EDUCATION DEVELOPMENT IN THE WEST DISCUSSION 2022

Running head: EDUCATTION IN THE WEST
Education in the West
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EDUCATION IN THE WEST1
Educational Developments in the West
From the middle of the 17th century to the end of the 18th century, a new set of
economic, social and intellectual forces invited the onset of educational reform. For instance,
the advent of the steam engine and simultaneously the factory system lead to rapid
urbanization. In fact, this period was known for the arrival of industrialization. All of these
new advancements significantly influenced the developments in education. One of the
greatest developments of education is the hesitance of nations like United States and
Britain to allow the government to control educational affairs. (Ainscow et al., 2013). This
was due to the laissez-faire system that was followed in these countries. On the contrary,
nations like France and Germany commenced the concept of public educational systems as
early as the 19th century. Hence, the new social and economic modifications required the
public and private schools to intensify and broaden their syllabus. These schools not only
built literacy but were slowly starting to focus on building moral character. Another major
development was these schools began to prepare students for their future careers. Hence,
these new concepts was successful in revolutionizing the traditional concept of education
greatly.
Theorists and Reformers of Education
As the concept of education went through various permutations, there were a number
of theorists who contributed to the theory of education. Firstly, the ideas of Jean-Jacques
Rousseau were greatly significant in the world of education (Noddings, 2018). His follower,
Pestalozzi, advocated that the starting point of education should have been a child’s inherent
nature rather than the traditional arts and sciences. He placed emphasis on those lesson which
would expose a child to the realities of life. He believed that this would lead to the
development of a child’s level of abstract thinking (Tröhler, 2013). A great amount of