Emile

A detailed Summary of Emile

"Life is not just breathing; it is action, the functioning or organs, senses, faculties, every part of us that give consciousness of existence. The man who gets most out of life is not the one who has lived longest, but the one who has felt life most deeply." (P 15)

Rousseau believes that to raise a child it is best to raise them naturally verse socially. He believes that naturally means to be taught by a tutor with no other interaction with people and society. He wants his student "Emile" to learn with his tutor the ways of life in different ways that we are used to. Emile was taught about words and one language, but not how to read in his early years. He was also taught to think for himself and to learn on his own. He would learn by experience instead of just being told. Rousseau would let Emile figure things out for himself. Rousseau said that he would get a greater understanding of what he happens to be learning.

During boyhood, which is until the age of twelve he learned about property, how to respect other people's belongs and how to use his senses in the right way. Rousseau did not believe that a child this young was able to learn history because they were just facts and they couldn't comprehend

To teach them about history I think is important, they need to learn about what has happened in the past so they can learn how to prevent the same things from happening again and to get a better understanding of where we all came from. We need to teach them about different cultures and society so they can learn to interact with different people that are not like them. If you don't show the child that people are different and they think everyone is like them, it will be a rude awaking when they meet someone else for the first time.

Rousseau is assuming that every child is like Emile and is equally intelligent as Emile. Rousseau doesn't take in account that every child is different. In that thinking he is teaching Emile to be ignorant of others and their needs. Most people with regular needs are similar but what about other people who are disabled. Would Rousseau say that they should be taught like Emile? Or would he say that they don't even have the right to learn?

A child with a disability needs to learn in a different way. Some disabilities are more severe than others so they might not learn as much as some one who doesn't have a disability, but we must give them a chance to try. Rousseau only talks about what he thinks a perfect student should be like but he doesn't talk about any other type of students. It is just as important for a special education child to learn how to socialize, as it is important for a normal functioning child.

More and more in this day and age we are thinking that as well. When I was I was in school we learned a language starting in seventh or eight grade. I know I had a lot of trouble understanding and grasping the concept of the language at that age. I was already set in my own language and didn't want to comprehend another. Now they are staring as young as kindergarten learning a language. They are not bombarded with all at once but each grade they learn a little bit more the same whey they are continuing on learning their natural language of English. So you see we have changed some of our ways of learning to make it more productive.

I don't agree with Rousseau reasoning on fables, children can understand them better than always telling them the harsh truth. This is not lying to them it is softening the truth until they are a little bit older to handle it. You don't want to scar the children for life because they are not ready to handle it. Now every child is different and they will be ready to handle different thing at different stages in their life. So don't rush it either. Fables teach them a lesson in a story form that helps them grasp and understand the meaning. I think they are good for the children.

it; the same with geometry and fables. Emile needed to grasp knowledge first before he learned about facts or at leas

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Approximate Word count = 1891
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Miscellaneous