On Education (Dover Books on Western Philosophy)

"One of the greatest problems of education," Kant observes, "is how to unite submission to the necessary restraint with the child's capability of exercising his free will." He explores potential solutions to this dilemma, stressing the necessity of treating children as children and not as miniature adults. His positive outlook on the effects of education include a conviction that human nature could be continually improved; to achieve this end, he advocated that pedagogy, the science of education, be raised to academic status and studied at a university level — an innovative notion for the 18th century.