What Should Children Learn?
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PLEASE NOTE THE DATE -- This month's session is on Tuesday the 19th.
In recent months we've begun to ask what it means to learn and how, in general, learning might take place. What we've not yet considered, though, is what should be taught to children. Indeed, it's easy to imagine that what we learned at school is, more or less, the natural content for education. But what if we were to design a complete curriculum from scratch, with no constraints?
Jean-Jacques Rousseau was one of the key thinkers of the French Enlightenment and a founding figure of liberal and republican political philosophy. In his book Emile he lays out a complete, ideal scheme for the education of a child. The central reading for this session is Book 3, although we also recommend the short passage from Book 2 covering the use of fables in teaching (paragraphs 345-369).
Free online text: http://www.ilt.columbia.edu/pedagogies/rousseau/Contents2.html