Education Atlas

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Perennialism (education)

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Educational perennialism is a normative educational philosophy holding that instruction should prioritize principles that have persisted across centuries rather than transient facts. Its secular strand, developed by Robert Hutchins and Mortimer Adler, promotes a universal curriculum grounded in the common, essential nature of all human beings, centered on the Great Books as the enduring conversation of human thought.

Facts
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Its own advocates hold it suits cultivating rational, independent reasoning through direct engagement with great works and Socratic dialogue; Hutchins and Adler implemented it at the University of Chicago, where it still strongly influences the Undergraduate Common Core. 1
Central Question
Should education be organized around a canon of enduring works and principles held in common by all human beings, rather than around vocational skills or the facts of the moment? 1
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1. Wikipedia: Educational perennialism
Wikimedia Foundationopening paragraph
Quote, opening paragraph
Educational perennialism is a normative educational philosophy. Perennialists believe that the priority of education should be to teach principles that have persisted for centuries, not facts.
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1. Wikipedia: Educational perennialism
Wikimedia FoundationSecular perennialism section
Quote, Secular perennialism section
implemented these ideas with great success at the University of Chicago, where they still strongly influence the Undergraduate Common Core
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Wikipedia: Robert Maynard Hutchins
Wikimedia FoundationDeveloped By: Robert Hutchins, Great Books / Educational philosophy section
Quote, Developed By: Robert Hutchins, Great Books / Educational philosophy section
Hutchins worked with Mortimer Adler to develop curriculum reforms grounded in the Great Books of the Western World program.
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Wikipedia: Mortimer J. Adler
Wikimedia FoundationDeveloped By: Mortimer Adler, Great Books section
Quote, Developed By: Mortimer Adler, Great Books section
Adler co-founded, with Hutchins, the Great Books of the Western World program and the Great Books Foundation.
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