Some Thoughts Concerning Education is a 1693 treatise on education written by the English philosopher John Locke. For over a century, it was the most important philosophical work on education in Britain. It was translated into almost all of the major written European languages during the eighteenth century, and nearly every European writer on education after Locke, including Jean-Jacques Rousseau, acknowledged its influence. In his Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Locke outlined a new theory of mind; he contended that the child's mind was a tabula rasa or "blank slate," that is, it did not contain any innate ideas. Some Thoughts Concerning Education explains how to educate that mind using three distinct methods: the development of a healthy body; the formation of a virtuous character; and the choice of an appropriate academic curriculum. Locke originally wrote the letters that would eventually become Some Thoughts for an aristocratic friend, but his advice had a broader appeal, since his educational principles allowed women and the lower classes to aspire to the same kind of character as the aristocrats for whom Locke originally intended the work.

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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1521: Filipino natives led by Lapu-Lapu killed Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan in the Battle of Mactan. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Mactan)

1565: Conquistador Miguel López de Legazpi and 500 armed soldiers arrived at Cebu and established the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miguel_L%C3%B3pez_de_Legazpi)

1667: John Milton, blind and impoverished, sold the copyright of Paradise Lost for £10. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Milton)

1865: An explosion destroyed the steamboat Sultana on the Mississippi River, killing 1,700 passengers. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sultana_%28steamboat%29)

1994: Apartheid in South Africa: The African National Congress had a landslide victory in the first non-racial elections in the history of South Africa. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_South_Africa_in_the_apartheid_era)

_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:

Though I have been trained as a soldier, and participated in many battles, there never was a time when, in my opinion, some way could not be found to prevent the drawing of the sword. I look forward to an epoch when a court, recognized by all nations, will settle international differences. -- Ulysses S. Grant (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ulysses_S._Grant)