ABSTRACT
John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau have been regarded as two of the most influential theorists of modernity. The belief that education is an impression of reason onto the blank slates of children’s minds also helped educational institutions to increase social control over the lives of adults. The social institutionalization of the distinction between educators and children stabilizes the belief in human beings’ perfectibility. Individual freedom is necessary to justify the very existence of the educator. Individuals continuously redefine themselves and the purposes of their actions and communications. As a consequence, social institutions such as schools and media such as children’s literature opened the main channels of communication between families and the complex social environments of the public sphere. Socialization stabilized social belonging to class and religion. Deviation helped to teach children how to react to unpredicted social challenges in a changing environment.
