Child, child education and ideal citizen in the work "Emile" of jean Jacques Rousseau

The main aim of this study is to find out the view to the image of the child, children's education and the target ideal citizen of Jean Jacques Rousseau's. In determination the views of J.J. Rousseau, the work "Emile or On Education" written in 1762 was used as a source. The thesis consists of five chapters. In the first chapter, the problem, aim and importance of the research are mentioned. The intellectual whose views are effective in forming the structure of today's society stand out upon the judgments related to education in terms of both child education and citizen education. In the second chapter, the literature and the conceptual explanations of the research are included. In this section, the life and works of J.J. Rousseau, the concept of education, the philosophy of education, the education of the enlightenment period, the social studies program and citizenship education are emphasized. The conceptual framework of the research subject has been established with the given information. In the literature the research relating to the educational perspective of J.J. Rousseau are included. The third chapter constitutes the method chapter of the research. The work "Emile" was examined through the translation of Isbank Cultural Publications with the translation of Yaşar AVUNÇ. While examining, the work is limited with the first three chapters whereas the work consists of five chapters. The work was examined with the method of document review which is one of the qualitative research methods. As analyzing the data, it was used the content analysis method. The findings obtained from the content analysis were interpreted. In the fourth chapter, the findings of the research are included. In the findings of the study related to child image, findings about development, health-nutrition, attitude, freedom, family, happiness have emerged. As for education of the child; findings related to method, purpose, moral education, teacher, level of conformity, profession, definition of education and punishment have emerged. As to the ideal citizen; the profile of a sensitive and moral virtue citizen who is scientifically and critically thinking, problem-solving, aware of his / her rights and responsibilities has emerged besides the profile of democratic citizens such as freedom and equality. In the fifth chapter, the final section includes the conclusion and discussion of the research. In the wake of the research, it was concluded that according to J.J.Rousseau, the freedom of the child should be preserved, the natural order should be followed in the development of the child, the child should be guided in the education of the child. Moreover, the other result obtained from the study was that the education that J.J. Rousseau implies is consistent with the constructivist educational approach. In the ideal citizent that J.J. Rousseau aims at rises to prominence the profile of libertarian, egalitarian, self-sufficient, self and environment aware citizen. Given today's of the ideal citizen to be raised, it was concluded that the profile of citizenship aimed have similarities with the profile which J.J. Rousseau targeted as a ideal citizenship features.