Freedom
for the noble savage
September 8,
2006
Why
do we follow the ideas of a failed teacher who could not
even help his partner to become literate? Victoria Neumark
asks
On what grounds can 18th-century Jean-Jacques Rousseau be
considered the most influential thinker on education after
Plato? He was, after all, a solitary child, brought up by
his widowed father and uncle who found solace in reading
and wandering the Swiss countryside; he was an inadequate
adult who could not sustain relationships with women and
gave his children away to orphanages; and as a failed
teacher he could not get his life partner to read and
write.
Rousseau was not a successful citizen and could hardly bear
others' company or his employers, and as a writer he fell
out with his patrons. To be sure, he was not the man to
lead an Ofsted team. But his reputation rests not on his
personality but on his writings, which make him one of the
two great geniuses of pre-Revolutionary France, the other
being Voltaire.
Emile, which was burned by various religious authorities,
explored Rousseau's belief that, since children were born
good and society corrupted them, a good education would
develop the child's nature. In light of the later work of
Pestalozzi, Froebel, Montessori and Piaget, this might seem
a truism today, but it was earth-shaking in its reach. It
challenged and well-nigh replaced a dominant European
belief: that children were born out of sin, which had to be
beaten, or at least trained. Take any primary school: every
nature table, class trip, every appeal to a child's better
nature is founded on Rousseau's conviction.
Emile is not a practical guide but a narrative exploration
of ideas. The first four sections describe the ideal
education of a fictional boy, the Emile of the title; the
fifth section features girls, including Sophie, raised and
educated to be his helpmate. Her education is fun, but far
from equal.
Emile is raised in the country, rather than the corrupt
city. A guardian - as tutor and example - is needed to
teach him to live, preserve him from selfishness and foster
individual development: "Every mind has its own form."
Rousseau prescribes five stages for this male child.
Infancy: 0 to 2 Allow physical freedom, encourage the
youngest child to do as much for himself as he can. "Give
more real liberty and less power."
The age of nature: 2 to12 Since calculating and complex
thinking is not possible, let boys live like animals,
physically restless but secure. "Leave the mind
undisturbed." He is to be kept from knowledge for which he
is not ready. Teaching is done only through the senses - as
modern educationists would say, experientially. Activity is
child-centred, tasks problem-centred; morality is learnt by
suffering consequences, with no punishment from the
teacher.
There is an emphasis on physical education and simple,
wholesome diet.
Pre-adolescence: 12 to15 Reason starts to develop, driven
by curiosity. The young adolescent is like a "noble
savage", who can grasp ideas quickly but only when he shows
an interest. The only book allowed is Daniel Defoe's
Robinson Crusoe, to foster self-reliance.
Languages are learnt naturally through everyday
conversations. Geography begins with the child's immediate
surroundings, then extends outwards into the wider world.
Observing the motion of the sun leads to knowledge of
astronomy. Gardening teaches science. Motivation - Rousseau
is adamant on this point -creates self-discipline. Finally,
Emile is taught the trade of carpentry to prepare him to
earn a living.
Puberty: 15 to 20 "We are born, so to speak, twice over;
born into existence, and born into life; born a human being
and born a man." As a result, there is a gradual, reluctant
introduction into human society and moral problems. From
16, Emile can meet others. This section also contains the
Profession of Faith, which urges natural (non-Christian)
religion and caused Rousseau trouble with the religious
authorities of his day.
Adulthood: 20 to 25 When the adult emerges, he learns to
reason and to conclude from his own experiences, rather
than from authority. Then along comes a young woman who
complements him - sympathising, cooking, adoring (passive
where he is active). For her, drawing, counting, reading
and writing are learnt from the dressing of dolls, and
lessons in personal grace and pleasing others follow by
"following taste rather than thwarting it".
A section called The Profession of Faith discusses natural
religion. A Savoyard vicar (based on a couple of
free-thinking clergymen of Rousseau's acquaintance) claims
that God can be known through observation of the natural
order and one's place in it, rather than from divine
revelation or the Christian scriptures. So,
controversially, any organised religion which identifies
God as creator and preaches morality is valid, and any
citizen who practises his or her native religion, as long
as it is in line with the religion and morality of nature,
is virtuous.
In the restive atmosphere of pre-Revolutionary France,
where church and monarchy propped each other up, this was
dynamite, and the book was burnt in public.
Rousseau's philosophy of education is not a matter of
techniques, though it is responsible for many: immersion in
foreign languages, classroom experimental science, PE,
local study in geography, to name but a few examples.
From Johann Pestalozzi (1746-1827) to Johann Froebel
(1782-1852), Maria Montessori (1870-1952) to Jean Piaget
(1896-1980), Rousseau's underlying attitudes have borne
fruit, and not only in the progressive schools, where
education is at the will of the child - John Dewey
(1859-1959) or Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925). And beyond: the
Indian educationist Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941)
stressed learning from nature, and the Cuban Jose Marti
(1853-1895) urged the value of the "noble savage". Rousseau
has also inspired his opponents: Mary Wollstonecraft's
(1759-1797) Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792) is
said to have been stimulated by dismay at Roussseau's
programme for the soppy Sophie.
* http://www.iep.utm.edu/r/rousseau.htm
* http://www.infed.org/thinkers/et-rous.htm
'MAN WAS BORN
FREE AND IS EVERYWHERE IN CHAINS'
The educational fruits of the philosopher Jean-Jacques
Rousseau are enjoyed by all.
His most influential writings spanned approximately 15
years - from his fiery articles on social inequality,
published in the Encyclopedie (the world's first
encyclopaedia), to the publication in 1770 of Confessions,
which re-invented the genre of autobiography.
In Confessions, Rousseau baredhis experiences, sexual and
otherwise, to an extent that is shocking in its honesty
even today.
The intervening years saw his ground-breaking novel The New
Heloise (1761), which was probably the first novel to
explore characters' inner lives and feelings.
The following year, The Social Contract concluded: "Man was
born free and is everywhere in chains." It suggested
reciprocity - emotional and economic - as the vital basis
on which to create and renew social relations. In the same
year, the acclaimed Emile, which describes the education of
a young boy, offers the infamous line: "Children are born
good and it is the company they keep that corrupts."
The influence that Rousseau has had is widespread: a brief
checklist might include:
*
Age-appropriate instruction (Piaget, Froebel, Montessori),
* Teaching general principles by extension from concrete
problems (Froebel, Pestalozzi) * Building self-esteem as a
foundation for cognitive development and good conduct;
learning right and wrong from classroom
experiences(Pestalozzi) * Learning from experience;
realising individual potential in curriculum choices
(Dewey) * The importance of infancy and physical freedom
(Montessori) * Respect for nature and things green
(Steiner) * Moving from observation to action (Froebel)
Next week: rudolf Steiner
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