Great advice from bestselling author
John O. Andersen
I've got a great book on child-rearing and education here. From what I
understand, it was a 'bestseller' in it's day.
The author: Jean Jacques Rousseau (yep, the same guy who
developed the idea of the Social Contract--a key concept in 18th century
revolutionary France.)
The publication date: 1762
The title: Emile
(I'm using the William Boyd translation from 1956).
ON THE ART OF LIVING:
"It is not enough merely to keep children alive. They should be fitted to
take care of themselves when they grow up. They should learn to bear the
blows of fortune; to meet either wealth or poverty, to live if need be in
the frosts of Iceland or on the sweltering rock of Malta. The important
thing is not to ward off death, but to make sure they really live. Life is
not just breathing: it is action, the functioning of organs, senses,
faculties, every part of us that gives the consciousness of existence. The
man who gets the most out of life is not the one who has lived longest, but
the one who has felt life the most deeply." pg. 15
I would add: Life is not just stay in school, graduate, get a "good" job,
live the American dream, retire, yada, yada, yada. It's much much deeper
than that.
This sort of reminds me of the line from the movie "Dead Poets Society"
which goes something like this:
"We don't read and write poetry because its cute. We read and write poetry
because we are members of the human race. And the human race is full of
passion. Medicine, law, business, engineering: these are noble pursuits
necessary to sustain life but poetry, beauty, romance, love. These are what
we stay alive for."
ON THE DUTIES OF FATHERS:
"A father has only done a third of his duty when he begets children and
makes provision for them. To his species he owes men; to society he owes
social beings; to the state he owes citizens. Every person who fails to pay
this triple debt is blameworthy, even more so if he only pays it in part.
The man who cannot fulfill a father's duties has no right to become a
father. Neither poverty nor business nor concern for public opinion exempts
him from the obligation to look after his children and educate them
himself." pg. 19
ON HAPPINESS:
"We can never know absolute good or evil. Everything in this life is mixed.
We never experience pure sentiment, or remain in the same state for two
successive moments. Weal and woe are common to us all, but in differing
measure. The happiest man is the one who suffers least: the most miserable
the one who has least pleasure. Always the sufferings outweigh the
enjoyments. The felicity of man here below is therefore a negative state,
to be measured by the fewness of his ills. Every feeling of pain is
inseparable from the desire to escape from it: every idea of pleasure
inseparable from the desire for its enjoyment. Privation is implicit in
desire, and all privations are painful. Consequently unhappiness consists
in the excess of desire over power. A conscious being whose powers equalled
his desires would be absolutely happy." pg. 34
ON LEARNING TO READ:
"Great stress is laid on finding better methods of teaching children to
read. Reading cases and cards have been invented, and the child's room has
been turned into a printer's shop. Locke suggested the use of dice. Fancy
all this elaborate contrivance! A surer way that nobody thinks of is to
create the desire to read. Give the child this desire and have done with
the gadgets and any method will be good." pg. 51-52.
John
http://members.xoom.com/joandersen
John
http://members.xoom.com/joandersen
Usually it's easier to be a success than to be a human.
understand, it was a 'bestseller' in it's day.
The author: Jean Jacques Rousseau (yep, the same guy who
developed the idea of the Social Contract--a key concept in 18th century
revolutionary France.)
The publication date: 1762
The title: Emile
(I'm using the William Boyd translation from 1956).
ON THE ART OF LIVING:
"It is not enough merely to keep children alive. They should be fitted to
take care of themselves when they grow up. They should learn to bear the
blows of fortune; to meet either wealth or poverty, to live if need be in
the frosts of Iceland or on the sweltering rock of Malta. The important
thing is not to ward off death, but to make sure they really live. Life is
not just breathing: it is action, the functioning of organs, senses,
faculties, every part of us that gives the consciousness of existence. The
man who gets the most out of life is not the one who has lived longest, but
the one who has felt life the most deeply." pg. 15
I would add: Life is not just stay in school, graduate, get a "good" job,
live the American dream, retire, yada, yada, yada. It's much much deeper
than that.
This sort of reminds me of the line from the movie "Dead Poets Society"
which goes something like this:
"We don't read and write poetry because its cute. We read and write poetry
because we are members of the human race. And the human race is full of
passion. Medicine, law, business, engineering: these are noble pursuits
necessary to sustain life but poetry, beauty, romance, love. These are what
we stay alive for."
ON THE DUTIES OF FATHERS:
"A father has only done a third of his duty when he begets children and
makes provision for them. To his species he owes men; to society he owes
social beings; to the state he owes citizens. Every person who fails to pay
this triple debt is blameworthy, even more so if he only pays it in part.
The man who cannot fulfill a father's duties has no right to become a
father. Neither poverty nor business nor concern for public opinion exempts
him from the obligation to look after his children and educate them
himself." pg. 19
ON HAPPINESS:
"We can never know absolute good or evil. Everything in this life is mixed.
We never experience pure sentiment, or remain in the same state for two
successive moments. Weal and woe are common to us all, but in differing
measure. The happiest man is the one who suffers least: the most miserable
the one who has least pleasure. Always the sufferings outweigh the
enjoyments. The felicity of man here below is therefore a negative state,
to be measured by the fewness of his ills. Every feeling of pain is
inseparable from the desire to escape from it: every idea of pleasure
inseparable from the desire for its enjoyment. Privation is implicit in
desire, and all privations are painful. Consequently unhappiness consists
in the excess of desire over power. A conscious being whose powers equalled
his desires would be absolutely happy." pg. 34
ON LEARNING TO READ:
"Great stress is laid on finding better methods of teaching children to
read. Reading cases and cards have been invented, and the child's room has
been turned into a printer's shop. Locke suggested the use of dice. Fancy
all this elaborate contrivance! A surer way that nobody thinks of is to
create the desire to read. Give the child this desire and have done with
the gadgets and any method will be good." pg. 51-52.
John
http://members.xoom.com/joandersen
John
http://members.xoom.com/joandersen
Usually it's easier to be a success than to be a human.