Ethnomathematics is considered as a program that aims to learn how students can understand, process, and then use mathematical ideas that can solve problems related to their daily activities. The role of the existence of ethnomathematics is to recognize that there are different ways of doing mathematics taking into account the knowledge of academic mathematics developed by society taking into account different cultures. Essentialism is one of the schools that can contribute and requires a culture in learning mathematics. According to this understanding, education must be based on cultural values that have existed since the beginning of human civilization. The philosophy of essentialism education emphasizes that there is no rigid learning interaction, but rather the meaning of scientific and cultural progress and values that are firmly held in life. The purpose of this paper is to determine the relationship and implementation of the philosophy of essentialism education with ethnomathematics. This article uses the literature study method. The data is obtained from some of the research results contained in books, journals, and proceedings that have a relationship with the title of the article. The results show that the view of essentialism is related to ethnomathematics. Essentialism can make a great contribution to the development and progress in the application of ethnomathematics in schools