ABSTRACT
Do we actually need schools? Surprising as it may seem, some educators argue that we don’t. In 1762, for example, Jean-Jacques Rousseau published an educational treatise entitled Emile. In it he argued that the boy Emile should have what he called a ‘natural’ education or an education in accordance with nature, as distinct from a formal education in a traditional classroom setting. Emile would live on his own, free of any specific program of study, and free of any book-learning until about the age of fifteen. His tutor is an ever-present example and influence, but he would not instruct or directly impose his views on the child. Emile would be free, for example, to break the windows of his bedroom if so inclined, but he would learn how foolish he had been when the winds blew or snow fell and his bedroom became freezing cold.
