ABSTRACT
Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a Swiss/French philosopher, writer, and political theorist living in the 18th century. He is recognized as a brilliant, unconventional, controversial, and sometimesparanoid thinker. His predominant thesis was that human beings are basically good, whereas society is basically evil. His classic novel about the education of a young man named Emile presents, what is considered by many, one of the great educational treatises of history. He argued that because society endorses educational programs that create good citizens-compliant and uncritical sheep for the fl ock-the public schools undermine free-thinking, creativity, and individuality. His argument was restated in the 20th century by a number of educational reformists (Goodman, 1960; Illich, 1971; Gatto, 1991).
