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Knowledge: good and bad
Both Emile and Frankenstein discuss citizen making, and knowledge plays a major role. The main argument in Emile is the best education is let a child have complete freedom of what he wishes to learn. Frankenstein shows the pros and cons of this method.
Rousseau concedes that he only has claim over Emile when he is dependent on him. Rousseau says “The child has not this idea, so he stretches out his hand to seize the object within his reach or that which is a hundred paces from him” (4). This is an example of when a child needs a caregiver.
In Frankenstein, Victor literally made a man, only that he is a monster. Victor admires science so much that he is insatiable of it and creates a person from scratch. He knows that science can be destructive when he witnesses “the dazzling light vanished, the oak had disappeared, and nothing remained but a blasted stump… the tree shattered in a singular manner. It was not splintered by the shock, but entirely reduced to thin ribbons of wood. I never beheld anything so utterly destroyed” (Shelly, ch.2, par.9). Shelly demonstrates a man with great knowledge sees how destructive nature can be yet doesn’t realize how his knowledge can create a huge mistake.
Rousseau’s theory mirrors Shelley’s development of the Monster. The Monster is a like an infant when he comes to this world; he is what his experiences make of him.
Shelly shows the Monster learns through his senses that fire “were wet and would not burn” (ch.11, par.6), “fire gave light as well as heat” (ch.11, par.7) and touching it will result in “a cry of pain” (ch.11, par.6). Furthermore, the Monster says “I found that the youth spent a great part of each day in collecting wood for the family fire, and during the night I often took his tools, the use of which I quickly discovered, and brought home firing sufficient for the consumption of several days” (Shelly, ch.12, par.7). From these experiences, he gains knowledge from observations, which is the “education from things” according to Emile. On the other hand, when the Monster “learned the science of letters” (Shelly, ch.13, par.13), he understands the world better but also realized that he is unfit in the society. His disappointment and resentment fueled the thought of revenge. Here knowledge serves as the driving engine of danger.
State of nature
John Locke, Rene Descartes and Jean Jacques Rousseau have some similar and different conceptions of state of nature and education.
John Locke believed that humans begin as a blank slate and gradually acquire knowledge through experience. Everyone is equally endowed with nature because God made them so. For Locke, everyone obeys the laws given by God in order to create a safe society. In a similar way, Descartes admires God, he thinks God is perfect. According to Rousseau, “God makes all things good; man meddles with them and they become evil” (1).
The idea of nature penetrates throughout Emile, it is the ultimate goal of education. He says “The inner growth of our organs and faculties is the education of nature” (Rousseau, 1). Children should use this growth as tools for education. Rousseau believes that the state of nature has unlimited freedom. It is unspoiled; everyone starts out perfect. Anyone can find happiness in his natural state. Children, unlike adults, are naturally good and uncorrupted by the influences of society and traditional schooling. The job of educators is to stay out of the way of spoil them and let their nature blossom. Compare to Locke, Rousseau take a more hands-off approach of education. He proposed that “freedom, not power, is the greatest good. That man is truly free who desires what he is able to perform, and does what he desires” (Rousseau, 5). Rousseau thinks that children have complete freedom of what and when to learn. Educators should only give children information when it’s meaningful to them, that way they’ll learn much effectively when they want it themselves. In contrast, Descartes believes in deductive reasoning, that knowledge is built from a simple foundation. He says “with the examination of the simplest objects, not anticipating, however, from this any other advantage than that to be found in accustoming my mind to the love and nourishment of truth” (12).
Rousseau sees the artificial “habit” as bad. He is very pleased with Emile for that “His body is healthy, his limbs are supple, his mind is accurate and unprejudiced, his heart is free and untroubled by passion” (Rousseau, 23). Similarly, Descartes says “a man of good sense using his natural and unprejudiced judgement draws respecting the matters of his experience” (8).
Locke vs Descartes
According to John Locke, knowledge is not innate and that all knowledge come from experiences. He believes that “ideas of colours innate in a creature to whom God hath given sight, and a power to receive them by the eyes from external objects” (Locke, 1). He presents the example of human understanding of colors is given by God. In addition, Locke denies the idea of innate principles by arguing that if there were innate ideas, then they would immediately be known to children, yet they are not. “If therefore these two propositions: ‘Whatsoever is, is;’ and, ‘It is impossible for the same thing to be, and not to be,’ are by nature imprinted, children cannot be ignorant of them” (Locke,3). On the other hand, Rene Descartes says “good sense or reason, is by nature equal in all men; and that the diversity of our opinions, consequently, does not arise from some being endowed with a larger share of reason than others” (1). He believes that everyone is equally endowed with reason, only the accidental or external parts are different.
Secondly, Descartes believes that knowledge depends on certainty. When knowledge can’t be extracted from experiences, it can be achieved by deductive reasoning similar to how mathematical proofs are derived from complex propositions. Descartes says “provided only we abstain from accepting the false for the true, and always preserve in our thoughts the order necessary for the deduction of one truth from another” (11). In contrast, Locke says that all ideas come from sensation and reflection besides experiences. “the senses convey into the mind, I mean, they from external objects convey into the mind what produces there those perceptions. This great source of most of the ideas we have, depending wholly upon our senses” (Locke, 6). Descartes objects “neither our imagination nor our senses can give us assurance of anything” (22). He thinks that senses can be deceitful.
School and Education
In the excerpt of Secrets of a Buccaneer Scholar, Bach dismisses the teacher’s comment that his speech was “dangerous” because he believes that Schoolism is what’s really dangerous for students. His personal experiences have taught him that teachers are not necessarily correct and the school education system is incompetent. When the teacher says the students “have” to be in school, Bach relentlessly criticizes the illness of school rules and proves that his high school teacher said the same thing and was wrong.
Even though West and Bach seem to have diametrically opposed responses to school, both of them mention the importance of proper education. They express that nowadays students need to learn what is valuable and useful in today’s society, not just what for grades. They are successful dropouts because they are clear about what they are truly interested in and filter out the useless things. West says: “Why did I go to school?’ I didn’t go for math class, I went for gym, for lunch, for art” (par.7). Similarly, Bach expresses: “Knowledge does not improve my education unless it changes me for the better” (1). West and Bach make their own choices to drop out of school, but they still continue their education, just in a different format that is equally or even more rewarding.
In addition, both West and Bach feel that school can’t satisfy their needs. For West, school is not able to support him financially; school can’t offer music production and rap classes. For Bach, school doesn’t give him the opportunity to do a meaningful experiment in physics class. More importantly, school doesn’t prepare him for the real world.
Furthermore, West and Bach both agree that education is flexible. While West states: “There’s poetry classes, but why aren’t there rap curriculums? It takes people like myself to stand up and say this is part of our culture, why not use it to educate” (par. 7). Bach believes: “ Feel free to disagree with your teachers, take some things from them and ignore some other things” (2). In other words, a good education is customized to one’s needs.