As I did our readings I was reminded of a series of photographs I had seen of child laborers, it took some digging to find what I was searching for, but once I had it was a gold mine. The photographs are striking in their use of converging lines; scale to emphasize the children, and confrontational straight on compositions. Lewis Hine made the images; he was an early documentarian who wanted to show what he believed to be “child slavery” in the advent of industrialization.
These images may not seem to relate to our readings, but I was interested in the education of those who were not the hyper elite. The images were not taken until the early 1900’s, however for many in Franklin’s era, I believe an agrarian lifestyle or one that was based in trade was more common than a private tutor for every subject; and thus their education was more based in practical skills.
I wonder what Franklin would have thought about child laborers, in terms of their education? Certainly both Locke and Rousseau emphasize the necessity of education, if in different forms, and only for wealthy men. Rousseau states -- “To form citizens is not the work of a day; and in order to have men it is necessary to educate them when they are children” (233). I really gravitated toward some of Locke’s ideals, such as the practical concepts of being able to understand how to draw, communicate well in English, and learn early to speak another language so it comes more naturally. It was intriguing to think about these ideals of education in the context of how long they took to be implemented.
