Meghan&Abby

Meghan & Abby


 * EDUCATION:**

Rousseau: //Emile//
 * supported the notion that human beings are good by nature
 * goal of education should be to cultivate our natural tendencies; in other words, education should foster rather than restrict our natural instincts
 * once humans are civilized, they cannot return to the state of nature
 * people should not seek to be noble savages, but be properly educated & engage in society & relate to people in a natural way
 * he believed there were two forms of "self-love"
 * //amour de soi-// natural form of self-love which does not depend on others; but by nature, everyone has a feeling of love toward ourselves
 * //amour-propre-// unnatural self-love which has a negative product of socialization process; depends on comparing oneself with others; basing self-worth on a perceived superiority to another (he believed it to breed contempt, hostility, and frivolous competition)
 * didn't believe that education should best ensure that students will absorb information and concepts
 * felt it was better understood as a way of ensuring that students' character be developed so as to have healthy sense of self-worth & morality
 * allow students to be virtuous even in unnatural & imperfect society in which we live
 * in the book, Emile begins learning important moral lessons from his infancy, through childhood, and into adulthood.
 * Emile's education relies on the tutor's constant supervision
 * as a small child, Emile is allowed to encounter nature directly and learn by experience
 * as a young teen, he is open to more abstract thoughts
 * as a young man, he is encouraged to use reason
 * some important quotes from the text:
 * "Accent is the soul of language."
 * "Everything is good as it leaves the hands of the author of things, everything degenerates in the hands of man."
 * "People who know little are usually great talkers, while men who know much say little.
 * What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness?"
 * "Nature never deceives us; it is we who deceive ourselves."
 * "The only lesson of morality appropriate to childhood, and the most important for every age, is never to harm anyone. The very precept of doing good, if it is not subordinated to this one, is dangerous, false, and contradictory." (Children can only learn lessons given, not by preaching, but by example)
 * "We never know how to put ourselves in the place of children; we do not enter into their ideas; we lend them ours, and, always following our own reasonings, with chains of truths we heap up only follies and error in their heads." (key error that humankind makes in its ignoring the evolution of consciousness)
 * "Is there no means of bringing together so many lessons scattered in so many books, of joining them in a common object which is easy to see and interesting to follow and can serve as a stimulant even at this age?" (Rousseau would be amazed to find that the answer to his question today is, "Yes, the Internet.")
 * "All that time is lost which might be better employed."
 * Tutor must even manipulate the environment in order to teach sometimes difficult moral lessons about humility, chastity, & honesty

Primary Education Among the Masses
 * the spread of literacy during the period of the Enlightenment was closely connected to primary education
 * in Catholic Europe, primary education was largely a matter of local community effort, leading to little real growth
 * only in Hapsburg Austrian Empire was a system of state-supported primary schools in effect
 * consensus taken in 1781 revealed that only 1 in 4 school-age children was actually attending
 * emphasis of Protestant reformers on reading the Bible had led Protestant states to take greater interest in primary education
 * Swiss cantons, Scotland, & German states of Saxony & Prussia witnessed emergence of universal primary schools that provided a moderate amount of education for the masses
 * still, effective systems of primary education were hindered by the attitudes of the ruling classes, who feared the consequences of any education beyond teaching the lower classes the virtues of hard work & respect (to their superiors)

Universities


 * The number of privately endowed secondary schools, such as grammar and public schools in England, the gymnasium in German lands, and the college in France and Spain, grew very quickly
 * Tended to be elitist and meet the needs of children in the upper classes of society; perpetuating the class hierarchy
 * Baron d’Holbach said, “Education should reach princes to reign, the ruling classes to distinguish themselves by their merit and virtue, the rich to use their riches well, the poor to live by honest industry.”
 * Curriculum largely concentrated on the Greek and Latin classics
 * Most common complaint was the old fashioned curriculum that emphasized the classics and Aristotelian philosophy and provided no training in the sciences or modern languages
 * Criticism from philosophes led to the development of new schools designed to provide a broader education.
 * Very few of the important scientific discoveries of the century occurred in the universities.

Works Cited:

Spielvogel //Emile// by Rousseau http://www.doyletics.com/arj/eooervw.htm