Boustani

Wassim Boustani

Professor Schwabach

Art History II, Section V1

9 April 2004

Rousseau's Emile and Education through Nature

Rousseau, a native of Switzerland, was one of the most controversial writers of

the Enlightenment. He published important works on politics, music, and in Emile

(1972), education. Another of his famous novels was Julie or the New Heloise.

Rousseau’s educational practices focused on the natural development of children’s

abilities. Although Emile was mostly about the education of boys, there is a section

about educating girls. This was centered on the character of Sophie, which emphasized

the importance of education by mothers, as well as teaching girls to be entirely

subordinate and dependent on their husbands. (GMU)

The goal of the tutor, Jean-Jacques, was to create a man whose education is in

tune with nature and human affairs in society. This meant educating Emile in nature, to

obey laws, and to enter into social and civic associations with others. This education

takes up close to 500 pages of the novel, at which point a girl, Sophie, is chosen and

properly educated to become Emile’s wife. Emile and Sophie marry and have a child. In

the end, Emile takes the responsibility of raising his child, but also asks Jean-Jacques to

advise and govern them. He says "We shall be docile. As long as I live, I shall need you.

I need you more than ever now that my functions as a man begin." This ménage a trois

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would mean that whatever Jean-Jacques had taught his students was an investment in his

old age.

Jean-Jacques sees the couple as his work of art, and he has pride in his

craftsmanship: "How many times, as I contemplate my work in them, I feel myself

seized by a rapture that makes my heart palpitate!" This is said to be true of the way

many teachers feel about their best students. He then says that he is Emile’s true father,

and that he would not have raised him if the selection of Emile’s wife could not be his.

Rousseau’s suggestions for today’s educational system are plenty. Class sizes

should be one-on-one. The natural development of a child to society should be the guide

to teaching him. Students and teachers should like each other because they spend their

lives together and become valued to one another, although only one is the learner.

Education must occur outside of society, but the student becomes capable of living in

society. An educated person should be a good person, with friends, who doesn’t hurt

others, and who holds social forms suspect because they may be harmful.

Rousseau’s tutor creates a personal bond with the student. He raises the child

from infancy to adulthood, lives with him day and night, and dedicates his life to his

education. The tutor learns that the child has natural stages that he progresses through. A

child can only continue when he is ready, according to his natural direction of

development. This cannot be rushed, even by the best tutor.

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There are five books in Emile that deal with the natural stages of development,

which must be respected. Book I: infancy (ages 0-2) – physical care and training; Book

II: childhood (ages 2-12) - education of the senses; Book III: age of reason (ages 12-15) -

education of the intellect; Book IV: age of passion (puberty and adolescence, ages 15-20)

- education of the passions; Book V: onset of adulthood (age 20 on) - reintegration with

society, finding a proper spouse. These stages represent the way human ability is

organized, and how certain strengths must develop before others can develop.

A child must be a child before being a man. By trying to affect this order, we

raise an improper person in respect to nature. A child must be raised to reason and

should not be expected to be reasonable beforehand. (Arney)

Rousseau opened Emile with “God makes all things good; man meddles with

them and they become evil.” He believed that knowledge from society creates desires,

which one could not fulfill and therefore would make him unhappy; technology makes

one dependent by creating tools and machines that are not easily understood; art and

fiction makes one unhappy with their present situation by creating illusions. He saw

modern society as an obstacle and the source of our problems, because it keeps us from

achieving our full human potential and maturity.

Nature makes us free, independent, sympathetic to other creatures, and prevents

us from being troubled by illusions and a false sense of self. A natural man, according to

Rousseau, is free to develop his self-love without developing selfishness. On the other

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hand, society corrupts our love of self into selfishness and gives us a magnified sense of

pride, vanity, aggression and competitiveness.

In Emile, Rousseau answers these concerns by stating that humans are naturally

good, with a love of themselves and a compassion for others. In nature their desires do

not surpass their capacity to fulfill them, which in turn makes them happy. Nature

provides for them without filling them with temptations and illusions; there humans are

free, equal, and happiest. (Johnston)

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Works cited:

Arney Ray, William (The Evergreen State College). "Public Education Curriculum" Reading Rousseau's Emile 4 Apr. 2004 <http://192.211.16.13/curricular/PE/lecrous.htm>.

George Mason University (Center for History & New Media). "Exploring the French Revolution" Jean–Jacques Rousseau, Emile (1762) 2 Apr. 2004 <http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/470/>.

Johnston, Ian (Malaspina University College). "Introduction to Rousseau's Emile" 3 Apr. 2004 <http://www.mala.bc.ca/~johnstoi/introser/rousseau.htm>.

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