1. What is the best teaching philosophy?

Progressivism is by far the best teaching philosophy. While it is naturally inherent to study the essentials
or basics, one should be mindful that these were first conceived as a product of progress. All forms of
growth come from taking a step towards change. Knowledge is universal and limitless, thus, teaching and
learning should be evolutionary not merely confined within the fixed curriculum. Considering that the
general purpose of education is to instill the growth of student’s intellect and various abilities, the
environment and teaching style should be the means for the promotion of development. Teachers whom
are not too lenient nor too rigorous serve as the guide not a hindrance for the boundless access to
knowledge and skills. Even if there can be considered as learning within the textbooks and conditioning,
there is a strong probability that one has not completely understand it and is confused regarding its
specific application. People learn meaningfully through experiences and social interaction as they are
immersed in the true essence of life: change. When one has lived up something and became part of the
learning process, it runs deeply of the mind targeting the three domains of learning where cognitive,
affective and psychomotor are being tapped as opposed to what is commonly utilized: cognitive domain.
Necessary knowledge, students’ interests and emotional responses as well as the preferred skills are being
encouraged and respected. In fact, progressivists believe that students learn by doing. The joy of learning
comes when there is an active and direct participation that not only evokes our curiosity but also matches
our own interests.
2. Compare and contrast Essentialism and Progressivism.
Essentialism refers to the traditional or back-to-basics approach regarded as necessary for the students in
order to become model citizens. Depicting a rigorous approach, it contends that schools should not try to
radically reshape the society and that classrooms should only revolve around teachers whose task is to
teach only the core academic curriculum. This teaching philosophy expects the student to become
submissive imitating an empty glass as the teacher fills them with a various flow of information and
values. Progressivism, on the other hand, is transformative in nature where it broadens the curricula as
relevant to the needs and interests of students. It recognizes and respect the individuality of each person---
as opposed to Essentialism. Instead of a teacher-centered learning, it emphasizes more an interactive and
first handed learning thereby establishing an expansive medium for a wide array of exchanging ideas. Just
as the water flows and interacts with the different bodies of water, recognizing almost no boundaries.
3. Compare and contrast Essentialism and Perennialism.
Perennialism shares almost the same learning objective with Essentialism, both place importance on the
traditional principles whereby the stringent teacher imparts and cultivates intellectual powers and moral
qualities. However, as far as the other philosophy of teaching is concerned, Perennialism helps us to
consider more than one side of every question. It accepts little flexibility depending on the proponent’s
credibility. Through the numerous works of the finest thinkers and their different perspectives, students
develop the ability to think deeply as these are all considered equally real regardless if it is contradictory
to one another. What is intended here is to develop the student’s capacity to reason. Essentialism does not
allow any contradictory notion arise because a common and standardized curriculum is espoused. Only
those ‘basics’ or those traditional moral values and intellectual knowledge that have been proven and
tested over time by science are considered in order to prepare them to adulthood; anything that goes
beyond it is hampered.
4. Compare and contrast Behaviorism and Existentialism.
Behaviorism and Existentialism are probably the two of the most extreme among the philosophies of
teaching. Both of them are opposite viewpoint but feature a portion of truth that humans have often taken
for granted over time. Existentialism is established on the belief of free will where students are expected
to assume personal responsibility for their own lives. Respect for individuality is served by presenting
them with an extensive latitude of subjects and courses to choose from in order to realize and pursue their
potentialities. Fixed curriculum is precluded for the students themselves direct their own curriculum and
learning pace. Behaviorism, however, denotes that free will is just an illusion implying that human beings
are neither good nor bad as it is their external environment that determines their innermost nature. By
providing them with positive reinforcements, the desired behavior can be best achieved whenever
students perform it. Its curriculum revolves solely on the school’s staffs who are expert on conditioning
and programming behavior.
5. Progressivism, Perennialism and Existentialism.
Teaching is a guidance towards enlightenment and should never be compulsory and inconsiderate
intervention. Guidance is not guidance when it is authoritative in nature, control best suits the latter as it
dictates what specific behavior of the students he should achieve using their authority. When students are
confined in a fixed curriculum while simultaneously disregarding their individual interests, they are being
denied the opportunity to originality, self-actualization or basically discovery of new and self-ideas. They
are programed to learn what to think, what to do and even what to feel. In return, they don’t get to know
themselves completely, they only get to know what is expected to them.
If I were to choose …… Progressivism and Perennialism. Despite of its differences on teaching approach,
both of these philosophies attempts to push the students to a higher level of knowledge. By developing
the capacity to reason and student’s flexibility on solving problems, they will begin to appreciate and
enjoy learning as they are presented with crucial ideas and even part of the process itself rather than
bursting them with factual information. Of course, the latter are important and may be sometimes used in
the real life but the chances of its retention are relatively low. Not all individuals share the same
intellectual excellence. Thus, as much as possible, teachers should create methods or philosophy of
teaching that can arise curiosity. And one of the ways to do that is to present them with a deeper meaning
of life.