Nature and experience were Rousseau’s main focus. He was interested in “freedom, not power (Rousseau, 5),” which is why he kept Emile away from a traditional school system and allowed him to roam free. In schools, children must abide by the rules of the school, but with freedom they are able to grow without anyone influencing them. He realized that “cruel education… burdens a child with all sorts of restrictions (Rousseau, 4)” and can lead to them feeling “miserable.” By giving Emile freedom, Emile was able to gain “wisdom of a child” while being “free and happy (Rousseau, 14),” which is the important part of his theory.

In the novel, Black Shack Alley we see how Jose’s experience of gaining an education is quite different from Emile. In school, the teacher was given the power to hit and beat children when they weren’t following rules. Jose remembers being pained every time “the mistress beat [Raphael] (Zobel, 65),” who was his good friend. He saw the teacher “beating him with a bamboo cane on his legs, or a ruler in the palm of his hand (Zobel, 65).” Another instance where a beating is mentioned is when “[Mam’zelle Fanny] appeared with a whip in hand (Zobel 93).”Jose and his fellow classmates had to remember things from the previous lesson, however if they got anything wrong, they would get a whip. Later, when Jose moves up to another class level, he believes that things will get better. However, he hears that his new “master” was a “teacher who ‘explained’ well and beat severely (Zobel, 103).” These teachers were given the “power” to harm students, which is one cruelty that Rousseau was strongly against. Rousseau believed that this harms a child’s education by making them miserable and resent school, instead of making them eager to learn.

One should “treat [their] scholar according to his age (Rousseau, 8),” according to Rousseau. If a child is young they should be able to “live the life of a child (Rousseau, 14)” and play as much as one can. However, Jose isn’t given this same freedom. Jose enjoyed being outside with friends and even “cut short as much as possible the time [he] took for [his] lunch so [he] could play with Raphael (Zobel, 64).” However, this soon ends because of Mme Leonce. She “prevented him from playing” and made him “spend each day in [her] dark kitchen and yard (Zobel, 69)” washing dishes and doing other chores. This often made him late to class, losing out on a full education. No child deserves to work this hard. Their lives should consist of learning and playing. After dropping a vase accidentally, Jose runs away and doesn’t tell his grandmother that he no longer spends his lunch at Mme Leonce’s place. Instead, he would roam around and sometimes people would hire him to do chores in exchange for “a couple of cents (Zobel, 75).” He also would come across “guava tree laden with fruits” which satisfied his hunger. Jose suffered because he didn’t have food or a place to stay for lunch, which led to him working and searching for his own food. He had to carry worries that no one should ever have to face. When you carry this much on your shoulders, it often affects your education.

Rousseau’s idea of an education for younger children consisted of freedom and happiness. However, Jose didn’t have either of these going to school. He had teachers that could beat and whip children whenever. He also had to work and do chores that prevented him from being happy. Jose had no freedom, due to the power that the people had over him. Having these types of influences on a young child affects their willingness to go to school and often discourages them to continue on.

The community has a large impact on individual identity because individual develops their personal identity by the influence of their surrounding. In Black Shack Alley, Zobel’s daily interactions with his grandmother, neighbors, and friends have significant impacts on young Zobel’s life. One character that influences Zobel the most would be his grandmother. M’man Tine plays the role of the mother in Zobel’s childhood, she takes care of him and gives him motherly advices. Everyday before she sends Zobel to school, she would repeat “don’t get your clothes all torn, don’t rip off your buttons to play marbles with, don’t run too fast….” (80), and Zobel does the best he can to follow her advices. In addition, M’man Tine’s belief matters so much to Zobel because she is his guardian and he looks up to her just like any other children would look up to their parents. M’man Tine believes education is the only way to overcome poverty. This idea that education is the way to success is deeply implanted into young Zobel’s mind; she tells him with the knowledge to knowing the alphabet and writes some words, Zobel would have the chance to become a factory worker instead of working in the plantation (91). In the community that they live in, the factory works are in higher social ladder than workers in the plantation; to have a chance to work in a factory is the beginning of the escape from poverty. M’man Tine and the community value so much about education. The atmosphere also makes Zobel to believe school is important, although Zobel doesn’t fully understand the value of education when he is still young. When he grows older, he finally realizes the privilege of being in school, thus leads to his hard work to be success in scholarship examination. Furthermore, Zobel’s good work in school gives him opportunity to success, in his own words, “the opportunity[education] to give my parent’s profession [farmer] never again presented itself” (136). Education gives Zobel the opportunity to change his fate.

In Jean Jacques Rousseau’s treatise on education, he emphasizes that “cruel education… burdens a child with all sorts of restrictions and begins by making him miserable…” (Rousseau 4). Therefore, Rousseau concludes that one should be “kind” to their pupil and not “rob these innocent…joys” during early childhood as they are only temporary and never long-lasting (Rousseau 5).

Jose’s description of his experience with school and education in Joseph Zobel’s novel Black Shack Alley challenges Rousseau’s ideas on education. Beatings of punishment are often described in the novel such as when the mistress would always find an excuse to “scold or punish [Raphael]…with a bamboo cane on his legs, or a ruler in the palm of his hand” (Zobel 65). Even the brave Raphael “couldn’t help writhing hideously and bursting into tears” (Zobel 65). Another scenario where beatings were described was when Mam’zelle Fanny questioned her class regarding their previous lesson and most, if not all, were whipped for not knowing the answer Zobel 94. As Jose narrates, he explains that those with poorer memories, like Jojo, “would sometimes [even] leave with their legs bleeding” (Rousseau 94). Although these beatings may have served as a factor and initiative to get the students to study and behave, this strategy of motivation is often subject to backfire. These beatings of enlightenment, when failed, only become the more obvious: beatings of punishment. Not only does it not work, but it works against the teachers and discourages the students to learn. Overall, it is a lose-lose situation and no one benefits.

Jose’s life was about overcoming poverty through the power of education. His grandma sent him to school so that he wouldn’t have to deal with poverty or be like his parents. His grandma believed that education was key to success. Through education, it would give Jose a better life and opportunity. Education is an escape from poverty. Education became a crucial part of Jose’s life. He valued education which later shaped him to the person he is. Opportunity plays a vital role in the process of education. At first, Jose didn’t realize how lucky he was to be in school which led him to not do too well. However, later on he took full advantage of it and realized how important school is. People don’t appreciate school, but for many underprivileged people, it is a way to get out of poverty.

Jose went to school and avoided working at the sugar cane fields. He even got a scholarship because of his essay. “Wasn’t the very act of reading a pleasure more substantial than that of playing or eating, for instance, even when one was starved?” (115). This emphasizes how important school is and how it leads to a positive path. Jose’s achievement is due to education and his aspiration to learn.

Rene Descartes proposed a statement using mathematical reasoning that we must accept only what we know for sure to be true. We need to abandon all of the uncertain beliefs we have accepted. He provided a method through four steps:

1. Accept as true only what is indubitable
2. Divide every question into manageable parts.
3. Begin with the simplest issues and ascend to the more complex.
4. Review frequently enough to retain the whole argument at once.

According to Descartes, this method had worked for him and should work for others, although not guaranteed. It may not work for some people. This differs from Franklin’s approach, which tried to focus on moral perfection through upright virtues. Franklin’s method was one that could be used by others. Through order, temperance and self-examination, Franklin strived for perfection though at the end of his life he admits that he failed. “But, on the whole, tho’ I never arrived at the perfection I had been so ambitious of obtaining, but fell far short of it (Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, 74)”.

Franklin says “I judg’d it would be well not to distract my attention by attempting the whole at once, but to fix it on one of them at a time (Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, 70)”. Here we see Franklin being patient. Instead of trying to conquer everything at once, he does it one at a time. Unlike Descartes who tries to denounce whatever isn’t a fact or a “perfect” truth, Franklin applies his time to improving anything and everything that isn’t perfect.

Another way Franklin differs from Descartes is the purpose of the method. Descartes created the method to discover truth in the world and therefore discredited all previously held notions and beliefs. Franklin was aiming for perfection. Perfection has to do with the inner being and qualities of a man. This made Franklin observe himself through every angle making him perfect each trait of his own being.

In the beginning of the chapter Benjamin Franklin tells us about how his goal is to reach moral perfection. He mentions “I wish’d to live without committing any fault at any time.” (1 par.)  He believed that if he was able to master his method he could become someone with no faults. When he begins to work on the virtue, Order , he realizes that he was way more flawed than he believed to be.  He was not able to improve his Order. Franklin never arrived to perfection but arrived to the conclusion that if he were perfect then people would envy and hate him, which would not be fair because a kind person would not want to make someone else feel that way. I feel as if that is a huge contradiction to the title of this chapter. If you are trying to reach perfection but by reaching it it makes you an unkind person then technically you aren’t perfect. “7.Sincerity. Use no harmful deceit; think innocently and justly; and if you speak, speak accordingly.”(pg.69) He was a happier person for trying to reach it but it is impossible to be perfect. One should work on their flaws and be glad that they are trying to better it. Accepting yourself is key.  Now, in the book “Adventures of Tom Sawyer”, Tom tries to memorize “his verses” in a matter of minutes. He is told to recite them but it was not perfect. There was an award for a child who had the most tickets for memorizing verses. He would trade things for these tickets with other kids. ” Tom Sawyer came forward with nine yellow tickets, nine red tickets, and ten blue ones, and demanded a bible.”(pg. 50) He knows that who ever received the Bible was deemed to be perfect and envied. Obviously, Tom did not deserve the award and when he was questioned he failed to prove himself. Tom is far from perfect but he does have some of the virtues within him.

Benjamin followed his method and became a happier person. He never reached perfection but was glad that he disciplined himself in following the virtues. He tried to be a very kind and honest person. Benjamin became better at communicating. “I soon found the advantage of this change in my manner: the conversation I engaged in went on more pleasantly.” (pg. 75) Because he was working on his virtues and trying to catch his faults, it all became a habit.  Tom Sawyer wanted people to envy him. He cheated when it came to winning the bible and felt embarrassed when he could not answer a question referring the bible. He wanted to plot revenge against Alfred Temple. This is something he realized a lot of people would do. Everyone was fake at some point. No one tried to be perfect because no one was aware of their flaws. “There is no school in all our land where the young ladies do not feel obliged to close their compositions with a sermon; and you will find that the sermon of the most frivolous and the least religious girl in the school is always the longest and the most relentlessly pious. But enough of this. Homely truth is unpalatable.” (pg. 161) He is aware that being fake is not pleasant. I think he feels as if in school everyone tries too hard to be the smartest or the perfect student. It is all just memorization. How is that learning?