Among the most crucial elements of the learning process is the involvement of parents. As is the case in many societies, the parents regularly help their children with their homework. They therefore play a critical role in their development. The teacher should constantly consult the parent in developing the curriculum. Homework is arguably the best way to test the students’ interpretation skills and retention abilities. There should therefore be emphasis on class attendance, as well as PTA involvement. However, I think the involvement of these parties should not be intrusive, thereby allowing the student to follow their own learning paths.

Progressivism advocates for the focus on the child especially, with less emphasis on the content and the teacher. In this respect, students would experience the world individually, and the role of the teacher is to respond to the questions the learner has while on this unique learning journey. The curriculum would then be developed on this basis. In my view, progressivism would lead to the wholesome development of the child. However, it is important to understand that the student may develop ideas that many scholars before her have already developed. In this respect, the student should include their personal experiences, but build upon ideas that preceded her age. This would be more beneficial to society as a whole than if they started working on their own ideas from scratch.

Existentialism refers to an individual perspective in philosophy. Teaching should focus more on individual students, in which case each one has unique interests and ways through which they understand their classes. In teaching, therefore, while there is a uniform way of teaching, which involves standing in front of a class and relaying material, the teacher should also apply methods in which these differences between the students can come to light. By so doing, teaching will be more effective. Besides students, parents play a crucial role in the student’s development. Meetings with parents, especially those who include students as well, would be useful in improving the effectiveness of teaching and learning. In this respect, I consider existentialism a progressivist approach to teaching and learning.

Perennialism promotes the notion of teaching students ideas that highlight the epitome of Western civilization. The emphasis is on ideas that have remain largely unchanged throughout time. In this regard, advocates of perennialism would seek books featuring the greatest artists of all time, as well as scientific laws and personalities whose works have stood the test of time. Teaching should play a key role in ensuring the students understands the fundamental principles that underpin human civilization today. As a result, it is important to ensure that they receive teachings on such topics as Shakespearean literature and Einstenian physics. This should precede contemporary issues. While this is less progressivist than existentialism, it is still beneficial to learner in developing their worldview.

Essentialism presents a more conservative approach to teaching and learning. In contrast with progressivism, essentialism advances the idea of having standards and consistently ensuring all teaching adhere to them. Expectedly, a large number of parents would favor essentialism. However, this form of teaching would not benefit students with an orientation towards, say, art. Noteworthy is the fact that essentialism gives room for the curriculum to change. In my view, a standardization of the education system would ensure that the entire education sector would be easier to audit, while ensuring relatively few students would exhibit problems with basic issues in their learning curve. In my view, however, essentialism, like perennialism, pays less attention to the individual student attributes.

Behaviorism argues that the learner’s experience should focus on their behavior. In this respect, learning should focus on explaining and understanding human behavior. This, while being an existentialist approach, underscores the role of ancient philosophers, whose studies and thoughts influence society to date. In understanding the world the learner is in, I think the teacher should not take the behaviorist approach.