Herbert Spencer
Meghan Shea
Herbert Spencer
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Lived 1820-1903.
He was an english social theorist who was very influential in the United States.
His social and educational philosophy is based off of Charles Darwin's theory of
evolution.
He published many things in his life including First Principals of a New System of
Philosophy and Social Statics.
Background
Social Darwinist
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Social Darwinism: Charles Darwin's biological principals of the "survival of the fittest"
and competition to the individuals.
Spencer believed that competition is a natural ethical force that motivates the best
equipped humans to climb to the top of the socioeconomic ladder.
The "fittest" population will increase and the "unfit" - the weak individual population
will slowly disappear.
Spencer believed schools should compete against each other, He also opposed against
state-funded public schools.
Social Darwinism
Utilitarian Education
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Utilitarian Education: The teaching of skills and subjects applicable to daily life, work,
and society.
Spencer defined nature differently then others. Nature meant the law of the jungle and
survival of the fittest.
He believed to learn useful scientific and technological skills and subjects, that people
needed a utilitarian education.
Spencer emphasized science and technology as the best way to prepare individuals to
be successful producers in a competitive industrial society.
Principles of Teaching and Learning
Education and Schooling
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Spencer was extremely critical of traditional schools because they refuse change.
He believed that an obsolete curriculum is Latin and Greek, languages, literature, ad
history.
Spencer wanted to modernize the curriculum and he ranked activities.
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Science was a high priority because it related to the performance of all life activities.
Education and Schooling
Influence on Educational practices Today
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Spencer's ideas were highly receptive by American educators.
Contemporary curriculum designers continue to use Spencers ideas when they organize
curriculum today.
Spencer would raise entry standards to make them more competitive, so that only the
brightest would be accepted.
This would make teaching be more competitive, to replace the incompetent teachers.
Also ending teacher tenure and merit pay would be used in teacher compensation.
Influence on Educational Practices Today
HERBERT SPENCER (1820-1903): UTILITARIAN EDUCATION Prepared by: Sung Phil Nurlene V.
Jumawan John Vergel P. Gemoranion • “every man is free to do that which he wills, provided he
infringes not the equal freedom of any other man” -herbert spencer HERBERT SPENCER (18201903 • An English philosopher, biologist and sociologist • Born in Derby, England on April 27,
1820 • He highly contributed his expertise knowledge in ethics religion, anthropology,
economics, political theory, philosophy, biology, sociology and psychology. • He was the first
person to coin the phrase “survival of the fittest” UTILITARIAN EDUCATION The utilitarian
perspective of education focuses on producing students who will be able to fit into society at an
elite level and contribute as a productive citizen. Specialized Education of Spencer Vs. General
Education • To survive in a complex society, Spencer favors specialized education over that of
general education. We are in need of social engineers who can combine harmoniously the
findings of specialized knowledge. This is particularly true in the field of medicine. Survival of
the fittest • Spencer’s concept of “survival of the fittest” means that human development had
gone through an evolutionary series of stages from the simple to the complex and from the
uniform to the more specialized kind of activity. • Refers to the most adaptable species being
able to live and reproduce Survival of the fittest •
The explanation they arrived at was that businessmen and others who were economically and
socially successful were so because they were biologically and socially “naturally” the fittest.
Conversely, they reasoned that the poor were “naturally” weak and unfit and it would be an
error to allow the weak of the species to continue to breed. They believed that the dictum
“survival of the fittest” (a term coined not by Charles Darwin but by sociologist Herbert
Spencer) meant that only the fittest should survive.22squared
Unlike Darwin, these sociologists and others were not biologists. They were adapting and
corrupting Darwin’s language for their own social, economic, and political explanations. While
Darwin’s theory remains a cornerstone of modern biology to this day, the views of the Social
Darwinists are no longer accepted, as they were based on an erroneous interpretation of the
theory of evolution.
Herbert Spencer | Biography, Social Darwinism & Significance - Video & Lesson Transcript |
Study.com
practical-scientific-knowledge-education-based-on-herbert-spencers-what-knowledge-is-ofmost-worth-4873.pdf (ejmste.com)
SOLUTION: Utilitarian education - Studypool
Herbert Spencer by meghan shea (prezi.com)
Herbert Spencer: Scientific Education | educational research techniques