Historical Perspectives On Childhood And The Nature-Nurture Debate

Historical perspectives on childhood and the nature-nurture debate.
It is always favourable to look back over historical influences and perspectives of children and the development of children when studying childhood and childhood development. When reviewing certain historical views it is also important to capture the zeitgeist of the time. Societal factors should also be considered (Hayes,2010.) Views of childhood and attitudes towards children are constantly changing and adapting to new ideas and theories, from medieval times where childhood was not considered a separate phase of development to current times where childhood is respected and cherished and children are surrounded by age appropriate tasks and stimulus. The 17th century marked
He believed that all children were born good by nature and had an inborn sense of what was right and wrong. He believed in the use of specially trained tutors and because Rousseau saw each child as unique he didn't value school or a social based education instead he valued individual tuition. Rousseau also considered young children as active explorers that learn through interaction with the environment and not by receiving information. As a result of Rousseau’s idea of being born with a sense of morals and children being naturally good, Rousseau would be considered a philosopher of the nature side of the debate (Hayes, 2010.) Rousseau is one of the early philosophers responsible for the concept of a child centred approach, which has had a major influence in education today where it can be seen in a vast majority of early years settings (Mhic Mhathúna, Taylor, 2012.) Charles Darwin was a theorist from 1809-1882. In 1859, Darwin proposed his breakthrough theory of evolution and ideas of natural selection and survival of the fittest. This theory followed the nature side of the debate due to his belief that intelligence is inherited not learnt. In fact Darwin himself stated, “I am inclined to agree with Francis Galton in believing that education and the environment produce only a small effect on the mind of any one, and that most of our qualities are innate.” (Darwin,1871,1896 p63.) Darwin published a
For centuries philosophers and researchers have tried to pan down intelligences and personality to either genes inherited from parents or learnt through nature. However in recent years researchers such as Jane.M Healy have come to the conclusion that debating whether intelligence is inherited or learnt is futile as they are so intertwined you just can't separate them. Researchers are now talking about a transaction between nature and nurture rather two separate concepts (Healy,