MAJOR THEMES IN THE EDUCATIONAL THOUGHT OF JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU (1712-1778)
1. He emphasized nature and the natural way of doing things. Education should occur in a natural rather than artificial environment and should be a natural outgrowth of the child's development rather than a set of contrived experiences.
2. Human beings are by nature good, but are corrupted by the institutions of "civilized" society.
3. Childhood is unlike adulthood and those differences should be allowed and encouraged. Children should not be expected to take on adult responsibilities or forced to live by adult standards. Childhood is a qualitatively distinct period of life for which special freedom and nurture should be provided.
4. Because the child is innately good and the teacher has been corrupted, the educational process should be child-centered, not content-centered or teacher-centered.
5. In motivating children we should rely on natural curiosity, not force.
6. Education should be "negative" or "subtractive." That is, the less the teacher interferes in the child's natural development, the better off the child will be. The teacher is a guide or facilitator, not an instructor.
7. Education should be informal. It should occur outside the school in the "real" world and should grow out of the experiences the child has on a day to day basis.
8. We should rely on natural punishments to teach a child morality rather than contrived rules and teacher imposed punishments.
9. Parents should be involved in education. The parents are the people nature has chosen to educate children.
SOME MAJOR EDUCATIONAL CONTRIBUTIONS OF JOHANN H. PESTALOZZI (1746-1827)
1) Pestalozzi took many of the ideas of Rousseau, made them less radical, and applied them to education in ways that were workable within existing schools.
2) He promoted the making of education accessible to the poor, not only by providing schools but by teaching subjects in those schools that were interesting to and valued by common folk. He desired to get away from classical curriculum, that was perceived to be elitist, and teach more practical subjects.
3) He made popular the idea of teaching by getting students actively involved in learning through using all of their senses. His particular method for doing this was called the object lesson.
4) He defined education as the harmonious development of all the powers of the child, especially the intellect. This represented a fundamental shift in thinking from traditional schools which saw education as specialized institution for the development of the intellect alone.
5) He said the social environment of the classroom should be modeled after the family and should be characterized by love and affection.
6) He conducted research on teaching and developed teaching methods.
7) In addition to his theoretical contributions, Pestalozzi ran an orphanage, taught numerous young people, trained teachers, and wrote books (Leonard and Gertrude and How Gertrude Teaches Her Children).