As a materialist empiricist, Locke resolutely opposes the idealistic theory of innate ideas and places high hopes on the role of education in the cultivation of gentlemen. On the issue of the role of heredity, environment and education in human development, Locke insists on the "whiteboard theory", thinking that children's nature is like a whiteboard or a soft wax block without traces, and educators can scribble and shape it at will, and attach great importance to the role of education, especially in the process of human formation. He pointed out at the beginning of "Educational Comics" that "nine out of ten people we see every day are good or bad, or useful or useless, which is determined by their education. People are so different because of education. " If interpreted from the broadest concept of education, Locke's thesis is basically correct and materialistic, which is completely different from the idealistic educational proposition that feudal society only regards people as the product of gene determination, and also different from the concept of talent. However, Locke didn't realize the dialectical relationship between education, environment and heredity, and even didn't realize the essence of education being restricted by economy and politics. However, because he denied the innate idea of education developing people or the mysticism that God planted the seeds of innate wisdom in people's hearts, he put forward the shaping effect of education on people from materialist empiricism, which is progressive. In addition, Locke also talked about the social role of education, so that children can receive a good education, which is not only the responsibility of parents, but also of great significance to the happiness and prosperity of the country. "The happiness and prosperity of a country also depend on children receiving a good education."

Good education means that children grow up to be gentlemen, and the purpose of education is to cultivate gentlemen. A gentleman must be "a man of virtue, utility and ability" and have four qualities: "virtue, wisdom, courtesy and learning". "What a gentleman needs is career knowledge, manners consistent with his identity, and at the same time, he should be able to make himself a famous figure in China according to his own identity, which is beneficial to the country." All these reflected the requirements of the British aristocratic bourgeois rulers for their children at that time, requiring them to have moral thoughts and behaviors that were understood and demanded by the upper class; Have extensive ability to explore the cause of capitalism, agility and self-confidence; Good at communicating with people, and have noble and civilized manners and manners in various social occasions; And it has the characteristics of wide knowledge and resourcefulness. Therefore, to cultivate a gentleman is to cultivate bourgeois entrepreneurs who can meet the needs of a happy life and promote the development of capitalism. It can be said that the theory of "gentleman education" is specially used to train a new generation of rulers.

In the way of gentleman education, Locke insists that the cultivation of gentleman can never be carried out through school education, but only through good family education. Children must be brought up by their fathers or good tutors. He believes that "rudeness and evil are popular everywhere" in society, and young people will be "infected" and lose "purity" when they go to school. In addition, Locke also believes that grammar schools at that time only taught some knowledge of Greek and Latin, but did not pay attention to the cultivation of students' morality, etiquette and modesty, so it was not practical. Moreover, the family habits of many students in the school and their parents' personalities are also very complicated and uneven. The young gentlemen here "associate with urchins every day and do everything they can to fight counterfeiting", so they drift with the tide and can't develop good ideology and morality. On the other hand, Locke also opposes young people's frequent contact with "uncultured and immoral" "inferior servants" to avoid learning vulgar "words, tricks and bad habits" from them. Therefore, Locke strongly advocates that all families who have the ability to hire tutors should pay a large price to hire people with good character, rich social practice experience and good cultural quality as tutors in order to achieve good educational results. "Compared with anyone in the school, a tutor is bound to make his son elegant and resolute, and at the same time know what is valuable and appropriate, and it is easier to learn and mature faster. In a word, you can't learn much about the qualities that a young gentleman should have in school.