In Some Thoughts, Locke mentions his famous 'Tabula Rasa' philosophy. That idea, the idea that the mind of a child is blank until experience begins to write itself onto the mind of the child, is at the center of this treatise.
Firstly, Locke starts by asserting how valuable education really is. It's not just the process of raising kids into adulthood, it shapes them at an essential level, changing how they view the world into their adult worldview. He wisely comments on the impressionability of children, citing how small moments during childhood can have long-lasting effects on the quality of adult experience.
Then, Locke discusses the body and the mind. He rejects the body-centric works that were common during his time, saying that children should have access to real experience, since they were orienting themselves to the world. He predicts that sheltered children will have difficulty adjusting.
Not surprisingly, Locke then dedicates a large portion of the treatise treating the manner by which children form their senses of virtue, and their senses of truth and reason. He likens the process of self-denial to the process of objectivity and open-mindedness, and he explores a pedagogy built around the idea that children should be coaxed into their full potential as empathic, intelligent, virtuous citizens.
