John Locke (1632–1704) was a proponent of home schooling and
private tutoring rather than the strict regimen that most adolescent
boys were required to follow. (Bettmann/Corbis)
intellectual and social skills, according to Locke,
through various kinds of play and the practicing of
certain skills, rather than through rote memorization
of assorted rules.
The interest in Locke’s writings on education for
his successors is clear: By the end of the nineteenth
century Some Thoughts on Education had been through
literally dozens of English editions, as well as several
editions in French, German, and Italian.
Bibliography
Cleverly, John, and D. C. Phillips. Visions of Childhood: Influential
Models from Locke to Spock. New York: Teachers College Press,
1986.
Simons, M. ‘‘Why Can’t a Man Be More Like a Woman? (A Note
on John Locke’s Educational Thought).’’ Educational Theory
40 (1990):135–145.
Publications by Locke
The Works of John Locke: Some Thoughts on Education. London: Print-
ed for Thomas Tegg, 1823.
Locke, John. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, edited by
Peter H. Nidditch. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1975.
Richard M. Buck
244 LOCKE, JOHN