Zeng Guofan's mind is delicate, and he is brave and good at fighting. But I didn't expect Zeng Guofan to be an expert in children's education. Many of his educational methods coincide with modern ideas.
His most prominent educational concept is to let children grow up with encouragement and affirmation, which is also an important concept of modern education.
In the old society of China, many parents thought that "there is no father in the world" and regarded "I gave birth to you" as a great contribution. In front of children, opening your mouth is criticism, and you won't talk without reprimanding. No matter how good a child is, a positive word will not pop out of his mouth. A light scolding is equivalent to praise. When children meet such parents, it is natural that "mice meet cats."
Even Zuo, another famous minister in the late Qing Dynasty, could not avoid custom. Looking through Zuo's letters, we will find that there is little affirmation and encouragement for children, and condescending reprimands, accusations and "hating iron and not turning into steel" abound. Zuo Tang Zong in the letter from home is just that I am smart everywhere, and the child is "not good at all". There are few such languages in Zeng Guofan's letters. Zeng Guofan knows the importance of encouragement better than his contemporaries.
Zeng Guofan always advocated praising people more and blaming them less when getting along with others. One of the greatest pleasures in his life is to cultivate talents. In his diary, he said that a gentleman has three major pleasures: reciting poems, cultivating talents, and taking a rest after work: "A gentleman has three major pleasures: reading makes a stone sound profound and pleasant; Macro-award talents, attractive daily progress, and second music; Take a rest after hard work, Sanle.
Zeng Guofan believes that there are probably two kinds of talents. One is a wise man who cares about decency and is ashamed to live behind others. For such people, we should give priority to encouragement, and don't be too afraid when praising. The other is a humble person who has no ambition and focuses on small things. We should be strict with such people, so that we can be afraid and prevent them from breaking the rules. He also has two famous sayings in the Ministry of Education, that is, "Yang is good at court and the rules are too private". Praise should be done in public, while criticism should be done in private.
This is true for subordinates, especially for children. There is a sentence in Zeng Guofan's letter quoted above, "Please invite Li Bifeng to the museum, praise and praise every day, and make great progress in understanding", which shows that Zeng Guofan clearly sees the role of encouragement and praise in children's growth.
After reading Zeng Guofan's letters, I found that Zeng Guofan was "stricter than his brother and wider than his son". Letters to my brother are often direct and severe criticism, while letters to my children are mostly gentle encouragement. In fact, the reason is very simple. When Zeng Guofan wrote his letter home, his younger brothers had grown up and had enough endurance, while the children were still young and needed to be taken care of. This is the essence of children's education, and both wind and drizzle can thrive.