ABSTRACT
From the time John Locke published Some Thoughts concerning Education in 1693 the problem of home education versus school education occupied the thoughts of many writers of the eighteenth century. The theoretical reasons of Locke based on his individualism were coupled by them with practical reasons, resulting from the objections to the prevalent school practice of their time. Home education was exalted as the only training which could be adapted to the individuality of the pupil and which could effectively combine the physical, intellectual and moral sides of education. The Émile of J. J. Rousseau still more strengthened this tendency, which found its final expression in the writings of R. L. Edge-worth. But throughout the century we have numerous treatises addressed to parents and tutors discussing the ways and means of home education. Especially popular were letters of former tutors to their pupils on various aspects of education. The best known were Letters of a Tutor to his Pupils, by William Jones, a well-known writer on theological subjects in 1775 (?), and Letters on the improvement of the mind addressed to a Young Lady, by Mrs. Hester Chapone, published in 1774, two volumes; the last was even recommended by Erasmus Darwin as a suitable guide for teaching history. Parents also vied with tutors in writing advice to their sons on moral behaviour and home training.
