Rousseau's Legacy in Technology Education: A Look Beyond the Mechanical Arts, Lecture notes of Technology

Download Rousseau's Legacy in Technology Education: A Look Beyond the Mechanical Arts and more Lecture notes Technology in PDF only on Docsity! Journal of Technology Education Vol. 6 No. 2, Spring 1995 -46- Rousseau in the Heritage of Technology Education John R. Pannabecker In the June 1762 issue of his literary journal, Melchior Grimm, one of Jean- Jacques Rousseau’s former friends, poked fun at Rousseau’s interests in a flying machine. At the same time, he was busy with a machine with which he in- tended to learn to fly; he stopped after some attempts which did not succeed; but he was never sufficiently disillusioned with his project to calmly admit it to be fanciful. Thus his friends, with some faith, can expect to see him someday gliding in the air (Tourneux, 1878, pp. 102- 103; all translations from the French in this essay are by the author). Grimm’s remarks remained something of a mystery until 1910, when Pi- erre-Paul Plan published a recently discovered essay by Rousseau on his inves- tigation into human flight (Plan, 1910). Rousseau’s machine was mechanical in design. He was influenced by bird-type models and Borelli’s seventeenth-cen- tury mechanical explanation of the human body. Rousseau summarized the rela- tively low strength/weight ratio of the human body compared to that of birds and acknowledged this as a major difficulty (Plan, 1910, p. 594). He also com- pared flying to being suspended under water, a fluid with similar qualities to air. According to Rousseau, two key problems would have to be resolved: first, finding a body lighter than an equal body of air; and second, once aloft, figuring out how to keep from going further up and how to become heavy enough to de- scend (Plan, 1910, p. 596). Rousseau’s approach to the problem demonstrates a propensity to experiment and to solve technical problems in a rational fashion. In addition, he was sensitive to social attitudes and Grimm’s mockery, noting that “it is always the destiny of truth to be mocked” (Plan, 1910, p. 591). John R. Pannabecker is a Professor in the Technology Department, McPherson College, McPher- son, KS. Journal of Technology Education Vol. 6 No. 2, Spring 1995 -47- Rousseau, Industrial Arts, and Technology Education Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) is best known for his ideas on educa- tion, religion, politics, and social issues–not for building a flying machine. He is considered one of the most important figures in the history of education, in- cluding industrial and practical arts education.1 But just how does Rousseau fit into the heritage of technology education? Indeed, how is the heritage of tech- nology education different from that of industrial arts education? Why is so little known about Rousseau’s flying machine and why was it rarely, if ever, referred to in the history of industrial arts education? Rousseau’s text on a flying machine was not an exposition of his educa- tional ideas but of a systematic approach to solving a complex problem. That problem might fit into certain technology education programs today, but not into traditional industrial arts programs. The problem of flying required ex- perimentation and systematic knowledge, and prompted reflection on the rela- tionships between society and what we now call “technology.” This essay shows that Rousseau modeled these interests in a way that would not be incom- patible with ideas in technology education today. But first, the work of Rous- seau needs to be placed briefly in the context of the history of education. Rousseau, Education, and Society In the history of education, Rousseau has usually been viewed as a precursor of human development theory. Sometimes he has also been considered an advo- cate of non-authoritarian pedagogy, with children selecting and solving problems in a non-directive environment. But Carbone (1985) was critical of this “endur- ing myth,” noting that “there is actually scant justification in the Emile for heavy reliance on the desires and interests of students in the establishment of educational ends and means” (p. 408). Bennett (1926), a very influential American historian of industrial educa- tion, emphasized the importance of Rousseau’s recognition of the manual arts as a means of mental training and noted his influence on educators such as Base- dow, Salzmann, Pestalozzi, and others (pp. 81; 85; 108). But Bennett did not go much beyond a discussion of the mechanical arts and trades in Rousseau’s Emile. 2 Subsequent writing in the history of industrial arts varied little from Bennett’s interpretation. 1There is so much secondary literature on Rousseau that space allows only a few indications here. For example, see L’Aminot (1992) for different interpretations of Rousseau in the twentieth cen- tury. L’Aminot estimates about 15,000 books and articles on Rousseau since 1900. Rousseau’s (1957) best known work on education was a sort of novel called Emile, published in 1762 during the period of his greatest literary productivity. For a broad interpretation of the genesis and writing of Emile, see Jimack (1960). 2 Limiting this discussion to Rousseau’s writing on teaching the mechanical arts might have re- sulted in a focus on Emile as did Bennett (1926). But Rousseau turned 50 years old in 1762 when Emile was published. Rousseau’s interest in the mechanical arts, systematic knowledge, and ex- perimentation long preceded the publication of Emile but there is less known about Rousseau’s Journal of Technology Education Vol. 6 No. 2, Spring 1995 -50- them reading novels left by his mother who died in childbirth (Rousseau, 1926, Vol. 1, pp. 12-13). These years of living and reading with his father came to an abrupt end due to his father’s expulsion from Geneva after a brawl with an offi- cer. Jean-Jacques was then supported by his uncle Bernard, an engineer. For two years Rousseau lived with a cousin at the home of their tutor in a small village; these two years were to be the time of his only formal classical instruction. The young Jean-Jacques was a bit of a problem-solver, however. He enjoyed telling of his experience as a child civil engineer (Rousseau, 1926, Vol. 1, p. 31-35). The tutor, Mr. Lambercier, once planted a walnut tree to shade his terrace; in fun, Jean-Jacques and his cousin planted a willow and then proceeded to construct an underground conduit to water it from the other tree. The aque- duct was successful and Mr. Lambercier discovered and destroyed it, but later the two boys heard him roaring with laughter as he told his wife about the “aq- ueduct.” Later, he was exposed to drawing and the elements of Euclid during the lessons of his cousin who was being prepared for engineering. According to Jean-Jacques’ Confessions, he and his cousin made cages, flutes, kites, drums, houses, popguns, crossbows, watches, and puppets (Rousseau, 1926, Vol. 1, p. 36). He remembers damaging his grandfather’s tools trying to make imitations of his watches. Although Rousseau’s unstructured childhood education is well known, it is sometimes forgotten that he built all kinds of devices which re- quired experimentation and technical skills. At age 13, his elders settled on his vocation; he would be an engraver, a trade that he did not really mind except for the brutality of his master (Rousseau, 1926, Vol. 1, p. 43). His “act of apprenticeship” (dated 26 April 1725) was to serve under Abel Ducommun, master engraver in Geneva. He served about three years out of his five-year apprenticeship contract; the official acknowledgment of his desertion was dated 30 March 1728 (Rousseau, 1959, Vol. 1, pp. 1209- 1211). This was a period of turmoil, leading to his decision to leave Geneva. At age sixteen, Rousseau began his travels after his decision to remain locked out of the Geneva city walls during one of his nocturnal ramblings around the country- side with his friends. For a long time he moved around, at times working in paid positions, for example, as tutor and ambassador’s assistant in Venice. It was probably as a tutor that Rousseau first began to reflect seriously on pedagogy, because he left two brief manuscripts on the subject. They are sig- nificant in that they both suggest that some of Rousseau’s ideas expressed in Emile about 25 years later were already in the process of formation. His em- phasis on moral behavior was already present but he also stressed that learning should be amusing and fun. The environment should include “scraps of paper, a little drawing, music, instruments, a prism, a microscope, a magnifying glass, a barometer, a wind machine, a siphon, a fountain of Hero, a magnet, and a thou- sand other little curiosities” for teaching and learning (Rousseau, l959-1969, Vol. 4, p. 26). He also mentioned the importance of the “arts and crafts” as in- teresting subjects whereby children learn that people are useful and necessary to each other (Rousseau, 1959-1969, Vol. 4, p. 42). Journal of Technology Education Vol. 6 No. 2, Spring 1995 -51- Rousseau’s enduring interest in the natural sciences was reflected in his discussions of experimental science. Already in the mid to late 1730s he became interested in physics and used to visit a professor of physics at Chambéry who performed amusing experiments. Rousseau experimented likewise and almost died from it. He filled a bottle with quicklime, orpiment, and water and sealed it with a stopper. The effervescence started almost immediately and he ran to pull out the stopper. Too late! It blew up in his face like a bomb and he was blind for six weeks afterwards (Rousseau, 1926, Vol 1, pp. 293-294). This adventure contributed to his poor health and was certainly a memorable way of learning about the resistance of materials. Rousseau and Systematic Knowledge The eighteenth century was in many ways an age of classifying and ordering knowledge. This process of structuring knowledge, as exemplified in Diderot’s (1751-1772) Encyclopédie, also contributed to the systematization of the me- chanical arts, a sort of “science of techniques” or technology (Pannabecker, 1992, 1994). Soon after Rousseau took up residence in Paris in the early 1740s, he encountered Denis Diderot whose intimate friendship he shared for about 15 years. When Diderot became editor of the Encyclopédie, Rousseau agreed to participate in the work and eventually wrote several hundred articles, mostly on music. According to Lough (1984), Rousseau’s article on economics (moral and political) has been “the most closely studied political article in the whole of the Encyclopédie” (p. 509). (See e.g., Lough [1984] and Kafker & Kafker [1988] for more details on Rousseau’s participation in the Encyclopédie.) But in addition to his work with Diderot, there is a thread of systematizing knowledge throughout Rousseau’s life. For example, he noted in his Confes- sions that around the age of 25, never having had much formal education, he attempted to organize knowledge with the help of an encyclopedia to facilitate his own education (Rousseau, 1926, Vol. 2, p. 17). In music he was largely self-taught, having acquired a copy of Rameau’s Treatise on Harmony in the 1730s, a work that he devoured but criticized as long, diffused and poorly orga- nized (Rousseau, 1926, Vol. 1, p. 248). He soon turned to making music, then composing music, and later developed a new system of musical notation that he eventually presented to the French Academy of Sciences in 1742. He labored for many years on his own dictionary of music. Journal of Technology Education Vol. 6 No. 2, Spring 1995 -52- Rousseau’s interests in integrating systematic knowledge of the natural sci- ences and experimentation were particularly well illustrated in his text on a fly- ing machine. There is some uncertainty about when Rousseau wrote this essay, but it may have been in the early 1740s around the time he presented his work on a new system of musical notation .6 Rousseau also became very interested in chemistry and took some of the famous courses offered by Rouelle in Paris, a well-known chemist of the time (Rousseau, 1926, p. 159). Late in life, he main- tained a strong interest in the sciences and in systematic knowledge in his study of the work and classifications of the botanist Linnaeus. In 1750, Rousseau became famous almost overnight for his prize-winning essay submitted for competition on the topic of whether the arts and sciences had contributed to purify morals. In this systematic treatment of critical questions on the arts, sciences, and society, Rousseau stated that the arts and sciences (“arts” as used here included liberal arts, fine arts, and mechanical arts) had tended to corrupt society, a viewpoint that he acknowledged as contrary to general opinion (Rousseau, 1959-1969, Vol. 3, pp. 5-30). But he did not pretend to have ideal- istic views of going back in time. This essay marked a decisive point in his life and work–the beginning of a continual and systematic questioning of social is- sues. This questioning eventually led to his break with urban society in 1756 and the eventual production of the works for which he is most famous. Rousseau, Education, Mechanical Arts, and Society In 1762, Rousseau published two books which were immediately contro- versial: the Social Contract and Emile. The Social Contract challenged the des- potic tendencies of the monarchy. Emile challenged traditional education and the values of French society of the time. Probably the most important immediate reason that Emile stimulated such controversy was its unorthodox treatment of religious faith in the “Confession of Faith of a Savoyard Vicar,” not its advocacy of teaching mechanical arts. Rousseau’s questioning of traditional education and his inclusion of the mechanical arts in education were part of his broader critique of society, politics, and economics. Indeed, many critics consider Emile to be more of a social cri- tique than an educational treatise. The fact that Emile’s tutor required him to learn a trade was an indicator of Rousseau’s social criticism and his unconven- tional approach to education. 6Plan (1910, p. 586) placed the date of the text in 1752 although its original publication claimed the manuscript as 1742. Guéhenno (1962, Vol. 1, pp. 126-128), where I first became aware of Rous- seau’s text on flying, suggested sometime in the 1740s. Journal of Technology Education Vol. 6 No. 2, Spring 1995 -55- Turning the world upside-down as Rousseau does requires restructuring of values and concepts. But it is such a complicated task that inconsistencies are inevitable. For example, to base value on social utility in a simple society pres- ents difficulties for the tutor in choosing a trade because many of the most useful are dirty and routine. The tutor’s rejection of such trades weakens his emphasis on egalitarianism. Similarly, from a twentieth-century perspective, Rousseau’s division according to gender and his relegation of women’s education to the fifth book also undermine the emphasis on egalitarianism. But despite these limits, Rousseau set the stage for a tremendous surge of educational reflection in the eighteenth century and integrated the mechanical arts into his pedagogical ap- proach as a means of reconstructing society, values, and social status. Conclusion Rousseau did not manage to solve the problem of flying, but the anecdote illustrates his approach to a complex problem. He was curious and more techni- cally inclined than most of his peer philosophers. Faced with the problem of flying, he employed a rational approach to solve it. He analyzed the problem, read technical information, experimented, tinkered, and documented his work. He also became acutely aware of social biases against innovative ideas such as human flight. Rousseau’s life was one long, continuous experimentation in learning. His artisanal boyhood contributed to his learning about things and experimentation, an education that contrasted with that of his intellectual peers. He also embraced structured, systematic knowledge and study but did not reject his artisanal back- ground as inferior. Nor did he reject the kinds of problem-solving activities so critical to constructing and reconstructing the material world. (See Pannabecker, 1991, for historical approaches to the social construction of technology.) But Rousseau did not stop at experimenting and organizing knowledge; he devel- oped his own approach to life, critiqued social values, and promoted change in light of his chosen values. When studying the heritage of technology education, the historical context needs to be left more open than in the history of industrial arts. For instance, it was probably the craft emphasis in industrial arts that influenced historians like Bennett to focus on the mechanical arts in Rousseau’s work. Thus, since Rous- seau’s best known references to the mechanical arts in education occurred in Emile, interpretations of Rousseau’s contributions were based primarily on that book. In contrast, Rousseau’s importance to technology education can be grasped better by casting a larger net among his writings. Rousseau’s critique of the arts and sciences draws our attention to issues in technology and society. Technology education has made the study of technology Journal of Technology Education Vol. 6 No. 2, Spring 1995 -56- and society part of its agenda. But how technology has been taught in the past also deserves study. Rousseau was not primarily interested in an “objective” view of experimenting, solving problems, or teaching the mechanical arts. Ul- timately, his central concern was how to prepare better individuals to construct a better society, not how to teach or learn more effectively, how to solve problems more efficiently, or how to systematize knowledge more completely. Rousseau became highly critical of materialistic values, social and economic disparities, and the ideology of progress. Beyond and through experimentation, systematic study, and the mechanical arts, Rousseau saw education as a means to change people and thereby reduce prejudices and inequalities among people. Teaching the mechanical arts was a means of bringing together persons of differ- ent social classes and to work towards eliminating cultural prejudices. Teaching technology also has the potential of developing in students a more critical attitude towards issues in technology and society. Parallel to Rousseau’s critical reflection, technology teachers and students need to reflect on choices of what technology is taught, how it is taught, and to whom and with whom it is taught. This reflective process will help students to critique the assumptions implicit in technological culture and thereby influence the direction of technol- ogy education. References Artz, F. B. (1966). The development of technical education in France 1500- 1850. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press and SHOT. Bennett, C. A. (1926). History of manual and industrial education up to 1870. Peoria, IL: Manual Arts Press. Boyd, W. (1963). The educational theory of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. New York: Russell & Russell. Carbone, P. 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