ABSTRACT
There used to be considerable controversy as to whether the word ‘education’ was derived from the Latin word ‘educere’ or the word ‘educare’. ‘Educere’ means ‘to lead out’, and those who favored some kind of student-centered approach saw this as the origin of our word ‘education’. They appealed to this derivation as evidence that teachers, if they were truly educating, should seek to bring or lead out what was in some sense innate in the child, rather than to impose various preselected attitudes, characteristics, and values on him. The teacher was to regard herself as a gardener tending a plant, rather than as a craftsman making a product. She should encourage the natural flowering or development of the individual, rather than attempt to mold him.
