Jean Jacques Rousseau was born in Geneva in 1712 to a poor family. He received some formal education but became an apprentice to several trades, none of which he found success in. After running away from Geneva, he held several jobs before focusing on writing. His most famous works, The Social Contract and Emile, proposed radical ideas about democracy and education that led to his exile from France. Rousseau believed people are inherently good but corrupted by society, and that citizens should be trained to be good through education. He died in 1778 after suffering from mental and physical health problems.

1. JEAN JACQUES
ROUSSEAU
By: Miriam Berry

2. CHILDHOOD
 Born in Geneva, Switzerland on June 28,1712
 Family was pious Calvinists and refugees from France
 His mother died shortly after childbirth
 His father was a poor watchmaker and dance master
 When he was ten his father fled Geneva
 He was then raised by his mothers sister

3. SCHOOLING
 He stopped traditional schooling at the age of 12
 Was apprenticed to several trades but had no success
 In 1728 he ran away from Geneva and joined the Catholic church
 Took a job as a footman to a noblewoman in Annecy
 Later became lover to a wealthy widow who provided for his education
in the classics and music
 In 1738 he journeyed to Montpellier to improve his health and when
he returned his lover had found a replacement

4. CAREER
 Attempted teaching but did not like it
 Was not recognized for his system of musical notation
 Was an unsatisfactory secretary to the French
ambassador in Venice
 Finally moved back to Paris after his failed attempts

5. FAMILY
 In Paris in 1745 he took a mistress, Therese le Vasseur
 They had five children
 Jean took them all to the Foundling Hospital to be raised as
orphans
 He later married Therese in 1768

6. PUBLISHED WORKS
 Wrote an essay called “Discourse on the Arts and Sciences” and
won a literary prize from the Academy of Dijon in 1749
 This gave him literary fame and he returned to Geneva in1754
 There he rejoined the protestant church and regained his
citizenship
 He published several essays and had some different mistresses in
the next few years.

7. EXILE
 In 1762 he published his most famous works, “The Social
Contract” and “Emile”
 Due to the content of these books about religion and his opinion
that there should be a democratic city-state in France he was exiled by
the government.
 He did not like it so in 1770 he returned to Paris

8. LATER LIFE
 Back in Paris he published several more less offensive works and
an opera.
 Rousseau suffered from psychological feelings of persecution and
lived in a cottage at Ermenonville for the last few months of his life
 Due to his mental and physical health problems he died of a
stroke on July 2, 1778

9. EMILE
 Rousseau wrote this novel to show his beliefs on education.
 It consists of five books and the different stages of learning
 Book 1: Infancy: Goodness of men, keep children should be
kept form forming bad habits
 Book 2: “The age of Nature”: purpose of education, school
environment, self motivated learning, discipline and physical
education

10. EMILE (CONTINUED)
 Book 3: Pre-adolescence : Intellectual education,
geography, science, history and other subjects are learned by
desire to learn them
 Book 4: Puberty: social attitudes, and natural religion
 Book 5: Adulthood: love, education of women

11. PHILOSOPHIES
 People are inherently good but they become corrupted by the evils
of society.
 He believed in liberty, equality, and fraternity
“Make the citizen good by training, and everything
else will follow.” - Jean Jacques Rousseau

12. SOURCES
http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/agexed/aee501/ro
usseau.html
http://www.iep.utm.edu/rousseau/#SH1a
http://www.infed.org/thinkers/et-rous.htm