Comparing John Locke And Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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Both John Locke (1632-1734) and Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) were early modern social theorists who promote reason and freedom as an important component in political community. They shared a lot of thoughts on early childhood education. Both of them believe that children love freedom and power, and that is the most important way to raise children. However, they took different directions on their views. What are the similarities and differences between their thoughts or views on early childhood education (0-8 years of age)?

First of all, their conceptions of natural inclinations are different. Locke disagreed on the use of naturalism, while Rousseau disagreed on the use of habits and social conventions for the education of the children. John Locke believed every human born without innate ideas. He believes that children have “tabula rasa” they are lives with their blanks minds. Children need us as adult to guide them and provide them their knowledge from the environment through learning and practice from time to time; they need to be mold and shapes by us through our observation.

On the other hand, Rousseau believed that children are born with their natural instincts and minimize the obstacles of civilization and let them explore life, learn by themselves and face obstacles by knowing what is wrong and what is right. Children learn …show more content…

He believes that different child has different personalities, temperament, attitudes and with different development stages. For Locke, the best way to educate our children is to subdue their natural desire for dominion. Locke understands that natural inclinations are not optimistic. Locke proposes habits to break children’s laziness and keep them from being spoiled when the child hasn’t start school yet. Locke understands that children have the natural desire to be treated