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Mortimer Adler, and Robert Hutchins have been known to influence the perennial approach of education. Mortimer Adler helped design the "Great Book Program" in 1946. Robert Hutchins supported this educational philosophy when he implemented the use of Adler's "Great Books" in his "Chicago Plan." They believed in teaching all students the same information and having the teacher initiate discussions to help the student question the validity of the topics.

In Perennialism the belief was that you taught "everlasting" information to the students. The main idea was to stimulate thought provoking discussions from different topics presented to the student. As in essentialism the teacher is the center of the instruction. The educator was responsible for teaching principals not facts. Their goal was to open the students mind to scientific reasoning, and that factual information may be proven false. A major difference between the two philosophies is in perinnialism the student input is important. Using this approach helps the individual thinker in each student blossom.

Nowadays you can find this philosophical approach in boarding schools, and very elite private schools. Both charter schools, and magnet schools have been known to use curriculums based on this approach. Through perinnialism it was recognized rote recitation wasn't the only way to educate the students. It is my belief that this approach should be incorporated with other educational philosophies to be beneficial in our current school systems. However, with the new state mandated test requirements there may not be enough time in an academic day to include this approach. The philosopher in the students may never be released.

PROGRESSIVISM

In the 1920's with the founding of the Laboratory School, John Dewey created the foundations of the progressive education movement. In this school both John Dewey and his wife taught children to learn by doing. He felt that learning facts wasn't the only way to educate. John Dewey realized that not every student could learn by the same approach. Perhaps, it is this reasoning that made him incorporate several different methods into educating students at his school.

This is the first philosophical approach that takes into consideration the three learning types (auditory, visual and kinesthetic learners) of students. In a progressive approach classroom you will see thought provoking games, books, manipulative objects, experimentation and social interaction between the students. This

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