Bringing Essentialism in 21st-Century Education: Exploring the Thoughts of William C. Bagley
Marselus Ruben Payong
Universitas Katolik Indonesia Santu Paulus Ruteng
William Chandler Bagley (1874–1946) was an American educational figure known as a pioneer of essentialism. His ideas emphasized the importance of the core curriculum, teacher professionalism, and intellectual discipline in shaping students' character and thinking skills. Although born in the context of the early 20th century, Bagley's ideas remain relevant to education in the 21st-century, characterized by globalization, digitalization, and rapid socio-cultural change. This article aims to analyze the influence and relevance of Bagley's ideas on contemporary educational practice by examining their relationship to curriculum, teacher education, and the 21st-century learning paradigm. The method used is a historical-critical literature review of Bagley's primary works and modern secondary literature. The study results show that Bagley's principles, especially the emphasis on curriculum content, academic standards, and teachers' professional authority—remain an important foundation of modern education, although they need to be reformulated to be compatible with 21st-century values of democracy, creativity, and inclusivity.
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