Practical Education

"Practical Education" is an educational treatise written by Maria Edgeworth and her father Richard Lovell Edgeworth. It is a comprehensive theory of education that combines the ideas of philosophers John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau as well as of educational writers such as Thomas Day, William Godwin, Joseph Priestley, and Catharine Macaulay. The Edgeworths' theory of education was based on the premise that a child's early experiences are formative and that the associations they form early in life are long-lasting. They also encourage hands-on learning and include suggestions of "experiments" that children can perform and learn fun. In Edgeworths' work, the attention of the child appears as a key site for pedagogical work and interventions. Following Locke's emphasis on the importance of concrete language over abstract, the Edgeworths' argued that words should clearly indicate "distinct ideas". This contributed to what Romanticist Alan Richardson calls "their controversial positions", including their resistance to reading fairy tales to children or discussing religion with them. Contents: Toys Tasks On Attention Servants Acquaintance On Temper On Obedience On Truth On Rewards and Punishments On Sympathy and Sensibility On Vanity, Pride, and Ambition Books On Grammar and Classical Literature On Geography and Chronology On Arithmetic Geometry On Mechanics Chemistry On Public and Private Education On Female Accomplishments, &c. Memory and Invention Taste and Imagination Wit and Judgment Prudence and Economy Summary Notes, containing Conversations and Anecdotes of Children