Abstract
No era starts in a vacuum but builds on what has been said, experienced and put into practice over millennia. Highlighting this, we present themes and perspectives drawn from diverse contexts and times that are relevant to our situation today. A brief historical survey of perspectives on children and education, from the ancient times to the present, captures the views of various thinkers, theorists, practitioners and philosophers. What emerges is that the holistic development of children and society, encouraging students to think for themselves and conversing with students rather than providing explanations are ideas that have been held for thousands of years. This survey brings out questions related to the balance between the ‘traditional’ and the ‘modern’, the tension between equality and privileging a few, preparing children for life rather than just a career, and valuing and preserving diversity while also enabling all to participate in the ‘global’.
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Joshi, P., Shukla, S. (2019). Children and Education: Reflecting Back and Looking Forward. In: Child Development and Education in the Twenty-First Century. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9258-0_2
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