Show t ROUSSEAU q 7 r t jj Essay read by Mit s Emily Farnes Fames Salutatorian of the N Normal Class ot 93 at att atthe the the- e- e 7 i e Commencement exe exercises ci e in inthe the Salt al Lake Lake- ake Theater June 8 1893 93 f u 1 t I. I 1 j Our 1 characters are are J largely rg li the li I result of th the influence of old customs customs an and and l old l prejudices Most of f. f our our r ideas s are those thos of o our our our- I r predecessors A n new new and ri sf startling inv invention in iri electricity i c is not so so rare as a new new idea in the mor moral l' l world The Th man who g gives gives ye hi his fellow a anew new tho thought one 1 who is so original and d so enthusiastic in inthe the support of f his as ideas a ideas as to cr create ate a a new epoch in the department wit with which he is dealing is a truly great manA man man i A. A A man man of of a new new 1 idea ide q-ler q merely ly will wiil not make a rev revolution l Many men t 1 I l have v undoubtedly existed d f who wh I rr ight I J have av changed the current of the world worlds world's s. s 1 p thought but th they y l lacked ck d on one one other essential ss quality quality enthusiasm An 1 r engi engine e eri ri may may y be tie perfect in its its its' mechanism b but t without t steam steam lt it it w will ll not not move move ver The world is full of of evil vi and d most of f m mankind agree tH that t wickedness n ss sh should ld b beti be T J ti ted v how f few w e rr are who poss possess possess ss the zeal to work worl for the he lessening lessen t ing indof b of vice Do we not often even hinder the coming of the kingdom of God b by Y ridic ridiculing ling and reformers Luther in religion Galileo in astronomy Y W Wordsworth or d tl 1 in In poetry G. G Garrison arnson in In slavery were slavery slavery were they not all men of new ideas ideas and and men of boundless enthusiasm Their lives how useful their lot how v unhappy 01 Enthusiasm springing ging f fi discovery of new truths and hatred of old abuses often carried ried beyond the beyond the bounds o of of discretion on has made the world progress With these eager often seemingly indiscreet enthusiasts must must must-he be classed Jean Jacques Rousseau who may not inaptly be called the father of modern education He has been termed the most reckless the most extravagant extravagant gant the most eloquent of the great educators Before his time education had settled into a lifeless system of cramming of lore loie alike useless to serve utilitarian purposes purposes' or to to discipline the powers of f the mind mind mind-ar nd- nd an 1 essentially e artificial system artificial in its substance and artificial in its methodi method 1 i R Rousseau usseau awoke to the defects and uselessness of this champi championed ned a return t to what he believed the methods of Nature In Nature is perfect harmony Nature implants in us a desire to improve It is this desire that thatis is one of the distinguishing traits that elevate men above the brutes Through the operation n of this desire mankind has progressed from his primitive rude I condition to his his' present state stafe of enlightenment Rousseau stated the pr principles of his proposed system in a afew few basic propositions propositions i sit ions the chief one of which p perhaps is Man as he m might be beis is perfectly f good man as he is is utterly bad To maintain and illustrate these fixed principles he wrote his famous Emile possibly the most influential educational educational educational work on education ever issued This book hook like all an that Rousseau wrote contains many odd precepts many false ideas many inconsistencies many p doubtful not to say destructive theories yet in it may be found so much wisdom wis wis- t dom domand and d so lofty ideals t that despite its absurd absurdities ties and grosser faults it cannot cannot can cannot not be studied without profit His theories are clearly and eloquently expressed expressed expressed ex ex- pressed and show a careful study of child nature in developed through the customary cus cus' Believing that all vice originated or r was tomary methods of education he set setto to work with a zealous fury that carried him to advocate his doctrines to an all absurd length Emile Smile IS is a model child orphaned in early eaily infancy reared in the country without ut child companions and attaining the age of twelve years without any 1 instruction whatever He is under no no restraint and is supposed to do nothing t i but what he sees to be useful Partly in the form of a story the effect of of- r the the application of his his' theories on an unformed mind is traced out by Rousseau to what he believes the logical conclusion in the life of the child Emile 4 i k j Rousseau Rousse u would divide the life of a child into several distinct periods durin during dur dur- in ing eacho q which hi h di different f renti modes modes of f tr treatment should be e carr carried d o out t. t The rJ ft t l first period is that of infancy and ends when the child has child has reached the reached the age o of five The child should be so cared for that he shall be kept from bad habits and helped to form good ones The he second period extends from five years to twelve The education consists in well-chosen well games and recreations recreations and well-directed well experiments The plays of childhood are the leaves heart s of the whole future life He learns his first lessons in courage and by fearlessly enduring light sufferings he earns learns earns gradually to bear heavier ones He is taught only from Nature no books ar are used At this period so he asserts everything necessary for the education of the ideal child should be gained by experience and simple judg judg- ments Education should be not literary but scientific At the age of twelve the child has i reached cached the age of learning of employment employment employment em em- em- em of study Rousseau urges that the heart should be shielded from wickedness and the mind from error not in positively teaching what is truth and what is vice but by the silent example of a 3 life on the part of the parent or tutor of goodness and virtue that the righteous conduct shall find lodgment in the heart Great rulers and commanders have been all but wo worshipped shipped great teachers have been loved and venerated And so the teacher whether he be parent or not should so o govern his method of training that the pupil is never so happy with anyone else Only one who is himself a man can do this Rousseau strangely seemed to abhor society He believed that the natural natural heart heart was good and that only in society could evil be imparted and learned Hence he advocated the isolating of a young child who could thus see only the pure conduct of the preceptor Naturally enough then Rousseau Rousseau Rousseau Rous Rous- seau was a great admirer of Robinson Crusoe and would insist on its being th the first book to be read by the growing child Because he lived alone the hero of of a that most peculiar of tales was regarded regard d by Rousseau as all that was best and noblest in mortals He said None but a good man might exist alone Isit not true that none but a bad man might exist alone Is it not by his existence in society that man is s a man All those laudable qualities that we call virtues can be practiced only in society How can a man be honest or truthful except there be another man to rob or to deceive Nature has an aversion to solitude the mere presence of our men fellow brings cheer Says even Cowper himself a devoted recluse recluse- horn boi 11 Ii I How sweet how passing sweet is solitude But grant me still a friend in my retreat I a Whom I may whisper whisp r Solitude is sweet sweet iU r He e who has lived most says Rousseau is not he who has numb numbered red t the most years but he who has been most truly conscious of what life is r To live is not me merely ely to breathe it is to q act t Better to stem with heart anc and h hand d the roaring tide of life than thail li lie unmindful on the flowery strand sad of Gods God's occasions flowing by Education is the development of all our faculties and the formation of s character acter It is s not to advantages of nature but to education that men owe their superiority over other creatures r The conservative edu education of the ot previous us century instead of developing the inherent powers of a achi child d childhood to the acquirement of knowledge thought to be useful to man t f or rather about which little was thought One of Rousseau's greatest merits merit is is' is that he exposed this error Our Out modern education is working along this his principle of the great Frenchman it aims to broaden the minds of of- the youth to make real men possessing not merely a store of more or less useless facts but power but power to think knowledge is not education it assists education to be sure sure- so do coal and water indirectly assist the locomotive to its pull load but th the coal and water are not the power The good teacher of the present puts puts in inactive active practice muc much of the doctrine in his day startling of Rousseau that the cramping of the mind with words that the child to have no meaning drives' drives x away his powers of judgment and reason A man broadened by this right kind of education finds within himself ability to form his own conclusion and to tOI guide rightly his actions Men not educated so cannot but be influenced by others they are led lede e rather than the leaders The educated man must necessarily take precedence Native ability is much but of itself is not useful U silver is none the less a precious metal but until it is dug out and smelted and refined it is not serving its greatest usefulness ft fir Many a man of talent owing to no education or to misdirected education on 4 or to that kind of training which does not educate has not done himself and the world the good he might have done U Full many a gem of purest ray serene The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear Full many a flower is born to blush unseen unseen And waste its sweetness on the desert air r I In the ideal education as pictured by Rousseau we see many of the best m methods h ds of today Yet the publication of his Emile mile ar aroused used a stor storm of bitter k criticism The book was denounced as teaching abominable doctrine whose effect would be to undermine the foundation of Christian religion Wherever it appeared it was condemned Along with the absurd and what was perhaps f false was construed what was vitally good But by attracting public at attention attention attention at- at the severe and undiscriminating criticism did it good s service B Best st thinkers were able easily to separate wheat from the chaff and to appropriate the good grain The methods advocated in this making epoch-making volume have been modified extended and popularized by and Froebel the canonized h saints saints among among teachers teachers' Their inspiration was Emile Ensile Through th these se menh menthe men mert the methods have descended to our time a Rousseau it is true often goes to extremes for the ideal is so far above the real For For instance the the isolation of a child admitting for a argument that it Rz L would be best would be impracticable if not impossible the entire disregard of family The chief faults of Rousseau's system are e f training the sweet influences of a h home me the uniform position he assigns to the I women and the unreasonable morbId hatred of society Cj r 1 1 t Am Among Among ong his many virtues are aie the formulating of of correct correct p principles l 1 of cf t mind training the support of the rights and privileges of J. J s children children il r p. p the r recognition of individual human worth as the highest standard l of excellence e and 4 the acknowledgment that social excellence presupposes individual excellence excellence These virtues are so evident and were so revolutionary when first stated stated that the faults are obscured or if if- they obtrude seem as healthful remedies directed against the evils peculiar to the educational systems of his time His great work in spite of its sidedness one-sidedness its Platonic ideality its imperfectness imperfect imperfect- ness is still as Goethe terms it The gospel of natural natura education the get germ that has grown to the splendid system of t the e latter days of I. I the nineteenth nineteenth IV J century I I 1 j 1 I f 1 Jl Lq its I a |