DOUBLE TAP TO ZOOM WITH PHONE OR TABLET Introduction | 7 theorists: Austrian Sigmund Freud, Swiss Jean Piaget, Danish American Erik Erikson, and Russian Lev Vygotsky. At the end of each chapter, I summarize how each Giant viewed the nature of the child, the aims of education, and the role of play. I chose the nature of the child because each Giant held his or her own view of what was essential to childhood. Like the blind man and the elephant, each Giant saw the child in a somewhat differ- ent way. Together, their perspectives give us a fuller and richer appreciation of the child than we might otherwise have. I chose the aims of education because the modern recognition of individual rights has raised the issue of whether education should focus on individualization, socialization, or some combination of the two. Over the years, individual rights versus social obligations has become a major issue addressed in different ways by modern major educational figures. Herbart (McMurry 1893) suggested that the issue was a character (education) versus academic (teaching) issue; Dewey ([1899] 1900) put it as an issue of the child and society. More recently, Freire (1970) has argued that it is a political issue of liberation versus domestication. What is import- ant from the perspective of this book is that regardless of how each Giant viewed the aims of education, they all believed these aims could be achieved in develop- mentally appropriate ways. I have included the Giants’ ideas on the role of play because their views of play complement their views on the aims of education. Each Giant’s perspective also gives weight to the idea that our stances on perennial issues in education derive, in part at least, from our personal predispositions. Each chapter concludes with how the writings of the Giants link to one or more of the twelve principles of early childhood education given in Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood Programs Serving Children from Birth through Age 8 (Bredekamp and Copple 2010). For the later Giants in particular, the origination is often readily apparent. For example, the principle “Develop- ment and learning result from a dynamic and continuous interaction of bio- logical maturation and experience” is a basic proposition of Piaget’s theory. The principle “Early experiences have profound effects, both cumulative and delayed, on a child’s development and learning; and optimal periods exist for certain types of development and learning to occur” is surely a reference to Montessori’s sen- sitive periods. Likewise, the principle “Development and learning advance when children are challenged to achieve at a level just beyond their current mastery COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL