Greetings! As you may remember, I am Emile, a character in “On Education.” Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote this book in 1762. He considered it his most important work and some regard it as the first complete philosophy of education. The text is divided into five books; the first three are devoted to the description of my education. The fourth book is an exploration of adolescence and the fifth book discusses the education of Sophie, whom you have already met. The section titled “Profession of Faith of the Savoyard Vicar,” which discussed religion, created great criticism and caused the book to be banned and burned. Despite the controversy, it was a European bestseller and during the French Revolution, “Emile” inspired a new national system of education.
The story of my tutor and myself are used to exemplify how ideal citizens should be educated. The opening line in the book reads, “Everything is good in leaving the hands of the Creator of things; everything degenerates in the hands of man.” This is Rousseau’s main philosophy and his work is an outline for how to maintain “innate human goodness,” while being part of the corrupt society.
Rousseau believed education should be less dependent on books and result from interactions with the world. He presented an example of a boy whose father takes him to fly kites. The father asks the child to infer what position the kite is in the sky by looking at the shadow. Rousseau wanted to children to develop an understanding of the world through exploration and without specific training. Some people consider this approach as the precursor of the Montessori method. Rousseau was not concerned with specific education techniques, but focused more on the development of character and moral sense. He supposed children learn right and wrong through experiencing the consequences for themselves.
Rousseau was one of the first to advocate for developmentally appropriate education. He divided childhood into stages. His first stage included children up to the age of about 12 and he believed children are generally guided by emotions and impulses. Rousseau stated children from 12 to 16 develop the ability to reason and children 16 and older develop into adults. Rousseau encouraged young males, such as myself, should learn a manual trade to facilitate creativity and allow us to contribute to society.
According to Rousseau, men and women are fundamentally different and therefore must be educated differently. He believed men should be strong, active and educated to govern themselves. Miss Sophie already eloquently explained her roles and responsibilities, so I will not further elaborate on those.
I am interested in your opinions on the role of education and the development of character. Do you believe this is an important part of education? How should morals and character be developed? Additionally, what are your thoughts on developmentally appropriate education? How do you feel about my developmental stages?
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I believe the role of education and the development of character work hand in hand. Children become productive citizens through a traditional education. I think morals and character can be developed through an appreciation of literature.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with your developmental stages and I would agree that children are guided by emotions and impulses. Everything about a person works together, it's not just one aspect.
~ Johann Herbart
You are exactly right about education being less dependent on books and more dependent on interatcionts from the world. I created storytelling, which usess their interactions from the world and studetns act them out to feel a greater sense of self-worth. You tlaked about children being guided by their emotions and impulses, which is why I use what they say through conversations to teach valuable moral lessons.
ReplyDeleteI too believe children areessenially good and innocent and children's learning should have less focus on books and a greater depenedance on ineraction and exploration with life particuarly through play. I do differ with your opinions on gender issues. Less focus should be on specific gender roles.
ReplyDeleteWhile I tend to disagree with you ideas on gender I feel you make a valid point about experiencing the world. I feel that while books and easily serve us as an outline we need to give children time to work through ideas so they can form opinions and ideas. Teachers tend to do a lot of "telling."
ReplyDeleteI do believe that children are very impulsive and need to have character modeled for them to learn how to behave appropriately. As far as gender is concerned I think that males and females alike should be able to learn what they would like. I do think there needs to be some structure to learning and it should not completely be left to the individual child.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that education should include character development, especially morals. We must prepare our children to be members of society. That means their education should involve training in areas that are important to the future roles they will hold in adulthood.
ReplyDeleteI do think that moral development is important. I have been quoted as saying the following: "The joy of life, the optimism of hope, freedom and independence, love amongst men, are the spontaneous and natural consequences of an education based on life. If these are to be realized, it is necessary to have the right conditions for normal life...Character is not an item of knowledge which can be taught through learning or imitation. It is a conquest made during life through personal exercise and through personal experience." In an ideal classroom, opportunities for personal experience are emphasized.
ReplyDeleteI very much appreciated your developmental stages and approach. I too believe that developmental stages are important. I especially think that from birth to age six, children have a very absorbent mind. There are also sensitive periods of development where children are especially receptive to learning new things.
I believe students will learn character education through interactions with the teacher and other students. Character education works hand in hand with the rest of the subjects being taught. I believe should be a lot less focus on gender roles.
ReplyDeleteI think it is great that education is divided into developmental stages in order to provide students with the best possible education. Children should be able to develop their own morals and beliefs without them being forced on them.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I do feel that education should rely somewhat on a child's developmental age- books are the most fundamental resource of the classroom. You're learning style being a precursor to the Montessori style of education brings me back to my beliefs on their method of learning. I do not believe that learning should be child oriented. Wrote memorization and strict discipline is my strong foundation. I have noticed a large difference in young girls and boys, I agree they are different in mannerisms, yet both should have equal rights and opportunities.
ReplyDeleteI think having children learn through experience is great! Most of what I have learned in my career has NOT come from a book, and I am an old man! I think it is definitely appropriate to pay attention to developmental stages and allow children to learn at their own pace. Creating learning opportunities for moral development is also key to creating a better society. And I believe children should take cues from having a positive role model as a teacher and learning about these important morals and character from the teacher. ~Horace Mann
ReplyDeleteI think character development is so important as well. How else will young people become a part of society that helps others unless educators instill some of these traits? I like your developmental stages too, but I might split them up a bit more, especially in the younger ages.
ReplyDelete-Hilda Taba
Yes, children do go through different stages. My major contribution was to divide the process of early education between birth and teh age of six into distint stages of physical and mental developement- infancy, early childhood, and childhood.
ReplyDeleteIt is important that we don't just stick with the book. Children learn so much more by doing. I know that my emphasis on play contrasted withthe traditional view prevelant during the 19th century. But I truely believe that play facilitates children's process of cultural recapitulation, imitation fo adult vocational activities and socialization.
Developing ones character is very important part of education. Students learn right from wrong from their own experiences in the world and with the guidance of their teachers, parents and community. Education should be taught in developmental stages; however I disagree with your stages of development especially that children are not have the ability to reason until age 16 or older. I feel much younger children have the ability to reason and use this to guide their education.
ReplyDelete--Reggio Emilio