Traditional humanism in american education

• Author: Lucian Radu
• Position: Transilvania University of Brasov
• Pages: 17-22

Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşo v

Series VII: Social Sciences • Law • Vol. 11 (60) No. 2 - 2018

TRADITIONAL HUMANISM IN

AMERICAN EDUCATION

Lucian RADU1

Abstract: This paper aims at outlining the most important orientations of

the traditional humanist education with their specific peculiarities, starting

with essentialism and perennialism, appeared as a reaction against the

progressive education, and continuing with the period of the Cold War when

traditional humanist education dominated the entire American curriculum

and imposed a teacher centred education.

Key words: essentialism, perennialism, traditional humanism, Cold War.

1. Introduction

In his book The Struggle for the American Curriculum 1893 – 1958, Herbert M.

Kliebard identified four types of curriculum according to the major orientations of

American education (Kliebard, 1986):

a) developmentalism,

b) humanism,

c) social-meliorism

d) social efficiency.

Throughout the 20th century, one of these curriculum types dominated the others in

different stages of historical evolution, the humanist curriculum being one of the most

outstanding.

2. Humanism – Defining the Concept

A concept can be defined starting from the origins and usage of keywords. Words

often show the way people understood the conce pts, and the changes in the meanings

of a word leave traces along the maps of the social and cultural past. The word

‘humanism’ comes from the Latin ‘humanus; humanitas.’ ‘Humanus’ means human

nature. The Oxford Latin Dictionary defines the word ‘humanitas’ as the quality that

distinguishes the civilized from the uneducated man. Thus, we can say that the roots of

humanism refer both to the specificity of the human-being, different from other species,

and also to the distinction between educated and uneducate d man.

The Latin origins of the term are obvious in the Italian word ‘Humanist.’ ‘Humanista’ in

1 Transilvania University of Braşov, radulucian10@yahoo.com