Comparison of Rousseau’s Emile and Wollstonecraft’s Vindication of the Rights of Women

“The neglected education of my fellow-creatures is the grand source of the misery I deplore.”-Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Women. Rousseau and Wollstonecraft believed that children should be allowed to grow freely and learn to use their education practically. Children would then grow up to be free thinking adults that would keep soceity from becoming materialistic and oppressing. Nonetheless, they vehemently disagreed on who should receive such an education. Rousseau thought …

…encourage individual freedom to benefit society. However, she detested his treatment of women. She advised that women and men should both be educated, and educated together. Both of Emile and The Vindication of the Right’s of Women were considered radical, they were both revolutionaries. Emile impacted practical applications, and the exploration of natural curiosity in education. Wollstonecraft’s radical idea of educating boys and girls equally, and together are applied on public education today.