Gripping and enduring interests frequently, and in respect of the higher interests almost always, grow out of initial

learning efforts that are not intrinsically appealing or attractive. William Chandler Bagley Every point in time, it seems, education has een e!pected to ta"e on the responsi ility of curing all of society#s pro lems, even though many considered education to e one of its

pro lems. $o one can argue the reality that society as a whole, has pro lems. %ust watch the news and you will see what "ind of shape our society is in with poverty all over the country, corruptions in the government, drug addictions and crimes going on everywhere in the &hilippines. We, 'ilipinos, with our high regard for education elieve that it is the answer. 'aced with constant changes in our world, others say that education in the &hilippines is so lac"ing that it can#t possi ly help students develop into contri uting mem ers of society. (here are so many critics and there are so many solutions that are eing proposed, ut which is hard to say what will wor" with the inevita le and rapid changes of tomorrow. (hat is why, in this writer#s opinion, it is requisite to "now what educational theory is essentialism and what is its implication in the &hilippine educational system. (he &hilippine educational system is dated ac" from the pre)spanish era and has evolved and now patterned after the *merican system. +chools are classified into pu lic ,government- or private ,non)government or sectarian- ones. Basically pu lic schools in the &hilippines are ./0 traditional. (hey are teacher centered, have isolated curriculum ,su 1ect are taught separately-, product oriented, s"ills are learned thru repetition, concepts are presented as facts to memori2e, have quantitative evaluation ,numerical testing- and have igger class. (he general pattern of formal education follows four stages3 &re)primary level ,nursery and "indergarten- offered in most private schools4 si! years of primary or elementary education, followed y four years of secondary or high school education. College education usually ta"es four, sometimes five and in
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some cases as in medical and law schools, as long as eight years. Graduate schooling is an additional two or more years. ,Whitman 5 *ldinger, 6//.Considered as a conservative educational theory that was developed in opposition to progressive education, essentialism rooted philosophically in oth idealism and realism.

Essentialism emphasi2es an academic curriculum of su 1ects and encourages teachers who stress order, discipline and effort. 'or essentialist, the important aims of education are3 7 to transmit the asic s"ills and "nowledge found in the cultural heritage4 6 to emphasi2e the learning of those s"ills and su 1ects that can lead learners to still higher level s"ills and "nowledge4 and ,8- to use education as a civili2ing "nowledge and values of the past and the requirements of the presents ,9rnstein 5 :evin, 7.;<=ntil the 7.8/>s, essentialism continue to e overshadowed y progressivism in any e!plicit philosophic formulation. ?t was critici2ed as eing too rigid to prepare student adequately for adult life. &rofessor William C. Bagley of (eachers College, Colum ia =niversity is generally regarded as the modern day father of the essentialist educational philosophy. ?n 7.8;, an organi2ation "nown as (he Essentialist>s Committee for *dvancement of Education came into eing. William C. Bagley, although not regarded as a professional philosopher, considered himself a realist and appreciated the importance of a philosophic grounding for education. (he la el essentialist was coined y the idealist @ichael Aemiash"evish who cooperated closely with Bagley in the committee. ,Brameld, 7.<<'or essentialist the aim of education is to prepare the students to e productive and contri uting mem ers of society. 'or them, the young needs the essentials to live well in the modern world to instil in the students the essentials of academic "nowledge and ensures the
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accumulated wisdom of our civili2ation as taught in the intellectual disciplines. +uch intellectual discipline may include Bistory4 @athematics4 +cience4 :anguage and :iterature. ,Gute", 7..C*rthur Bestor also a leading essentialist of the fifties elieved that li eral arts and

sciences were the core of a general education which would ena le men and women to function intelligently. ,Gute", 7..C?nterest to essentialism theory came ac" when3 (he +oviet =nion launch of the +putni" satellite humiliated the =nited +tate which had fully e!pected to e first nation into space. *merican lamed the pu lic education system for not producing enough sufficiently talented scientist and engineers to propel the =nited +tate into outer space ahead of its then)enemy. Educators responded y developing a more intellectually demanding curriculum. (he math, sciences and reasoning s"ills fostered in the essentialist curriculum proponents claimed, would produce the scientists, engineers and technology wor"ers who would defend and protect the =nited +tates from outside threats. +tudents> intellectual trainings ecame a critical weapon of nationa defence. (o this day, most *merican high schools continue to rely on an essentialist curriculum. ,Daplan 5 9wings, p.7C/(he national security panic a out the schools failing that it led them to study the nation>s educational standing, the prominent *pril, 7.;8 report on *merican education, from the $ational Commission on E!cellence in Education entitled * $ation *t Eis"3 (he ?mperative 'or Educational Eeform reported =.+. children lagged ehind other nations> achievement level when it came to asic su 1ects. ?t concludes that pu lic school needed to improve their teaching and improve students> s"ills in asic areas li"e reading, writing and science. Wide support for ac" to asics curriculum followed. ,Daplan 5 9wings, 6/779ne of its educational principles is that guidance of the immature student should come from a well)educated and cultured teacher. Generally essentialists view the teacher as the most important, most "nowledgea le person in the classroom. (herefore, it>s no surprise that
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essentialist seem to show common methodological preference for the lecture method. (hey avoid methodological frills and soft pedagogy and concentrate proven instructional methods. ,9rnstein 5 :evin, 7.;<?ts main concepts focus on essentials of academic "nowledge and character development. ,Gute", 7..C- *ccording to essentialist perspective, school focus should centered, academic and mentalistic. Essentialism em races a su 1ectFarea methodology. (his is the oldest and most widely "nown organi2ation structure for education. ?ts foundation lies in the seven li eral arts of classical Gree" and Eoman education3 grammar, dialectic, rhetoric, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music. @odern day su 1ect)area curricula can e traced to the wor" of William (orrey Barris, e very su 1ect

superintendent of the +t. :ouis school system from 7.G. to 7;;/ ,Ahawan, 6//<(he essentialist classroom urges that the most essential or asic academic s"ills and "nowledge e taught to all students. (raditional disciplines such as math, natural science,

history, foreign language, and literature form the foundation of the essentialist curriculum. Essentialists frown upon vocational, ad1usted, or other courses with Hwatered downH academic content. ,Ahawan, 6//<+tudents from elementary level receive training s"ills such as writing, reading, measurement and computers. Even while learning arts and music, su 1ects that are most associated with the development of creativity, the students are still required to master a ody of information and asic techniques, gradually moving from fewer comple!es to more comple! s"ills and detailed "nowledge. 9nly y mastering the required material for their grade level that a student will e promoted to the ne!t level. ,Ahawan, 6//<6

?f essentialists are against unconventional way of learning, what are they approve ofI *n e!cellent description of the essentialist conception of the school was given y %ohn *. Ciardi, associate professor of English at Eutgers =niversity *ssume, for e!ample, that you want to e a physicist. Jou pass the great stone halls, of say, @?(, and they cut into stone are the names of the master scientists. (he chances are that few of you will leave your names to e cut into those stones. Jet any one of you who managed to stay awa"e through part of a high school course in physics, "nows more a out physics than did many of those great ma"ers of the past. Jou "now more ecause they left you what they "new. (he first course in any science is essentially a history course. Jou have to egin y learning what the past learned for you. E!cept as a man has entered the past of the race he has no function in civili2ation. *nd as this is true of the techniques of man"ind, so is it true of man"ind>s spiritual resources. @ost of these resources, oth technical and spiritual, are stored in oo"s. Boo"s, the arts, and the techniques of science, are man>s peculiar accomplishment. When you have read a oo", you have added to your human e!perience. Eead Bomer and your mind includes a piece of Bomer>s mind. (hrough oo"s you can acquire at least fragments of the mind and e!perience of Kirgil, Aante, +ha"espeareLthe list is endless. 'or a great oo" is necessarily a gift3 it offers you a life you have not time to live yourself, and it ta"es you into a world you have not time to travel in literal time. * civili2ed human mind is, in essence, one that contains many such lives and many such worlds. ?f you are too much in a hurry, or too arrogantly proud of your own limitations, to accept as a gift to your humanity some pieces of the minds of +ophocles, of *ristotle, of ChaucerLand right down the scale and down the ages to Jeats, Einstein, E.B. White, and 9gden $ashLthen you may e protected y the laws governing manslaughter, and you may e a voting entity, ut you are neither a developed human eing nor a useful citi2en of a democracy. ? thin" it was :a Eochefoucauld who said that most people would never fall in love if they hadn>t read a out it. Be might have said that no one would ever manage to ecome a human if he hadn>t read a out it. ? spea", ? am sure, for the faculty of the li eral arts colleges and for the faculties of the speciali2ed schools as well, when ? say that a university has no real e!istence and no real purpose e!cept as it succeeds in putting you in touch, oth as specialists and as humans, with those human minds your human mind needs to include. (he faculty, y its very e!istence, says implicitly3 We have een aided y many people, and y many oo"s, and y the arts, in our attempt to ma"e ourselves some sort of storehouse of human e!perience. We are here to ma"e availa le to you, as est we can, that e!perience.
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Basically the student role in an essentialist school is to listen and learn. (he individual child>s interest, motivations and psychological states are not important ,Gute", 7..C*lso it is crucial to mention that in an essentialist classroom, students are taught to e Hculturally literate,H that is, to possess a wor"ing "nowledge a out the people, events, ideas, and institutions that have shaped society. Eeflecting the essentialist emphasis on technological literacy, * $ation at Eis" recommends that all high school students complete at least one semester of computer science. ,9rnstein 5 :evin, 7.;<Eeflecting on its conservative philosophy and traditional approached to schooling, it has ecome apparent for the researcher that essentialism implication in &hilippine education is clearly seen from asic to secondary education. H(raditional and rigorous practices of lecture, question and answer, discussion, recitation, use of te!t oo"s and mastery of facts reflect its influencesH. ,+an @ateo 5 (angco, 6//8Contrary to the *merican>s article * $ation at Eis" the researcher conclude ac" to asics curriculum is not enough to help the &hilippine economy ecome affluent and to ma"e our graduates glo ally competitive. We have een using the H ac" to asicH curriculum long enough, it>s now time for our government to reform its educational system. But the writer cannot deny the fact that there are some essentialist components that would serve every teacher and every student well, for these components come ac" time and again. +tudents should learn to persevere through unattractive tas"s, and practice the asic s"ills to develop all they need to ecome productive citi2ens.

References
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Brameld, (heodore 7.<<. &hilosophies of Education in Cultural &erspective. =nited +tate of *merica3 Bolt, Einehart and Winston, ?nc. Ahawan, @. :. 6//<. &hilosophy of Education. ?ndia3 ?sha Boo"s Gute", G.:. ,7..C-. &hilosophical and ?deological &erspective in Education. 6nd Ed. Boston3 *llyn amd Bacon Daplan, :eslie +. 5 William *. 9wings 6/77. *merican Education Building a Common 'oundation. =nited +tate of *merica3 Wadsworth. 9rnstein, *llan C. 5 Aaniel =. :evine 7.;<. 'oundation of Education. Boston3 Boughton @ifflin. Whitman, Cheryl Kince 5 Carmen E. *ldinger 6//.. Case +tudies in Glo al +chool Bealth &romotion3'rom Eesearch to &ractice. =+*3 +pringer +cience M Business @edia