Edited by Joy A. Palmer
2001
"I'll tell you that one of my favorite fancies is to look at my family as a small world, to watch the progress of my little men, and, lately, to see how well the influence of my little women works upon them." The novelist and educator Louisa May Alcott shared this particular insight into the workings of human nature, but it is representative of the sort of things we all know but can't articulate as well as a writer like Alcott. Fifty Major Thinkers on Education is the first of two volumes of essays describing the impact of some of history's more profound thinkers on education and human nature. It's nicely varied. For those who advocate a rigorous academic education, there's the German philosopher Johann Friedrich Herbart who postulated a theory of education in the early 19th century that should be, "profound, precise and complete,' and the teaching of which must demand 'high standards' and 'rigorous thinking." For child-centered progressives, there is Herbert Spencer arguing that "Children should be led to make their own investigations, and to draw their own inferences. They should be told as little as possible, and induced to discover as much as possible." Those who favor service learning as a way to merge academics with life will recognize the voice of John Dewey. Today, as public officials and educators across the country talk about the opportunities afforded in the first five years of life, it is interesting to learn about the work of Friedrich Wilhelm Froebel. In 1840, he was struggling to come up with a term to describe his school for young children when one day during a walk he exclaimed to a colleague, "Eureka! Kindergarten shall the institute be called!" This book will benefit people who want to understand the roots of today's education thinking. It recalls Thomas Huxley's comment about Herbert Spencer: "He was the most original of thinkers though he never invented a new thought." Fifty Major Thinkers on Education makes it clear that those of us who work in the world of education in the 21st century can only hope to add clarity and new variations to insights long ago uncovered. The ISBN is 0-415-23126-4; the publisher is Routledge. To order, call 212-216-7800 or visit http://www.routledge.com.
