émile in the 21st Century

I recently completed reading the Project Gutenberg EBook version of émile, or Concerning Education, by Jean-Jacques Rousseau (https://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/4/3/30433/). Translated by Eleanor Worthington in 1888, this edition features extracts containing the principals of pedagogy from the first three books of the classic treatise originally written in French and published in 1762. As is well known (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emile:_or,_On_Education), Rousseau uses the personae of émile and his personal tutor to outline and justify a system of education considered apt and necessary to counter corrupt society. Moving forward two-and-a-half centuries, who would deny that humankind is any less destructive and degenerative? In fact, given this week's world news alone, matters are markedly worse. What, then, might we learn about education, pedagogy, politics and society from a contemporary reading of émile?

Quaintness and exaggerations aside, Rousseau's "naturalistic" pedagogy is framed around a wide-range of principles, viewpoints and practical observations. For example:

1. We are born weak, destitute, wretched and stupid; education based in experience and sensations (not precepts) provides a sound basis for growth, development and good judgement. (pp.16, 18, 31, 33)
2. The attractions of home life present the best antidote to bad morals. (p. 22)
3. Children are to love their mothers even before they know it's their duty to do so. (p. 24)
4. We cause our greatest misfortunes. (p. 25)
5. Habit formation in children is undesirable. (p. 29)
6. The first crying of children is a prayer. If we do not heed it well, this crying soon becomes a command. They begin by asking our aid; they end by compelling us to serve. (p. 34)
7. When a child wants something he sees, and we intend to give it to him, it is better to carry him to the object than to bring the object to him. (p. 35)
8. Always speak correctly in the presence of young children. (p. 42)
9. A teacher ought to speak only so as to be understood by the child. (p. 46)
10. The best education is accomplished in and through things. (p. 46)
11. Do not give a child anything because he asks for it, but because he needs it. (p. 52)
12. Never revoke a refusal. (p. 54)
13. Don't be over-strict or over-indulgent. (p. 54)
14. Let the reins that hold children back be power and not authority. (p. 62)
15. The most useful rule in all education is not to gain time, but to lose it. (p. 64)
16. Love others, and they will love you; serve them, and they will serve you; be their brother, and they will be your children. (p. 68)
17. Teach every lesson through actions rather than words; children readily forget what is said or done to them. (p. 75)
18. Respect children, and be in no haste to judge their actions, good or evil. (p. 87)
19. Badly taught children are farther from being wise than those not taught at all. (p. 87)
20. Apparent quickness in learning is the ruin of children. (p. 88)
21. émile shall never learn anything by heart. (p. 94)
22. Let children depend on themselves rather than continually running to others for advice. (p. 96)
23. The art of teaching is to govern without rules and to do everything by doing nothing at all. (p. 97)
24. Generally, a life of hardship, when we are used to it, gives us a far greater number of agreeable sensations than does a life of ease, which creates an infinite number of unpleasant ones. (p. 105)
25. The question is, not what may be known, but what will be of the most use when it is known. (p. 139)
26. Do not be too hasty to correct mistakes. Give children time and space to self-adjust and self-correct. (p. 146)
27. It is preferable to know nothing than to be mistaken. (p. 147)
28. The thing is not to teach children knowledge but to give them a love for it. (p. 148)
29. Children should take nothing for granted. (p. 160)
30. We attach too much importance to words. (p. 161)

Set against what I consider to be often under-theorised and pedagogically-thin descriptions of practice in the popular 21st-century education literature, many parts of émile seem to me to be relevant and useful. Even though Rousseau's work is considered, in part, derivative, he foreshadows current thinking about the importance and centrality of problem-based and experiential learning, action, inquiry, curiosity, independence, autonomy, open-mindedness, resilience, sound reasoning and judgement particularly well.

In closing Book 3, Rousseau describes the outcomes of his pedagogical project boldly and optimistically. Between the ages of 12 to 16, "émile is industrious, temperate, patient, steadfast, and full of courage. His imagination, never aroused, does not exaggerate dangers. He feels few discomforts, and can bear pain with fortitude, because he has never learned to contend with fate." (175) This much, I think, is worthy of our attention today.