The pedagogy of the Comtesse de Ségur
Anna Aluffi Pentini
Re-reading the classical text The misfortunes of Sophie by Sophie de Ségur lets us reflect on this grandmother-writer’s version of childhood and invites us to go beyond the rejection of an obsolete education model. Sophie, though being a hundred years old, still has something to say to today’s educators on account of her exuberance, liberty and fantasy and her ability to express herself in a restrictive regulatory system. The adults, who want to side with Sophie, show a subtle complicity with her, despite being part of today’s world which often appears to be preoccupied with over-protecting its children.
Keywords
Ségur, children literature, authoritarian education.
