taught to pupils in a few minutes? Drill, repetition and memorization are vital in the leaning process. Teaching should not be slanted to the "least common denominator." Rather, slow learners must spend more time to learn the same content as do the brilliant students. The quality of education must not be diluted. Promotion chronologically by age promotes a false standard of equality.Because man's highest characteristic -- the one differentiating him from the lower life forms -- is his reason, he must use it to direct his life and control his instincts. Men are free, not determined. They are responsible for their actions. We cannot excuse a child's actions because of his environment or personal problems. Because men are rational, they must live rationally. Hence, children must be held to the standards of reason, and this is one function of education.Education should adjust man to the truth which is eternal, while the contemporary world is not. "Education implies teaching. Teaching implies knowledge. Knowledge is truth. The truth everywhere is the same. Hence, education should be everywhere the same." Perennialism accepts little flexibility in the curriculum. For example, in his Paideia Program, published in 1982, Mortimer Adler recommends a single elementary and secondary curriculum for all students, supplemented by years of pre-schooling in the case of the educational disadvantaged. He would allow no curricular electives except in the choice of a second language.Education should be for the "long-haul," not for the immediate, contemporary fad. It is not the job of the school to meddle in contemporary problems, social reform, and political action. It is the job of the school to provide an education on the basis of which education, students later after graduation can rationally initiate the efforts for social reform, change, and political action.Education is a preparation for life, not an imitation of life; or as the progressive insist it is not "life itself."The child should be taught certain basic subjects that will acquaint him/her with the world's permanencies: English, languages, history, mathematics, natural sciences, the fine arts, and philosophy.The child should learn reading and writing, how to speak and how to listen. He is a social being and lives in a community of men. Thus he must use his reason -- his powers of rationality – to communicate with other men. The three Rs ARE important.Perennialists hold that subject matter should be the center of the curriculum. They feel that greater educational opportunities have lowered standards in the schools. They are particularly critical of the progressives who have placed emphasis on the interests of the child and teaching through activity and freedom. Education should introduce the pupil to the universal concerns of mankind thorough the study of the great works of literature, philosophy, history, and science. Such works represent man's finest insights into his own nature. The insights presented in these works are eternal. They do not change; they are never dated. In this way, s/he learns truths that are more important than any s/he could find by dipping into this or that in the contemporary scene, or by pursing his own interests.The Great Books for Children and Youth forms part of the curriculum in some schools, especially in programs for the gifted. It stresses the importance of the teacher as the authority in the classroom and the mastery of content. The followers of the movement decry topics that they consider unimportant.Education requires hard work and effort. If the student is interested in the subject, well and good, but if not, s/he still must be required to do the tasks. After all, the student does not know what s/he will need in the future. Motivation is fine, and if the teacher can provide it, well and good, but if not, the student must work at the task regardless.Discipline in the classroom is essential to learning. A noisy classroom is not a desirable place for learning to take place. Order is vital. Students cannot always think of the future. Consequently, teachers and parents must help students overcome their desire for immediate ends and direct them to future objectives. Self-discipline is fine, but most of the times it is insufficient. Adults therefore must give direction. The classroom is teacher-centered. The teacher as a professional is far more likely to know what her students will need to know in the future than do they. S/he is responsible for the education and intellectual growth of his/her students. Education requires the mastery of content, of subject matter.Education requires mental discipline. Study is hard work. Concentration and effort is required. Students must therefore being culturated in the process.Think about It:1)All educational philosophies have a place for the learner, the content and the culture. What isthe correct sequence of importance for these ideas in this philosophy?2)What is the ultimate end or aim of education?3)What excellences are to be cultivated? What is the (most important) content of the curriculum?4)How does one teach this material in order to develop these excellences? What is/are the bestmethod(s) of instruction?5)What is the teacher’s role in education?6)What is the nature of the student?7)Is this philosophy a good fit for your own views of reality? Why/why not?8)It is said that an image is worth a thousand words. What might be your image metaphor for thisphilosophy?Two famous representatives :1. Robert Hutchins(born Jan. 17, 1899, Brooklyn, N.Y., U.S.died May 14, 1977, Santa Barbara, Calif.) American educator and university and foundation president, who criticized overspecialization and sought to balance the college curriculum and to maintain the Western intellectual tradition.General Education1.“It must be remembered that the purpose of education is not to fill the minds of students with facts…it is to teach them to think.”2.The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives.”3.“The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference, and undernourishment.”cation is not to reform students or amuse them or to make them expert technicians. It is tounsettle their minds, widen their horizons, inflame their intellects, teach them to think straight, if possible.”5. “A civilization in which there is not a continuous controversy about important issues is on the wayto totalitarianism and death”6.There is only one justification for universities, as distinguished from trade schools. They must be centers of criticism.”7.“A liberal education... frees a man from the prison-house of his class, race, time, place, background, family and even his nation.”2.Mortimer Adler(December 28, 1902- June 28, 2001):in full Mortimer Jerome Adler American philosopher, educator, editor, and advocate of adult and general education by study of the great writings of the Western world.How to Read a Book --A Guide to Reading Great BooksBook DescriptionHow to Read a Book, originally published in 1940, has become a rare phenomenon, a living classic.It is the best and most successful guide to reading comprehension for the general reader. And now it has been completely rewritten and updated.You are told about the various levels of reading and how to achieve them -- from elementary reading, through systematic skimming and inspectional reading, to speed reading, you learn how to pigeonhole a book, X-ray it, extract the author's message, criticize. You are taught the different reading techniques for reading practical books, imaginative literature, plays, poetry, history, science and mathematics, philosophy and social science.Finally, the authors offer a recommended reading list and supply reading tests whereby you can measure your own progress in reading skills, comprehension and speed.Chapter 1 THE ACTIVITY AND ART OF READINGThis is a book for readers and for those who wish to become readers. Particularly, it is for readers of books. Even more particularly, it is for those whose main purpose in reading books is to gain increased understanding.By "readers" we mean people who are still accustomed, as almost every literate and intelligent person used to be, to gain a large share of their information about and their understanding of the world from the written word. Not all of it, of course; even in the days before radio and television, a certain amount of information and understanding was acquired through spoken words and through observation. But for intelligent and curious people that was never enough. They knew that they had to read too, and they did read. There is some feeling nowadays that reading is not as necessary as it once was. Radio and especially television have taken over many of the functions once served by print, just as photography has taken over functions once served by painting and other graphic arts. Admittedly, television serves some of these functions extremely well; the visual communication of news events, for example, has enormous impact. The ability of radio to give us information while we are engaged in doing other things -- for instance, driving a caris remarkable, and a great saving of time. But it may be seriously questioned whether the advent of modern communications media has much enhanced our understanding of the world in which we live.Perhaps we know more about the world than we used to, and insofar as knowledge is prerequisite to understanding, that is all to the good. But knowledge is not as much a prerequisite to understanding as is commonly supposed. We do not have to know everything about something in order to understand it; too many facts are often as much of an obstacle to understanding as too few. There is a sense in which we moderns are inundated with facts to the detriment of understanding.One of the reasons for this situation is that the very media we have mentioned are so designed as to make thinking seem unnecessary (though this is only an appearance). The packaging of intellectual positions and views is one of the most active enterprises of some of the best minds of our day. The viewer of television, the listener to radio, the reader of magazines, is presented with a whole complex of elements -- all the way from ingenious rhetoric to carefully selected data and statistics -- to make it easy for him to "make up his own mind" with the minimum of difficulty and effort. But the packaging is often done so effectively that the viewer, listener, or reader does not make up his own mind at all. Instead, he inserts a packaged opinion into his mind,somewhat like inserting a cassette into a cassette player. He then pushes a button and "plays back" the opinion whenever it seems appropriate to do so. He has performed acceptably without having had to think.•日本全国通用的图书券上引用的佐藤一斋的名言：“少而学，则壮年有为。