A Philosophical Appraisal of Rousseau’s Child-Centered Education and Its Imports to Nigeria’s Leadership Question

It is a truism that the business of educating the individual minds necessarily involves that of equipping them with the demands of life for proper development of the society. However, the major problem facing philosophers of education has been that of the right method. Rousseau in his attack on curriculum-centered theory holds the child-centered philosophy as the most appropriate in the task of progressive education because it makes room for learning by discovery and care-taking as well as educating. Thus, this paper attempts to give a philosophical appraisal of Rousseau’s prescription for child-centeredness with a view to causing modern day educators to re-examine their positions with reference to Nigeria’s leadership question. Keywords: Education, Child-centeredness, Curriculum-centered theory, Care-taking and nature