EMILE. The greatest work produced by Rousseau is Emile.

This work is more a tract upon education under the guise of a story than it is a novel in the true sense of the word novel. The book describes the ideal education which prepares Emile and Sophie for their eventual marriage. The following represents an outline of the vital educational principles found in Emile:

1. BOOK ONE. This book deals with the infancy of the child. The underlying thesis of all Rousseau's writings stresses the natural goodness of man. It is society that corrupts and makes a man evil. Rousseau states that the tutor can only stand by at this period of the child's development, ensuring that the child does not acquire any bad habits. Rousseau condemned the practice of some mothers who sent their infants to a wet nurse. He believed it was essential for mothers to nurse their own children. This practice is consistent with natural law. 2. BOOK TWO. Rousseau describes the education of the child when the tutor has full responsibility. Some of the major points of this section of the book are: a. Purpose of Education. The tutor prepares the child for no particular social institution. Rather it is necessary to preserve the child from the baleful influence of society. Education must be child-centered. The tutor permits the child to develop his natural capacities. The aim of education is never social. It is always individualistic. b. The School. Emile is educated away from city or town. Living in the country close to nature he should develop into the benevolent, good adult intended by nature. This school does not confine the youth to a classroom. No textbooks are utilized. The child learns by using his senses in direct experience. c. Problem Centered. The tutor could employ no force in his teaching. When the child felt the need to know something, he would be moved to learn. Thus, Emile desired to know reading and writing in order to communicate with Sophie. d. Character Education. The child learns morality by experiencing the consequences of his actions. Children are morally bad only after learning reprehensible behavior from adults. Punishment is never resorted to by the tutor. e. Physical Education. Rousseau stresses the importance of physical activities in order to build a strong body. Emile is given opportunity to engage in swimming, running and athletic sports. His diet and living conditions are rigidly controlled. He lives in Spartan simplicity. (Rousseau was impressed and influenced by reading Plutarch's description of the life of the Spartan king, Lycurgus).

3. BOOK THREE. This section describes the intellectual education of Emile. Again, this education is based upon Emile's own nature. When he is ready to learn and is interested in language, geography, history and science, he will possess the inner direction necessary to learn. This learning would grow out of the child's activities. He will learn languages naturally through the normal conversational activity. Geography begins with the immediate surroundings of the youth and extends to the world through Emile's increased interest. The sense experience by which he observes the motion of the sun leads him to knowledge of astronomy. A knowledge of natural science is achieved through his interest in his own garden. Rousseau assumes that Emile's motivation leads to the purposive self-discipline necessary to acquire knowledge. Finally Emile is taught the trade of carpentry in order to prepare him for an occupation in life. 4. BOOK FOUR. This section describes the social education and the religious education of Emile. The education of Sophie is considered and the book concludes with the marriage of Emile and Sophie. The

following represents some of the major points:

a. Social Attitudes. Emile is permitted to mingle with people in society at the age of sixteen. He is guided toward the desirable attitudes that lead to self-respect. Emile's earlier education protects him from the corrupting influence of society. b. Natural Religion. The revelation and dogma of organized religion are unnecessary for man. The fundamental tenets of any religion affirm the existence of God and the immortality of the soul. These are known through the heart only. It is not only unnecessary, but impossible to reason to these truths. The Savoyard Vicar explains this natural religion, as Emile experiences the sensitive emotion derived from his view of the valley of the Po. Religion, therefore, is a matter of personal feeling and emotion. c. Education of Women. Having completed the explanation of Emile's ideal education, Rousseau turns his attention to the education of Sophie. Women are not educated as are men. The natural purpose of a woman is to please a man. She is expected to have and care for children, and to please, advise and console her husband whenever necessary. Her education does not extend beyond this purpose. a view of children as very different to adults - as innocent, vulnerable, slow to mature - and entitled to freedom and happiness (Darling 1994: 6). In other words, children are naturally good.

the idea that people develop through various stages - and that different forms of education may be appropriate to each. a guiding principle that what is to be learned should be determined by an understanding of the person's nature at each stage of their development. an appreciation that individuals vary within stages - and that education must as a result be individualized. 'Every mind has its own form' each and every child has some fundamental impulse to activity. Restlessness in time being replaced by curiosity; mental activity being a direct development of bodily activity. the power of the environment in determining the success of educational encounters. It was crucial - as Dewey also recognized - that educators attend to the environment. The more they were able to control it the more effective would be the education. the controlling function of the educator - The child, Rousseau argues, should remain in complete ignorance of those ideas which are beyond his/her grasp. (This he sees as a fundamental principle). the importance of developing ideas for ourselves, to make sense of the world in our own way. People must be encouraged to reason their way through to their own conclusions - they should not rely on the authority of the teacher. Thus, instead of being taught other people's ideas, mile is encouraged to draw his own conclusions from his own experience. What we know today as 'discovery learning' One example, Rousseau gives is of mile breaking a window - only to find he gets cold because it is left unrepaired. a concern for both public and individual education. VIEWS ON EDUCATIONAL THEORY AND PRACTICE : VIEWS ON EDUCATIONAL THEORY AND PRACTICE I) educational Philosophy - theme of his writing :Return to nature :an arch enemy of child neglect Emile -5 parts deal with: Infant, childhood, pre-adolescent, adolescence and girl education made Europe child conscious II) SOURCES OF EDUCATION : II) SOURCES OF EDUCATION Education from Nature constitutional exertion of childs organs and faculties -according to childs capacities Education from men -the uses we are taught to make of that action - importance of social environment Education from circumstances -our own experiences with physical environment

III) THEORY OF NEGATIVE EDUCATION : III) THEORY OF NEGATIVE EDUCATION ROUSSEAU believes that: -Everything is good as it comes from nature -Child shouldnt be taught the principles of truth and virtue -Child should be guarded against evil +ve education tends to form the mind prematurely and instruct the child about duties -ve education tends to perfect the organs that are the instruments of knowledge and endeavours to process the way for reasons, by the proper exercises of senses. IV) AIMS OF EDUCATION : IV) AIMS OF EDUCATION Attainment of fullest natural growth leading to balanced, harmonious and useful life Prepares the child to live life Aims at different stages of development (The Emile) -Infancy(5): to develop well regulated freedom -Childhood(12): to provide the child with strength to attain well regulated freedom -Pre-adolescence(15): period of instruction, labour and study -Adolescence(20): training of heart, to make the child loving, social. Religious, moral and social education is recommended. Sex instinct is to be sublimated by redirection in work and activity V) CURRICULUM : V) CURRICULUM Stage 1: Allow the child to wander freely, play-things; fruits, flowers and no expensive toys, dont pamper or subdue Stage 2: Greatest freedom of physical movement to learn by own experience, simple diet, light clothing; no instruction of language, history or geography; exercise the body, sense organs and powers i.e. learning to judge, foresee and reason; no need to learn by heart Stage 3: Curriculum should be built around curiosity to develop the urge for knowledge, studies to reveal nature, astronomy, science and arts & craft; total intellectual and vocational development Stage 4: Training of heart to be social and adapt to the conduct and interest of others; study of society, economics, politics, history and religion is important; sex instruction- mysteries of creation : plants, animals and humans Women Education: Practical; embroidery, house decorating, house keeping and sewing; taught to be soft and sweet, intellectual interest destroys her nature VI) METHODS OF TEACHING : VI) METHODS OF TEACHING Do not teach books; they only teach us to talk about things that we know nothing about Own experience, not from books let the child not be taught science, let him discover it. Provide sense training Never substitute the symbol for the thing unless it is impossible to show the thing itself VI) ROLE OF THE TEACHER : VI) ROLE OF THE TEACHER Minor place to the teacher Not an instructor but only a guide Responsibility to motivate the child to learn Must understand the nature of the child to be able to control his emotional reactions Not to impose any rules of control Guide properly with perfect freedom The highest function of the teachers consists not so much in imparting knowledge but on stimulating the pupils in their love and pursuit. VII) DISCIPLINE : VII) DISCIPLINE A free atmosphere can enable the child to develop his inborn and innate capacities Nature of the children is essentially good, let them act freely No punishment to the child Discipline by natural consequences CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF ROUSSEAUS VIEWS ON EDUCATION : CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF ROUSSEAUS VIEWS ON EDUCATION Not suggested a formal system of education Ignores the importance of books and other media Absolute freedom-a myth; none can allow the child to taste the poison or to hang from a long rope No due importance to the role of teacher Conservative idea about women education His only theory was not put to test in any realistic educational setting ROUSSEAUS CONTRIBUTION TO EDUCATION : ROUSSEAUS CONTRIBUTION TO EDUCATION Not withstanding some limitations; Rousseau stands for modern education as Plato to ancient education -The fore-runner of modern educational psychology; emphasizing individual differences -Stress on spontaneous unfolding of childs capacities -In education, child is the hero and all

others have subordinate roles -Propounded the idea of learning by doing -Emphasized the training of senses -Brought out the concrete things in the teaching- learning process -Fore-runner of the Heuristic method of teaching mile, or On Education is a treatise on the nature of education and on the nature of man written by JeanJacques Rousseau, who considered it to be the best and most important of all my writings. On its first appearance in 1762 it was publicly burned. The work tackles fundamental political and philosophical questions about the relationship between the individual and society how, in particular, the individual might retain what Rousseau saw as innate human goodness while remaining part of a corrupting collectivity. Its opening sentence: Everything is good as it leaves the hands of the Author of things; everything degenerates in the hands of man. Rousseau seeks to describe a system of education that would enable the natural man he identifies in The Social Contract (1762) to survive corrupt society. He employs the novelistic device of mile and his tutor to illustrate how such an ideal citizen might be educated. mile is scarcely a detailed parenting guide but it does contain some specific advice on raising children. It is regarded by some as the first philosophy of education in Western culture to have a serious claim to completeness, as well as being the first Bildungsroman, having preceded Goethe's Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship by more than thirty years. The text is divided into five books: the first three are dedicated to the child mile, the fourth to an exploration of the adolescent, and the fifth to outlining the education of his female counterpart Sophie, as well as to miles domestic and civic life. No sooner was it published than the section of the book titled, Profession of Faith of the Savoyard Vicar caused it to be banned in Paris and Geneva and burned. It became a European bestseller. During the French Revolution, mile served as the inspiration for what became a new national system of education. The instructor has to keep control of what the child is learning. Things that are beyond the developmental capacity of students shouldn't be taught to them. (This principle is important to Rousseau)

Children are naturally good, they are innocent and pure. Children develop in stages. In order to teach a child, you have to consider what stage that child is in in terms of his development. Keep in mind that individuals vary in stages: not every kid is going to be completely mature in each stage. Kids are going to want to move around. If this is encouraged, the physical activity will lead to mental activity. The student should be aware they are being socialized for public citizenship, but they should place equal importance on their personal education. People should develop ideas for themselves, and reason through tasks to the end, drawing their own conclusions. This as opposed to simply taking the word of the authoritarian teacher. The environment the child is in is a factor in how much he learns. Rousseau also recognized the importance in understanding child development, and outlined stages of development. Infancy (birth to age 5)- the child learns directly from his senses

1. Childhood (5 to 12)- the child begins to construct personality as he grows cognizant that his actions will cause consequences that are either pleasurable or painful. The child is curious by nature, and explores his environment, learning increasingly more through his senses. Rousseau argued that this method is much better than pouring endless lecture into the child, enforced by the threat of beating. 2. Boyhood (12-15)-The child can now begin to learn through books about why the things in nature work the way they do, thus making a connection between the physical realm and the academic one. 3. Adolescence (15-18) The child is now ready to cope with the real world, and learn about big concepts such as society, economics, business and government. He's ready to go out and cultivate his "aesthetic tastes" as well, exposing himself to theatre, art, and literature.