Discuss the contribution made by Locke and Rousseau to changing ideas on childcare and education during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

The late seventeenth century marked a change in society known as enlightenment. The Puritans had taught the absolute authority of the church and believed children were born sinful. According to E. J. Hundert in Ashcraft (1991) Mercantilist writers believed the working classes were lazy and work shy because of their inherited lazy nature. They did not believe anything could be done to change them. ‘The eighteenth century ushered in new approaches to childhood’ Cunningham (2006 p102). Growth of industry in England raised it to global dominance, which changed the way children were perceived. The theories of Locke and Rousseau on childcare and education had a major impact on changing attitudes to childcare and education that still impact on how children are viewed in the 21st century. David Archard (2004) says that John Locke and J.J. Rousseau were ‘the first to suggest a manifesto for a child centred education’.

The debate about the best way to raise and educate children was down to Locke’s ‘tabula rasa’ or Rousseau’s idea that children are naturally born innocent. These views were in sharp contrast to the Puritan view. Inborn sin or Godliness were no longer considered factors that shaped individuals. Muller suggests that Locke believed in educating children to help them overcome difficulties they would face in the changing social environment. He saw children as blank slates to be written on to fit them for a good life. This was not actually a new idea according to Cunningham (2006). He tells us that Erasmus had spoken about children being ‘moulded like wax’ two centuries earlier but this idea still endures to the present time.

Locke wrote in his book ‘Some Thoughts on Education’ (1693: section 54)) that the basis for training good adults was all down to reason; that is sensible thinking based on reasonable logic. He was against the harsh beatings but instead suggested that parents should reason with their children and recognise their needs and interests. Locke believed that a person’s character was formed in the early years. According to Archard (2004 p1) Locke denied that knowledge was inborn and learning depended on reason. However, Archard (2004) believes there would be problems trying to teach reason to a blank slate so the child must be born with the instinct to seek pleasure and avoid pain.

Cunningham (2006) says Locke believed that the parents should provide the education in the home. It was all down to learning good habits. According to Houswitschaka in Muller, the Lockean child’s education was based on learning to think sensibly by being set a good example by parents but he rejected the view that parents ‘owned’ their children. He did, however, think parents should be ‘Absolute Governors’ (Cunningham 2006: p110).

Learning was based on using logic, ‘we are born with faculties and powers capable of almost anything’ Locke (Archard p3). Children could experience things during sensory play. Like Piaget, Locke believed that the first learning experiences are linked to the senses and these give the infant the opportunity to develop reasoned thinking. He did not believe in having ‘rules’ because they stifle freedom of thought. Instead he advocated that good behaviour would be achieved by learning good habits. He was against giving children books with stories that might frighten them. He recommended Aesop’s Fables as suitable reading material. He thought the wrong books could corrupt children but Cunningham says parents still bought cheap books and enjoyed them as much as children and middle class boys were covertly introduced to books about sex. This would have met with approval by Rousseau but Locke was against any knowledge that might make boys less than perfect.

Locke believed there should be a ban on corporal punishment as it trains children to look for things that give pleasure and avoid situations that cause pain. It was better for children to b