Emile: On Education

Away from towns and cities, the country is where nature beckons with its health-giving bounty and sunshine. Rousseau even suggests studying cities and nations from the confines of the country because “there the good or ill effects of the government are best perceived” (231). A life in the country is simple, unbedecked with urban frills; clothing is unadorned but comfortable; food is fresh and delicious; friendships are loyal and happy. The country is where a child should be brought up, where he can learn the lessons of nature and grow into a responsible, self-sufficient, and cheerful member of his family and neighborhood. 

Hailing from Switzerland, Rousseau has little use for the mores and culture of the French, especially in Paris, where the social whirl disgusts him: “France would be much more powerful if Paris were destroyed” (232). Rousseau admits that France has many good attributes, but their attitudes toward nature, education, virtue, and governance leave him cold. France will come back to bite Rousseau for his disrespect when it bans and burns his books Emile and The Social Contract and exiles him from the country.