Jean-Jacques Rousseau began documenting his ideas regarding child development in the mid 1700's. His complete edition of Emile or On Education was published in 1764. The question that comes to mind wh
ile studying Rousseau's work is what ideas have changed and what have remained the same about early child development/ child rearing since Rousseau's time? To determine the answer two books are examined, compared, and contrasted. The first, a translated version of Emile or On Education (Rousseau, 1979) and the second The Baby Book: Everything You Need to Know About Your Baby From Birth to Age Two (Sears &Sears, 2003). Using the second as a point of reference the researcher will attempt determining that some of the ideas presented by Rousseau were developed, processed, and practiced. If Sears & Sears provide examples of current practices that reflect those that Rousseau hypothetically altered in his fictional examples, then one might conclude that he did change the ideal concepts of child development. If there are no similarities to be found, then one could conclude that Rousseau's attempts were considered nothing but a fictional depiction of what one man deemed the perfect child rearing style.
METHODS
The methods used to explore this theory were that of reading and documentation. First, Book I of Rousseau was read. This book features the earliest of developmental stages. Proposed ideas and practices of the time were then documented. The Sears and Sears text was searched for the current form of each concept presented in Rousseau. Again, each reference was then documented. In order to simplify the focus of this research the ideas were categorized into specific areas of study with in the topic of child development/Rearing. Three main categories discovered were Infant Feeding and Nutrition, Infant Development, and Infant Safety and Health. Finally each category was organized and re-evaluated; compared and contrasted. This was the final method in determining what ideas have changed and what have remained the same about early child development since Rousseau's time.
Your child is precious to you and you want to get the best care you can for what you can afford. Think about the benefits that are received from children at licensed daycare facilities versus private home based baby sitters.
Frankenstein's monster, forced to facilitate his own education, parallels the era's education of women, making the monster's murders of all the weak female characters equally significant: education will eliminate female inferiority.
Many philosophers have formed theories attempting to synthesize the organizing principles of civilized society. Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Thomas Hobbes were two such philosophers.
It is difficult for the modern reader not to draw psychological inferences in a study of the early life of the young Rousseau and his later accomplishments and this essay seeks to explore his influences as they relate to his texts.
