Rousseau Paper

Our culture today is made up of various types of education. In the world we live in, there is an enormous amount of importance based on the education we receive. In the eyes of society, education is everything. It is something we carry within us, apply it when needed, use it without thinking and also flaunt it, in turn becoming who we are with an education behind us. I think we have a tendency to forget where education begins and the true meaning behind it. Society puts so much pressure on children to grow into adults, worrying when they development late, and are so quick to force them into daycare and school. Yet, do we realize how we are going about a child's education, should one question the way we educate our society. Rousseau's philosophy on education was to let the child be a child, don't force anything on them, nature will do its work than they will learn when they are ready. I've learned many things from Rousseau, not only as a human being but as a future parent and teacher. Rousseau points out the simple and most important fundamentals in education. As Rousseau raises Emile, he follows his philosophy on education by nature, the role and relationship of a teacher, and learning through experience.

"We are born weak, we need strength; we are born totally unprovided, we need aid; we are born stupid, we need judgment. Everything we do not have at our birth and which we need when we are grown is given to us by education" (pg 38). We are shaped by education, and without education we would not learn how to make use of ourselves. Education makes us well rounded, supplies us with a type of knowledge we could not create ourselves, and gives us a sense of right and wrong. Rousseau believed we are shaped by education through nature, men and things. Our internal development of our organs and senses comes from nature. How to use this development comes from the education of men. What we obtain from our own experience through the objects that teach us is the education of things. We should learn to follow and observe nature and what it has to offer us. From the moment one is born, one must pursue the path nature has mapped out. I have learned from Rousseau that education through nature exists in an effort to enrich the lives of children. Since everything in nature is good and pure, Rousseau believes nature should be used to fill our hearts, minds and souls. By doing so one will become a "natural man", a happy and free human being, and this is Rousseau's goal of education- happiness.

When one thinks of the word "teacher" one might simply relate it to someone who helps students in a classroom. We forget that teachers are all around us and are outside the classroom. A teacher is a guide or helper in the process of learning. The role of a teacher can change depending on the type of education and atmosphere. In Rousseau's eyes the role of a teacher begins at parenting. Education begins at birth when the senses are animate therefore, the mother and father are responsible to teach and raise their child. This is a more natural form of education for the child. According to Rousseau between birth and the age of twelve it is very important for a child to receive education and love. A teacher or parent must exercise a child's body, organs, senses and strength. Childhood should ripen within the child. One must not rush this stage in life, for it is the base of everything needed for the future. "Respect childhood, and do not hurry to judge it, either for good or for ill" (pg 107). It is essential to let nature act on it's own before one acts to take its place. The value of time is crucial and it must not go to waste. To help stay on the path of nature Rousseau gives the four maxims that must be followed. First, let them have the use of all the strength nature gives them. Second, aid them and supplement what is lacking to them. The third, limit one solely to the really useful, and lastly study their language. The goal of these maxims is to allow children more freedom and less dominion, let them do more for themselves and expect less from others.

In obtaining the role of a teacher, one might question what tools should they use in order to teach. Rousseau believed our bodies are our own tools. We should help to guide children with how to use their bodies to learn, and we must understand how to use our bodies as a tool because it is something we will always have. Our bodies offer more than we realize and we forget how valuable they really are. The child will learn through himself, they will learn to use their body and mind. A teacher must only educate child with only what will be useful for that child at that age. In Emile or on Education Rousseau highly recommends to not teach by books, because books are a great misery. "At twelve Emile will hardly know what a book is." "He must know how to read when reading is useful to him; up to then it is only good for boring him" (pg 116). Until I read the book Emile or on Education, I never thought of a book as a negative tool for educating. It is true that we do not live by a book, so why teach by one? Teaching a child through a book is only teaching them to speak of what they do not know. The same goes for fables. A fable teaches "to mix mockery with his refusal" (pg 116). Children can