Perennialism and the Revival of Liberal Arts
RUNNING HEAD: Perennialism and the Revival o f the Liberal Arts
Educating the Whole Person: Perennialism and the Revival of the Liberal L iberal Arts By Timothy Dedeaux
The University of Southern Mississippi Spring 2010
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Description of Perennialist Educational Philosophy The philosophy of Perennialism is the philosophy of universal truth and universal education. Perennialists believe that people people are, essentially, the same, and that the human human condition, in its most essential form, form, remains essentially constant. With this belief belief in mind, the goal of education is not to prepare people for a vocation or career, but to teach them to be rational, educated, creative individuals. To this end, Perennialists Perennialists advocate that all students students be taught the same liberal arts curriculum, which re lies heavily upon the great works of o f Western Civilization (Gibble, 2002). Perennialism gets its name from the idea that t hat some great ideas, processes, and artistic works are perennial, or eternal; that not all knowledge, belief, and ethics are passingly t ied to their time. Central to Perennial Perennial philosophy are three concepts: truth is is objective, truth is universal, and truth is enduring. In practical terms, this means that truth and and the great works that express or embody it, are real, true for all people, and maintain their great ness and validity (Farrand, 2000). Robert Hutchins, University of Chicago Chancellor and major Perennialist philosopher, caught the essence of the view when he said, ³Nobody can decide for himself whether he is going to be a human being. The only question open to him is whether he will be an ignorant, underdeveloped one, or one who has sought to reach the highest point he is capable of attaining. « We all practice the liberal arts, well or badly, all the time every day.´ (Hut chins, 1952, p. 50). Being a liberal artist artist is being human, all people are, whether they want to be or not. Perennialists seek to maximize the peoples¶ peo ples¶ reason, intellect, and ultimately, their humanity. In short, the mindset inculcated through throug h the liberal arts is the essence of human knowledge, and every person, rich or poor, highly intelligent or not, must face the same essential
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human struggle and human questions. questions. Thus every person should be taught the same, same, universal, curriculum. Humans are are all rational beings, and and creative beings. beings. The point of education is to maximize those faculties. faculties. Students learn and become educated by studying studying the great works of Western Society, such as art and literature, literature, history and philosophy, philosophy, scientific sc ientific reasoning, physics and mathematics (Gibble, 2002). Perennialism contrasts starkly with Progressivism, with its e mphasis on Constructivist thought, which holds that knowledge is constructed by the learner, and therefore therefore relative. While Constructivists disagree as to whether truth and reality are, themselves, relative, all agree t hat knowledge itself is individual to the learner. Despite surface similarities similarities to Essentialism, the point of Perennialism is not the transmission of essential information, as the E ssentialists ssentialists hold, but rather maturing and transforming each individua l student into an educated, rational being. Even though some drill and memorization is necessary, the goal isn¶t just to teach facts, but to form thinkers (Dolhenty, 2009). If one distilled Enlightenment thought and philosophy p hilosophy into an educational philosophy, it would look a lot like like Perennialism. Perennialism and Enlightenment Enlightenment thinkers share a belief in in reason, truth, and science and an a n emphasis on cultivating complete, co mplete, educated individuals. Perennialism is entirely consistent with the Enlightenment idea that to be good citizens, to be able to participate in government rather than to be ruled, people peo ple must be self-disciplined, ordered, and self-controlled. There is a major divisi d ivision on within Perennialism, between Secu lar and Theistic Perennialists. Theistic Perennialism Perennialism is the older form, form, originating with Saint Saint Thomas Aquinas (Rowe, 1999). It mainly differs from Secular Perennialism Perennialism in the ultimate ultimate source of truth and in the degree of inclusion inclusion of Christianity in the curriculum. curriculum. While Secular Perennialists would would
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include significant works of Christianity in the curriculum as examples of foundat ional documents of Western Civilization, Theistic Perennialists would include significant study of theology, and would, wou ld, indeed, approach education itself from a religious religious standpoint standpo int (Dolhenty, 2009). M ajor ajor
Perennialists Philosophers and Educators
Brooklyn-born Robert Hutchins, author of The of The Great Conversation, Conversation, was one of the most important figures in modern modern Perennialism. Hutchins was an ambulance driver in World War I. After the war, he graduated Yale Yale University and Law School. He served as dean of Yale Law School at age twenty-eight, and at age thirty, was named president of the University of Chicago. There he emphasized liberal education for undergraduates, instituted comprehensive examinations as a measure of o f student achievement, and deemphasized all non-acade mic approaches, including intercollegiate sports and vocational training (Robert Maynard, 2010). Mortimer Adler, a first-generation American born in New York City, dropped out of school at age fourteen, but later studied and became a professor of philosophy at Columbia University. He was inspired inspired by John Stuart Mill, Mill, and had an exceptional knowledge of the classics. At Columbia University, University, he promoted the integration integration of philosophy, science, literature, and religion, and published Dialectic published Dialectic,, ³a summation of the great philosophical and religious ideas of Western Civilization.´ Civilization.´ (Mortimer J., J., 2009). In 1930, Adler joined joined the faculty at the University of Chicago, Chicago, under university president Robert Hutchins. Hutchins. Adler went on to write write over fifty books on topics related to Perennialist Perennialist education educat ion (Farrand, 2000), including the Paidea the Paidea Proposal , which argued ³that an individual learns best by studying the classics.´ (Gibble, 2002, p. 2).
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Stringfellow Barr and Scott Buchanan created creat ed the Great Books program at St. John¶s College in Maryland, where Barr was President, and Buchanan was on faculty. faculty. Although Buchanan developed the Great Books program (Scott Buchanan (1895-1968), 2010), it was the earlier work of Columbia University and University of Chicago acade mic John Erskine that lay the groundwork for the curriculum curriculum (Cross, 1995). Barr served as editor editor of the V irginia irginia Quarterly Review and worked to abolish the House Committee Committee on Un-American Activities. Both men were active on the Foundation for World Government, which Barr founded (Scott Buchanan (18951968), 2010). Examination of a Hypothetical Perennialist Class Perennialist education does not lend itself well to being injected in small doses into a philosophically heterogeneous environment. It would would be very difficult to bring bring Perennialism into a public school, because t he curriculum is set by the state, and do minated by state tests. Preparation for these tests leaves little time in the core classes for anything not related to the test. Therefore, if Perennialist philosophy is to be injected into a public school at all, all, it would wo uld almost have to be done through a separate Great Great Books course. However, typical class class sizes in public schools are not conducive to the Socratic dialogues required for a Great Books course. Further, the degree of out o f class work the students would have to do in order to make the class c lass successful would be significantly greater than in mo st high school classes. As such, the hypothetical course examined will be Great Books I, a one semester, firstyear undergraduate course focusing on classical classical Greek works. Further Great Books courses courses would focus on Roman and early Judeo-Christian works, Renaissance works, Enlightenment works, and modern works (Great Books Readings, 2005).
Perennialism and the Revival of Liberal Arts Learning
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Environment
Because Perennialist Great Books courses co urses engage the students primarily through Socratic dialogue, the optimal seating arrangement would be one that facilitates facilitates such discussion, namely, a circle or similar arrangement wherein students face each o ther (The Paideia Program, 2009). The room itself would be decorated decorat ed with collections of quotes from the works to be studied, photographs and artistic representations of ancient Greece, and pictures and reproductions of art from from the period. There would, of course, be books books and maps available in the classroom for actual instructional instructional use. All of these things would have to be assembled assembled in a very orderly and uncluttered manner, so as not to distract the students from the ongoing process of instruction. Student and Teacher Responsibilities R esponsibilities Perennialism has been called ³teacher-centered,´ (Simonet, 2005) and although that may be an unfair characterization of an educational philosophy that focuses on developing the rational and creative faculties of its students, it is clear that Perennialism is teacher-led teacher-led . Teachers have the responsibility for keeping an orderly classroom and keep ing the students focused, even when the material requires requires drill, memorization, or other relatively relatively boring tasks. Teachers have the responsibility responsibility to not only convey factual factua l information information and skills, but to lead students to understanding and exercising their reason. reason. To this end, end, teachers employ Socratic discussions, discussions, lectures, and readings. Teachers should also attempt to to convey to students the importance of the concepts and works they the y are studying, in order to connect the curriculum to the students¶ lives and thus increase motivation (Gibble, 2002). Neither students nor teachers are expected to determine or shape the curriculum, which consists of great works works of universal and enduring value. To a Perennialist, Perennialist, asking students what
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they should study is like like asking a patient to diagnose the physician. physician. The primary responsibility responsibility of students in a Perennialist educational system is to show up and do the necessary work, even if they do not feel like it it and do not understand how it is is relevant. Students¶ interests interests are not taken into account, in part because the curriculum is considered to be set and universal, and in part because the students are not yet educated, and, as such, do not know what is best for them to learn (Gibble, 2002). On any given class meeting, the students would participate in discussions about the material that they were assigned assigned to read for that week. week. The teacher¶s role is is to correct logical logical fallacies and errors, prevent digressions, and evaluat e the quality of the overall discussion and individual contributions (The Paideia Paideia Program, 2009). Clearly, if enough of the students do not do their homework, the discussion discussion will falter, falter, and the effectiveness of the class class will fail. fail. In addition to regular Socratic dialogues, students stud ents would be expected to write write frequent papers critically reflecting upon the works being stud ied, including their relevance to other fields and current events. Curriculum and M aterials aterials A Great Books curriculum is the embodiment o f the Perennialist preference for primary source materials. As such, this course, Great Books I: The Greek Classics, Classics, will begin with Homer¶s Iliad Homer¶s Iliad and and Odyssey, Odyssey, proceed to the works of playwrights Aeschylus, Euripides, and Sophocles, and end the semester studying the great philosophers, including Plato, Aristotle, Aristotle, Hippocrates, and Euclid. The primary sources, in translation, translation, will be the materials for the class, though students may, at times, be asked to find current materials or situations that relate to t hese materials, in order to further the class discussions (Great Books Readings, 2005 ).
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References Cross, T. (1995). An (1995). An Oasis of Order: The Core Curriculum at Columbia College. College. Retrieved from http://c250.columbia.edu/c250_celebrates/remarkable_columbians/ john_erskine.html Dolhenty, J. (2009). Philosophy Philosophy of Education: An Example of Applied Philosophy. Philosophy. Retrieved from http://www.radicalacademy.com/philapplied2.htm Farrand, M. (2000). Mortimer Adler. Retrieved from http://www2.selu.edu/Academics/ Faculty/nadams/educ692/Adler.html Gibble, J. (2002). Perennialism Perennialism as an Educational Philosophy. Retrieved from fshttp:// fshttp:// www2.yk.psu.edu/~jlg18/506/Word%20files/philosophy/Perennialism_reading.doc Great Books Readings. (2005). The Great Books Program. Program. Retrieved from http://www.greatbooksprogram.org/readinglist.htm Hutchins, R. (1952). The Great Conversation. Conversation. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/ blogs/wp-content/pdf/The_Great_Conversation.pdf. Mortimer J. Adler, Adler, A Biography. (2009). The Mortimer Mortimer J. Adler Archive. Retrieved from http://radicalacademy.com/adlerbio.htm The Paideia Program. (2009). The Mortimer Mortimer J. Adler Archive. Archive. Retrieved from from http://radicalacademy.com/adlerpaideiagroup.htm Robert Maynard Hutchins (2010). In Encyclopædia In Encyclopædia Britannica. Britannica. Retrieved from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/277638/RobertMaynard-Hutchins .
Rowe, R. (1999). Perennialism (1999). Perennialism.. Retrieved Ret rieved from http://www.rrowe.net/about-me/tp/perennialism. Scott Buchanan (1895-1968). (2010). In Education In Education Encyclopedia. Encyclopedia. Retrieved from http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/1803/Buchanan-Scott-1895-1968.html st
Simonet, L. (2005). Defining Oneself as an Educational Leader in the 21 Century. Retrieved from http://www.frontiernet.net/~trace/3Build%20Communities%20of%20Teachers%20 http://www.frontiernet.net/~trace/3Build%20Communities%20of%20Teachers%20 and%20Learners/Standard%20Five/SS%20Education%20Philosophy.pdf.
