Topic 1: John Locke (1632-1704) : 

The Empiricist Educator

Below are summaries of thoughts of education philosophers on what should be taught
and how learners should be taught.

1. John Locke (1632-1704) :  The Empiricist Educator

*Acquire knowledge about the world through the senses – learning by doing and by
interacting with the environment
*Simple ideas become more complex through comparison, reflection and generalization
– the inductive method
*Questioned the long traditional view that knowledge came exclusively from literary
sources, particularly the Greek and Latin classics 
*Opposed the “divine right of kings” theory which held that the monarch had the right to
be an unquestioned and absolute ruler over his subjects
*Political order should be based upon a construct between the people and the
government
*Aristocrats are not destined by birth to be rulers.  People were to establish their own
government and select their own political leaders from among themselves; civic
education is necessary
*People should be educated to govern themselves Intelligently and responsibly
(Ornstein, 1984)
Comments:
*For John Locke, education is not acquisition of knowledge contained in the Great
Books.  It is learners interacting with concrete experience, comparing, and reflecting on
the same concrete experience, comparing. The learner is an active not passive agent of
his/her own learning.
*From the social dimension, education is seeing citizens participate actively and
intelligently in establishing their government and in choosing who will govern them from
among themselves because they are convinced that no one person is destined to be
ruler forever.