Editing Educational perennialism (section)

==Religious perennialism==<!-- This section is linked from [[Philosophy of education]] -->
Perennialism was originally religious in nature, developed first by [[Thomas Aquinas]] in the thirteenth century in his work ''[https://isidore.co/aquinas/QDdeVer11.htm]'' (''On the Teacher'').

In the nineteenth century, [[John Henry Newman]] presented a defense of religious perennialism in ''The Idea of a University''. Discourse 5 of that work, "Knowledge Its Own End", is a recent statement of a Christian educational perennialism.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newmanreader.org/works/idea/discourse5.html|title=Discourse 5. Knowledge its Own End|last=Newman|first=John Henry|website=The National Institute for Newman Studies|access-date=June 3, 2016}}</ref>

There are several epistemological options, which affect the pedagogical options. The possibilities may be surveyed by considering four extreme positions - idealistic rationalism, idealistic fideism, realistic rationalism and realistic fideism.

Teaching pupils to think critically and rationally are the main objectives of perennialist educators. A perennialist classroom seeks to be a highly structured and disciplined setting that fosters in pupils a never-ending search for the truth.

{{clarify|date=January 2021}}