The Roots of Educational

Theory
John Locke 1632-1704

     John Locke was born August 29, 1632, in Wrington, Somerset, England. Regarded as one of the
most influential Enlightenment thinkers, he was known as the Father of Classical Liberalism. He was
an economist, political operative, physician, Oxford scholar, and medical researcher as well as one of
the great philosophers of the late 17th and early 18th centuries.

     Locke created the philosophy that there was no legitimate government under the Divine Right of
Kings theory, which emphasized that God chose some people to rule on earth in His will. Therefore,
the monarch’s actions were the will of God and to criticize the ruler meant you were challenging
God. However, Locke did not believe in this theory and wrote his own to challenge it.

     Locke’s writings also greatly influenced the founding fathers of the United States when writing the
Constitution. They implemented his idea that the power to govern was obtained from the
permission of the people. He believed the purpose of government was to protect the natural rights
of its citizens. He stated that natural rights were life, liberty, and property, and that all people
automatically earned these simply by being born. When a government did not protect those rights,
the citizen had the right to overthrow the government. These ideas were incorporated into the
Declaration of Independence by Thomas Jefferson. Once they took root in North America, the
philosophy was adopted in other places as justification for revolution.

     Locke believed that children are born with their mind a blank sheet of paper, a clean slate,
a tabula rasa. He also maintained that children are potentially free and rational beings, and that the
realization of these human qualities tends to be disillusioned through imposition of the sort of
prejudice that perpetuates oppression and fallacy. Locke believed it was the upbringing and
education that hindered the development of children's humanity. Locke noted two consequences of
the doctrine of the tabula rasa: egalitarianism and vulnerability.

    Locke believed the purpose of education was to produce an individual with a sound mind in a
sound body so as to better serve his country. Locke thought that the content of education ought to
depend upon one's station in life. The common man only required moral, social, and vocational
knowledge. He could do quite well with the Bible and a highly developed vocational skill that would
serve to support him in life and offer social service to others. However, the education of gentlemen
ought to be of the very highest quality. The gentleman must serve his country in a position of
leadership.

     For gentlemen, Locke believed that the he must have a thorough knowledge of his own language.
The schools of the Puritans in England broke with tradition completely. They sought to educate one
for the society in which he would live. The schools were called, therefore, schools of social realism.
Locke, in keeping with Milton and other Puritans, held that the content of the curriculum must serve
some practical end. He recommended the introduction of contemporary foreign languages, history,
geography, economics, math and science. 

     Locke proposed the following for the education of the gentleman: 

          a. Moral Training. All Christians must learn to live virtuously. 
          b. Good Breeding. The gentleman must develop the poise, control and outward behavior of
excellent manners. Education must aim, therefore, at               
               developing correct social skills. 
          c. Wisdom. The gentleman ought to be able to apply intellectual and moral knowledge in
governing his practical affairs. 
          d. Useful Knowledge. The gentleman must receive education which will lead to a successful life
in the practical affairs of the society, as well as that which 
                leads to the satisfaction derived from scholarship and good books.

     In his final years he lived in the country at Oates in Essex at the home of Sir Francis and Lady
Masham. Before his death, Locke saw four more editions of An Essay Concerning Human
Understanding. He died at Oates in Essex on October 28, 1704.