“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
