Talk:Some Thoughts Concerning Education

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This article is supported by the Education WikiProject. This project provides a central approach to Education-related subjects on Wikipedia. Please participate by editing the article, and help us assess and improve articles to good and 1.0 standards, or visit the wikiproject page for more details. Portal GA This article has been rated as GA-Class on the quality scale. High This article has been rated as high-importance on the importance scale. Article Grading: The following comments were left by the quality and importance raters: (edit · refresh) I have worked significantly on this article and have assessed it as "start." At this point, it needs: better organizational structure more details, particularly on Locke's curriculum recommendations a reception history that details the profound effect this text had on eighteenth-century education Awadewit 11:21, 16 February 2007 (UTC) Your assessment seems right to me, but I haven't read the book, so I can be of little help. I checked my library's electronic journals for any contemporary secondary literature, but couldn't find anything useable. You do great work around here. KSchutte 01:00, 27 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Good Article

Hi Awadewit. Surely I'll pass this article—nice job—but now I can get even for Talk:Auguste Rodin! :-)

• You said A.R. was wordy in places: "As England became increasingly mercantilist and secualarist, the humanist educational values of the Renaissance, which had enshrined scholasticism, came to be regarded as superfluous and irrelevant." Now I don't mind this, but I must point it out. Could we link mercantile, secular, and humanist?

I don't think it's wordy, I just think it's trying to say way too much in one sentence. But once I start to break it up, it balloons out of control. :)

• Minor text issues: "secualarist", "activies", second para calls it Some Thoughts on Education

I'll fix those - it must have been late.

• Can you indicate whether the italics in quotes are Locke's?

They are; he uses a lot of italics. I will add in an "emphasis Locke's."

• Ref 27 and 37 could be combined.

I despise combined references. It discourages including specific page numbers.

• I wonder if others would consider the tone too essay-like. It doesn't bother me, but policy literalists might point out:
  • "Moreover, compared to other educational programs, such as The Whole Duty of a Woman (1696) and Rousseau’s Emile, which was still to come, Locke’s has a strikingly liberating potential for women." (uncited but given; maybe "strikingly" is too much?)
  • "Although one could argue that Locke’s statement indicates that he places a greater value on female than male beauty..." (cited but mentioning for essay tone)

This whole essay-thing gets on my nerves sometimes. One has to explain the connections between ideas for readers.

• "He was also a "perfectionist"; he revised and expanded Some Thoughts five times before his death." Not sure what purpose the quotes serve here. And "timid" in sentence before. Is it because they are the words the sources used?

Yes, Axtell uses those words.

• "In making this claim, Locke was arguing against both the Augustinian view of man, which grounds its conception of humanity in original sin, and the Cartesian position..." A cite would be nice here, as the article is claiming argument against specific movements/views.

But, as the scientists keep telling me, it's common knowledge! I'll get a citation.

Good luck in FA if that's where you're headed. –Outriggr § 02:46, 16 March 2007 (UTC)

• Thank you. I will work on these things. I will be heading for FA in a few weeks, after I have added some more material. Awadewit 06:47, 16 March 2007 (UTC)